engine "dress up"
 

so i have kinda been looking around for just a little something to dress up the engine/engine bay a little bit. i wasnt really able to find any different spark plug covers or anything (besides a carbon fiber one for like $130).

any ideas/help?

Paint your own spark plug cover.
Polish the fuel rail and cover.
Add colored silicon hoses.
Get an extra intercooler pipe across the top of the motor and polish it as well.

I am doing pretty much the same thing on mine.

Volvomotorsports.com used to sell an aluminum one that came in a couple of different colors.

i defiantly like the hose idea and the fuel rail idea (fuel rail idea alot!). im kinda iffy on painting the plastic cover, but i think i have a spare i can test it on maybe.

If I remember tomorrow I have a rail polished already I will take a pic of and post it.
Here is a pic of the fuel rail cover on the wifes car.
Attachment 22713
Here is one of the rail and turbo cover.
Attachment 22714
Thermostat housing
Attachment 22715

very nice. i wonder if silver and polished parts will be to much of one tone.... hmmmm

The colored hoses should offset and blend it all together.

TECH -- what did you use to polish the fuel rail cover - ive tried just about everything and cant even scratch the surface--- except with a screwdriver and even that is difficult

I have a bench grinder so I went to Harbor Freight and bought a buffing wheel and polish. Then I sanded the coating off, then sanded again with 600 then started buffing. Came out pretty good. Same thing for the RIP, it was powder coated when I got it. Both are dirty right now so they dont shine as good as when I did it.

Tech, that head shield looks chrome...nice job.

Attachment 19471

paint works nicely too:

Attachment 4528

More painted spark plug cover...
Belongs to a VS member.
Attachment 19470

It was a long process for me. I used a roloc disk first and took all the coating off. Then sanded smooth and polished.

Thanks Boxpin!

You dont realize how crappy your engine looks until you see it up against something like this.

Lol. Yeah, tell me about it. I was parked 3 cars over from this one at the ipd car show. Needless to say, my hood stayed locked shut. Haha.

here's mine(engine bay)

Attachment 19446

Where is everyone getting these blue silicon vacuum hoses?

Stylin motors, any place that sells silicon couplers/hose, ebay, you could probably get it at autozone. It's just, IIRC, 4mm vac line. It's nothing special.

That's as bad as this one...
http://www.swedespeed.com/emAlbum/al...%20855/015.jpg
Just sick!!!. I hope to get my wagon here...

Can you really tell the difference with the strut brace?

iPd has them for cheap and sell the vacuum line by the foot.

Yes, you can. I installed my strut brace on with the car jacked up, and it's the IPD Stage III one that you install, and then twist the bar to tighten it up. The whole front of the car creaks as I tighten it, it's crazy.

Here's mine as of this last weekend:

Attachment 19442

Attachment 19443