Here at Mopar Muscle we attend countless car shows and races, and are fortunate to have the opportunity to see hundreds of beautiful Mopars from around the world. We always appreciate the effort put into a car and try not to criticize anyone's ride, but we have noticed an area that is often neglected by the car's owner or builder-the engine bay. In fact, an ugly or poorly detailed engine bay is one of the top reasons we can't put an otherwise awesome ride into the pages of Mopar Muscle. Fortunately, getting that engine bay to be a picture-quality, show-winning work of art is not that difficult or expensive. With less than $300 in paint, supplies, and new parts, plus a few weekends of work, your engine can be sitting in a properly painted, well-detailed compartment that will turn heads at any race or car show.
In the first of this two-part series, we'll concentrate on stripping, cleaning, repairing, and applying great-looking paint to the engine compartment of our '71 Road Runner. Next month, we'll finish up by detailing the engine and accessories, and installing everything to complete our engine bay and get our car moving under its own power.
We've all seen beautiful rotisserie restored cars at the shows and thought, wouldn't it be nice if I could restore my car that way. While we do appreciate expertly restored cars that actually look far better than they ever did when new, the reality for most of us is that the cost, time, and space required for a rotisserie restoration prohibits us from exercising this option. We tend to fix our cars the more "old-school" and economical way of painting and detailing the engine bay ourselves, installing our engine, and drivetrain components so we can drive the car, then concentrating on the interior, saving the exterior paint for last. We achieve a couple of goals this way, the first being budgeting of time and money. Sure, it's nice to have an unlimited budget when beginning a restoration, but we're more on the paycheck-to-paycheck plan and enjoy doing the work ourselves. Performing the engine bay refurbishment in our garage or driveway allows us to spend a little at a time getting the engine compartment ready for a motor, then concentrating on the engine itself, and getting the car driving, which is where our interest really lies. Secondly, we quickly lose interest in a project we can't drive. By taking the time to prep the engine bay and getting our drivetrain installed, we can enjoy our car while we fix it up, keeping us motivated to complete the project we started.
Every gearhead has either seen it or done it-build an engine, then hurriedly blast the engine bay with black Krylon or speckle paint (yuck!) before installing the engine. Well, we've got news for you, unless you're building a C-Body, the engine bay in a Mopar only came in black if the car's exterior paint was black. The proper color for a Mopar engine bay is the color of the body, nothing less. How well the job turns out depends on the amount of time you spend cleaning, repairing, and prepping the engine bay for paint. Years of use and abuse take their toll on the sheetmetal under your hood, so taking the time to repair the holes, rust, dings, and dents will set your engine bay apart from the average. Remember that time spent on preparation will result in a better finished product. If you're like us and have more time than money, it's worth a few extra hours of work for a quality finished product.
We began our engine bay restoration by stripping the engine bay of the engine and all of the accessories, hoses, and wiring harnesses. During this process we make note of any parts, such as the washer jar, wiring harness, and so on that are missing or will need to be replaced or repaired. We try to carefully evaluate items, such as the blower motor and wiper motor, by testing them prior to their removal. To save ourselves some money, the items that work will be cleaned and painted and not replaced. The nice thing about an engine bay restoration is most of the appearance items don't cost that much money. We always count on replacing small parts like the washer jar, rubber hood bumpers, and the decals; these parts make a big difference aesthetically and are available from Year One for a few bucks each. In fact, we usually count on Year One as our one-stop shop for the items we need; they speak Mopar fluently and generally have all of their catalog items in stock and ready to ship.
Once our engine bay was stripped of accessories, the actual cleanup and repainting began. Remember that paint and oil do not mix, so all the leaked oil, blow-by spray, power-steering fluid, and so on must be removed prior to beginning the body work. Cleaning up the K-member and suspension components for paint is also advisable during this step. We have found that spray engine degreaser from the local auto parts store works well. Removing caked-on grease and dirt may require a scraper and wire brush. Once the engine bay, K-member, and suspension have been degreased, the real work can begin. We started with the area of our battery tray where we had problems. Evidently a battery had leaked or exploded at some point in our car's life, severely corroding the inner fender under where our missing battery tray would go. The only real way to fix this was to replace the metal, so we cut out the corroded area and hand-formed a sheetmetal patch, which was welded in place. A new battery tray was ordered from Year One and installed prior to painting. Don't be intimidated by this type of repair, we are not expert metal craftsmen, welders, or painters, but our theory has always been-if someone else can do it, so can we. The engine bay is actually a good place to practice these skills. Mopar engine bays are notorious for their lack of quality paint, and our car was no exception. We found no less than 34 runs in the original underhood paint of our car, as well as hardware missing from nearly every piece bolted to the front end and in the engine bay. Talk about a Monday car, ours must have come down the assembly line on the Monday after a long weekend of partying '71 style. Our point is, no matter how little experience you have at metal work, bodywork, or painting, chances are you'll do a better job than the guys who originally assembled your car. If you end up with runs in the paint, don't sweat it, the cars came that way new. If it makes you feel better, just tell people you're duplicating the original finish!
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