Engine Dress Up idea, what do you think?

[Pakrat 1,043]

I've pretty much got my engine block all repainted this week and before I repaint the stock valve covers and oil pan and such I have been trying to decide if I do or if I update them. I do usually like the stock appearance and for the longest time I was convinced that what I was going to do was get the old boring done to death black crinkle Cobra valve covers and matching oil pan and paint all the black parts ford blue so it would look stock at a glance.

 

Well, I did some looking around on the net and when I got to the Canton Racing site I found some other intersting options. They have this pretty nice polished cast aluminum set up that not only has matching valve covers and oil pan with a very 60's retro look but they make a matching 14" air cleaner top as well. One of my other goals was to make my hood scoop functional by using a smaller lid in cunjunction with my large stock air cleaner base and running a gasket around the rim to seal to the hood. This will cover all the bases and match as well, what do you think? Would it look good or to blingy?

 

http://www.cantonracingproducts.com/pans/road_race/ford_retro.html

http://www.cantonracingproducts.com/valve_covers/ford.html#65347

http://www.cantonracingproducts.com/Cast_Aluminum_Air_Cleaner_Top.html

 

The whole shebang would run about $330 which doesn't seem too bad considering I wouldn't have to piece meal it like I was going to.

[coz 108]

Looks good to me. I have a Canton pan. Works good but leaks - previous owner issue. I will be replacing it with another 7qt Canton pan though.

[bnickel 10,004]

pak, i think you should combine the 2 looks. use the canton pieces and paint them blue to match the block and leave the raised part of the fins polished, on everything, even the oil pan. i have a set of 85 gt valave covers on the stang that did that to except i used the black wrinkle paint with the fins brushed instead of polished. on the cougar i plan to do the same kind of thing with my other set of 85 gt valve covers except polish the fins and paint the rest blue. i'm going to use the hi-po air cleaner lid painted blue and either a stock oil pan or something like the canton 7 qt. T-pan also painted blue.

 

i had an idea to have the power by ford and the raised fins section cut from another set of the 85 gt valve covers and have it welded to a canton T-pan so it would look similar to a cobra style oil pan but would match the valve covers i'm using. i've also considered doing the canton finned air cleaner lid painted blue on the cougar too.

[Protowrxs 111]

I would only paint the recessed areas in the finned areas blue leaving the fins and rest of the parts polished if I were going that direction. The you'd have the polished offset with the engine color.

 

Keeping up with polished aluminum is a pain though. I just talked to a guy today that has a T Bucket as one of his cars and he was RE-polishing the valve covers for the 5th or 6th time since he had the car. Granted he's had the car for a long, long time but he was quite messing doing the work.

 

The T-Pan I have is polished and I'll keep it that way I guess.. :(

I'll be going back with the 'old boring' Cobra covers but am thinking about going the polished route with the recessed fin areas painted black since I'm going black on the engine this round.

 

My 2 cents...

-Stephen

[Thesubhumans 10]

i think if you painted the recessed part of the fins black and left the top of the fins and outer part chrome it would look pretty boss.

If you wanted to take it a step further you could paint the block black and have all of your engine accessories polished, thats what i plan to do once i get to the engine stage of my stang.

[Pakrat 1,043]

Well, the block is already freshly painted Ford Blue so it's staying that way but I like alot of these other ideas, thanks guys. So can you succesfully paint polished Aluminum without it chipping or do you have to rough up the surface making it irriversible? Part of me feels if I am going to paint it then I should stick with my original Cobra idea. I like the idea of it saying Cobra in the engine bay, I always thought that looked great but these Canton parts are awefully affordable to. It would run me close to $500 just for the oil pan and valve covers with Cobra on them.

[bnickel 10,004]

Pak, i would suggest slightly rroughing the surface with a scotch brite pad before paint but that would definitely NOT be irreversable, it's very easy to polish aluminum back out to a high luster. you know you could always just buy the cobra valve covers and get the rest of the stuff from canton. the finned air cleaner and oil pan would still look good with the cobra valve covers, especially the air cleaner.

 

have you seen the finned ac compressor covers from cal-mustang? i thought about adding one of those as well to the cougar. i know you don't have ac right now but if you do decide to add it at some point that would be another thing to consider as well. here is a link to them

 

http://store.cal-mustang.com/showdetl-7-7703-19-0.html

[Pakrat 1,043]

OK thanks B, I've got more to think about now. I have seen the AC covers before but adding AC is way low on my list, I just almost never drive with the top up to make use of it. I was thinking I could mount a custom emblem onto these Canton valve covers to make it more custom. I think I am going to photoshop one of those 65/66 V shaped fender ornaments that says 302 instead of 289 onto the air cleaner lid and see how that looks.

[bnickel 10,004]

one of these emblems might look cool

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1971-1974-Ford-De-Tomaso-Pantera-POWER-BY-FORD-Emblem_W0QQitemZ270029942238QQihZ017QQcategoryZ6755QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[coz 108]

If you paint them have them clear powder coated. I did that over my VC's and they clean up real nice.

[Pakrat 1,043]

one of these emblems might look cool

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1971-1974-Ford-De-Tomaso-Pantera-POWER-BY-FORD-Emblem_W0QQitemZ270029942238QQihZ017QQcategoryZ6755QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

Yeah, something like that only I fear that by the description that one might be plastic.

[Pakrat 1,043]

Well, I decided to dig thru some old pics I've collected for reference and do a little photo-chopping just to see how things look and you know I have to say I think when the black is painted ford blue instead that the (I know I said old and boring) Cobra type valve covers really make a nice subtle custom look over the stock covers. What do you guys think?

 

This may be the way to go along with the canton air cleaner lid painted up in the same fashion and I can hold off on the oil pan for now since that isn't an instantly seen part.

[bswor 76]

You know that actually looks pretty good. I never would have thought it myself.

[R4K 10]

Agreed, those VCs are hot like that.

[bnickel 10,004]

you guys think i'd steer you wrong? says a lot about what you think of me:sailor:

 

what's more is that you actually have a couple of options here too. you can either paint over the standard wrinkle finish or you can for a smooth look. i haven't decided which way i'm going yet.

[Pakrat 1,043]

Yeah I agree, I thinnk this is the way I am going I just hope it looks as good for real as it does in photo-chop.:001_smile:

 

I still want to be a little bit more different though, every single engine bay I have looked at all have this standard Cobra "powered by ford valve cover:

 

But at a few suppliers I have seen this version without the "P B F" on it and the it has the open letter design which I have always liked better. I can not recall ever seeing these on another car so far so I think may opt for this one and paint it blue:

 

Then to compliment that here's another thought but it may be too crazy. Instead of a new oil pan how do you think it would look if I took the finned AC compressor lid in the same open letter Cobra and modified it to the front or sides of the oil pan, all painted blue to match of course?

 

BTW B, since there is very little you don't know about I'm sure this won't be new but I came accross these and had to post them for you:

I know you already have ones you plan to use but I'd never seens these and thought they were cool.

[Pakrat 1,043]

BTW in my searching I came across an interesting little engine detail page that I thought I would post. It's all opinion of course but they make some great points about less is more and matching parts up properly.

 

http://www.mustangandfords.com/techarticles/38381/index1.html

 

This might even be a nice add for the how to section as a future reference.

[bnickel 10,004]

Pak, i have seen the cougar valve covers and haven't enitrely ruled them out but most places are charging close to 200 bones for them. that's just a little bit too expensive for me and originals are even more than that if you can find them.

[Pakrat 1,043]

Pak, i have seen the cougar valve covers and haven't enitrely ruled them out but most places are charging close to 200 bones for them. that's just a little bit too expensive for me and originals are even more than that if you can find them.

 

I figured you had oh great Stang Guru but you never know. I hear ya on the price though, I'm shopping around myself for the Cobra's.

[bnickel 10,004]

hey Pak, here are a couple shots of similarly painted finned valve covers.

[Cheo69GT 1]

I still have the stock valve covers for both the 68 and the 69, and the air cleaner housing. I've thought about painting both to match the car, but I always come back to the same question. If you're modifying anything in the car (like I did) then, painting the covers is just another modification, although I like the idea, I guess do it if you're going to do the "Foose" thing to the motor. Just my .02$

[Pakrat 1,043]

hey Pak, here are a couple shots of similarly painted finned valve covers.

 

Yeah I like the look alot, more and more as I see it and I don't see it often enough, nice and subtle. So what do you think about just the cobra vs cobra with PBF?

 

Question on painting, I guess the easy thing to do is just paint the whole thing then scuff off the top rasied surfaces? I can't imagine trying to mask it all off.:huh:

 

Also, what do you think about the modded oil pan idea?

[bnickel 10,004]

i think either cover would look awesome painted blue, but i think you're right about the standard cobra PBF covers being a bit overdone, although they do look sharp in blue. as for the fins, yes just paint over them and then use a sanding block with about 600 grit paper to remove the paint.

 

i think the modded pan idea is pretty cool, but then again i did give you the idea :tt2:

[Pakrat 1,043]

i think either cover would look awesome painted blue, but i think you're right about the standard cobra PBF covers being a bit overdone, although they do look sharp in blue. as for the fins, yes just paint over them and then use a sanding block with about 600 grit paper to remove the paint.

 

i think the modded pan idea is pretty cool, but then again i did give you the idea :tt2:

 

Well technically you posed the idea for if I ever got AC added to my car. :sleeping: So you think one on each side or just one in the front? Either way even the cost of two is way cheaper than the cost of a new Cobra oil pan even though it does have the open letters. Hmmmmmm? Maybe I'll buy one just to fool around with and mock up.

[bnickel 10,004]

Well technically you posed the idea for if I ever got AC added to my car. :sleeping: So you think one on each side or just one in the front? Either way even the cost of two is way cheaper than the cost of a new Cobra oil pan even though it does have the open letters. Hmmmmmm? Maybe I'll buy one just to fool around with and mock up.

 

huh uh, i gave you the idea here.

 

i had an idea to have the power by ford and the raised fins section cut from another set of the 85 gt valve covers and have it welded to a canton T-pan so it would look similar to a cobra style oil pan but would match the valve covers i'm using. i've also considered doing the canton finned air cleaner lid painted blue on the cougar too.