Engine Bay Restore or not?

Should the Engine Bay be restored or leave it as is

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1966er

1966er

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I'm at the stage of should I restore the engine bay of my 72 Swinger or leave it original.

It's a 37,000 miles original car and the only thing I have done is a recent respray of the exterior, new vinyl top & tires.

http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=192508

The rest of the car is unmolested, original condition.....

The original PO had poorly painted the engine. Why, I have no idea!!

As the saying goes, "It's only original once"

So, I need a vote....
 

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I just looked at the pictures in the link, NICE looking car. If you pulled the engine and cleaned up the bay and painted it to match the exterior I think you couldn't go wrong. That way you could clean up the engine too.

That car looks very nice, IMO.
 
1966er said:
The interior & trunk are in great, leave alone condition.
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Well it sounds like you don't wont to do anymore to the car .... right?

If you want it done "right" then the paint in the engine bay would need to match the exterior paint. The trunk isnt that important but 90% of the time if you're showing someone the car they're going to want to see under the hood.
 
Since you have painted the exterior of the car, I would bring the engine compartment up to the same standard.' It's only original once'. That ship has alreadt sailed....
 
va58 said:
Since you have painted the exterior of the car, I would bring the engine compartment up to the same standard.' It's only original once'. That ship has alreadt sailed....
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Yep!
 
Looks fine as is. A lot of work to paint it right. I would just touch up any rust spots since "you only have the original metal once". I painted the firewall and inner fenders on my 64 & 65, when I had everything off the firewall for upgrades. I did it with the engine in the car. In my 64 I stopped at the vent motor area until I have the climate box out someday. Ditto for the passenger fender. You don't have to match the exterior perfect since the lighting and shadows will always make the engine bay look different, and it doesn't have to be perfect since the factory left rough edges and ripples. The Valiant already had a decent exterior repaint, so I just used Chrysler Red rattle can engine paint that matched close. The main thing is getting down to bare metal first (much work) and a good primer (used Rust Destroyer). Both my cars had the engine bays done by prior owners with the "black rattle can over rust & grease" method that had to be stripped.
 
Paint the engine bay, and detail the engine and everything else under the hood while you're at it.
The exterior looks awesome, the engine compartment should match IMHO.
Take lots of pics and do it correctly, then it'll look like a 7,000 mile car!
 
va58 said:
Since you have painted the exterior of the car, I would bring the engine compartment up to the same standard.' It's only original once'. That ship has alreadt sailed....
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Agreed. Elbow grease, aluminum foil for quick masking of harnesses and fuel/brake lines, you'll be surprised how little work will pay off so big! DO IT!!!
 
Believe it or not...rattle can....can look great...even can make it look like an older restore. Most paint distributors can put any color in a spray can. cheap too....

good luck
 
Well, it looks like I'll be removing the engine and detail the bay then......

I want to keep on the good side of the members "lol"

And like va58 (Artie) said, since I already have painted the outside, "The ship has sailed"......

I still have just about enough PPG paint left to do the bay...

I'll post pics when it's finished. Most likely won't be until Sept. or Oct. though as I want to take a brake from this & drive it a little.

So far, thanks for all the comments guys!!
 
You have already restored the outside of the car so it's not like its a true survivor car so I would go ahead and finish the work on the motor and bay.
 
va58 said:
Since you have painted the exterior of the car, I would bring the engine compartment up to the same standard.' It's only original once'. That ship has alreadt sailed....
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exactly
 
It's a 37,000 miles original car and the only thing I have done is a recent respray of the exterior, new vinyl top & tires.
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you went that far. its been painted so there is no harm in painting the engine bay.
the rest of the car looks great. pull the motor and make that area look great also.
 
1966er said:
Well, it looks like I'll be removing the engine and detail the bay then......

I want to keep on the good side of the members "lol"

And like va58 (Artie) said, since I already have painted the outside, "The ship has sailed"......

I still have just about enough PPG paint left to do the bay...

I'll post pics when it's finished. Most likely won't be until Sept. or Oct. though as I want to take a brake from this & drive it a little.

So far, thanks for all the comments guys!!
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When you get it done you will glad you painted it. Happy Moparing!
 
Paint it black.........:cheers:



KIDDING! I think it would look great painted to match the new paint.

Pat
 
Divenut said:
Paint it black.........:cheers:



KIDDING! I think it would look great painted to match the new paint.

Pat
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That's an idea.....wouldn't show the dirt & oil as much.

Thanks for that idea.........

lol....now I'm just kidding......gonna be the same color as the car...
 
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