Well after a long winter in storage I'm getting the Z ready. While cleaning up under the hood I thought about how to dress it up. I know about the shiny aluminum rad covers, battery covers, fuse box covers, etc... But I was wondering if any of you painted any of this stuff. Anyone paint their fuse box cover? I've picked up gloss black paint for the calipers and I don't see why I couldn't paint the fuse box cover gloss black. Same goes for rad cover and battery cover (getting them made from local sheet metal shop). Something to take away from the dull cheap GM plastic look. Any ideas???? or better yet, any pics?

 

I don't think that painting something a shiny gloss black would look as crappy at the GM plastic. Maybe it would. I dunno. That's why I put up this post to see if anyone has done any under the hood painting on individual parts like the relay cover, etc...

And I definitely agree that the MBA stuff is the sure way to dress up the engine bay, BUT, at $142 for the throttle cable cover, $79 for the fuse box cover, $110 for the battery cover and $79 for the rad shrould, then $410 too me is a LOT OF CASH to be dropping just to dress up some of your engine bay. After all, I'd still need the caps and covers and plates and everything else to make it look right. And I'm in Canada. So do the conversion on the currency and get it shipped here and BOOM, there's a new catback system and lowering kit paid for.... just for some under the hood shiny parts. But to each their own.

 

I painted my throttle cable cover- gloss black, SLP CAI- deep cherry red, my oil filler cap- deep cherry red to match tranny dipstick and hood shocks chevy orange. I have picks of underhood on my site hope this helps you out but I just did the throttle cable cover so that wont be there.

 

Thanx Eliminator. Nice car BTW. Gotta love the black Z

I've go the SLP CAI too and that's why I wanted to paint other things gloss black - to match the CAI. What kind of paint did you use? How did the TC cover turn out? Post pics when you get 'em.

 

Heres a guy who painted a bunch of stuff under his hood:
BlackDogs Car
A little extreme for my taste but a perfect example of what can be easily painted.

I think just doing a few things in gloss black will make a nice subtle difference on your car. I haven't painted anything under my hood yet, but I am a big fan of powdercoating and polishing so far. I might end up painting a few small things down the road. Here is another example:
Steve Rupps Car
where he painted a couple things like the FIPK and the dipstick handle. Hope this post helps you and definately go for it.

 

i recently polished my hood struts, painted the hood latch on the hood, and lever to open it, fuse box, and radiator cover flat black. it looks better then before, and alot cleaner, on my radiator cover, i took and removed the ridges and all the stickers and crap and made it smooth, it was a PITA! but worth it. and the fuse box, i removed the "fuse box". i plan on doing more, but dont have any pictures yet.

 

Hey greenTA, sounds like you put a lot of working into getting the rad cover flat and smooth. I thought about that but I'm gonna get one made locally by a sheet metal shop. Not much too it so the cost is minimal. Now I'm trying to decide whether or not get a stainless steel one made and polish it or just sheet metal and paint it gloss black to go with the rest of the car. Decisions, decisions......

when you get those pics, post 'em up.....