Anyone have any tips for dressing up an engine bay?
I just cleaned it out with a low-pressure power washer and some degreaser/parts cleaner, a few weeks ago. Is there anything like hoses or cable covers that I should get?

I'll have to post some pics tomorrow. This is for my 05 Equinox

 

Hhhmm, I know people must be doing something to make they engine bay's look nice??

Besides painting engines/covers, what else are you doing? What about wrapping the electrical cables? Replacing plastic oem tubes with better looking ones? Any pics of some nice looking bay's would be nice!

 

while the engine is still warm, and wet from hosing it off. take some armorall spray, and go to town on it.

 

I started to do blue heat shrink wraping on the hoses and wires, but there are alot of things i still need to do... its petty complicated,a nd i might need to find another type of tubing for the wires, because there are so many places that they are spliced.

 

I'll be taking some pictures on Friday/Saturday, but the engine is barely noticable, it's covered by a cool looking engine cover. I'm mainly concerned with the hoses, wiring, containers, metal fasteners, etc.

 

To cover hoses, you can get a kit at autozone or anyother car parts place, in a few different colors that is for engine dress up. Mine was $40 and came with enough to do all the thing i want to do, but i haven't really had to much time to take things apart to cover them up i'll put up a pic of hat i have done so far tomarrow

 

polish everything possible.

 

I haven't put my polishing skills to the test yet. I was told to start trying to polish thing by using a piece of pipe that is just laying around, but i havnt ever tried

 

Got pics then we can go from there

 

ummm... kinda lost as to what your talkin about

 

Well if he had pics of his engine bay we can go from there to tell him what to do unless you everyone know what a engine bay looks like in a 05 Equinox that is what i was asking for a pic for

 

well it should look something like these

 

wow there really aint much to polish cause all of that plastic covers it but maybe he can do some match painting and as far as the hoses there aint much to do

 

Get a hold of MRZ Performance and see what they have that will fit your car. If nothing else they can custom make the items.

Order some silicone vacuum hoses to replace your stock rubber ones. That plus a dress-up kit to wrap the larger hoses and wires. Make sure their the same or contrasting colors. IE: If both blue, the same blue. If you can't get both the same, get one blue and one black.

A good polished intake would also improve the appearance, but if you get a polished one you need to polish more of the engine.

Also, pop that plastic cover off, give it a scuff sanding, then prime it, paint it, light sand, paint again, repaint letters, clear coat, and polish. Make sure your primer, paint, and clear are all high heat paint. I would go ether Blue with Black lettering or Black with Blue lettering.

Get a cover for that ecm and fuse box!

 

whoa lol, for a second I thought that was a new swap in a cobalt.

 

I've already contacted MRZ, they're working on drawing up some parts for me as we speak. In the mean time I was hoping for some small stuff to do. I'll post pics tomorrow, as my engine bay is a little cleaner then that. I was thinking about repainting the lettering on the "3400 SFI" engine cover, maybe yellow or red. My Equinox is Black.
I'm still working on finding a good looking, effective, universal CAI/Short-Ram Intake as no one makes one specifically for my vehicle.

 

Well, since your car is Black, you need to pick a trim color. Make sure you use that same trim color for everything so the car is consistent. Red, Blue, or White would be the best I would go with. If you get any neons or LEDs, make sure they match your trim color.

 

After dressing up the engine bay I'd like to get some LED's for it.
Here's my shopping list:
1. CAI
2. Under-drive pulley's
3. Cross-Drilled Rotors for front (maybe new drums for back?)
4. Engine Bay flash (new caps, containers, wiring, sway/strut bars, led's, etc.)
5. New Custom Exhaust (maybe)

 

Couple of things.
Under-drive pulley's really are not worth the money if your getting them for performance. Now some really nice and shiny polished aluminum ones might reduce engine drag loss and look pretty, but mostly they will just look pretty.

I would suggest slotted rotors instead of cross drilled ones. Check out the brake bible for why.

Sway bars aren't engine bay flash, though they will help you in the corners.

But the most important thing is to make sure you make the car your own and you like the things done to it.

 

I've heard mixed things about the under-drive pulleys, some say either like 10hp or 0hp...I don't know what to believe. I doubt they would even be visible on my Equinox anyways, so I'll pass on these unless someone can tell me for sure that these things make a difference.

As far as rotors go, whatever happens to be the best at the time in my limited market of aftermarket parts, is what will be bought, but if Slot'd is the best, then that's what I'll buy.

I meant to say Strut bar, not sway bar. I haven't found sway bars yet, but I know MRZ is working on strut bars for me.

 

underdrives made a difference for me on the butt dyno on my cavalier...might not be the same for all cars though

 

what are people doing to get there engine/underhood to look different colors. Like blue, red, is it called a dressup kit??

 

You pick a color to will ether flow or contrast the color of your car thedub. Kinda depends on if you like simple or loud.