Thinking of sprucing up engine compartment

Chained_360 · Feb 1, 2017

So, the engine compartment (and engine) of my Barracuda is a little grungy --we'll say it has some patina-- and I think I want to spruce it up a bit. Make it so that the rest of the car keeps the patina, but when the hood opens it really shines. I don't think it would be that hard to yank the engine, paint it, clean up the compartment, and put it all back together. Do you guys have any advice for this? It's a '68 notchback, manual steering and no A/C with a 360 in it.

I also have a few questions in case I do decide to do this. What can I do to make the compartment as clean and organized as possible? My main questions is what color I should paint the engine. I don't know the year of the engine, but it's light blue. The car originally had a 318 in it, but that was before I owned it. The three options are:
1. Paint it like the 318 (orange or blue I think for '68).
2. Paint it like a '68 340 and pretend it is one.
3. Paint it like the [correct year] 360 like it is.

Anyways, I'm still tossing the idea around. I would like to do it so I can make it look nice and inspect the engine closer, but I also don't want to have it apart when spring rolls around. Any thoughts you guys have are helpful. Thanks!

Tadams · Feb 1, 2017

I vote for painting it the correct color for the year and motor size

ocdart · Feb 1, 2017

This will probably not be a big help. But, IMO, paint the engine whatever color you want. It's your car and you're the only one who needs to be happy with how it looks.
Some Mopar engine colors just do go well with the color of the car.
My '69 Dart is getting painted Viper Red and a Mopar orange engine won't look good. Again, my opinion. So I'm going to paint it a "custom-mix" blue.
The engine I built years ago for my old '69 Dart was the same "custom-mix" blue color and really popped against the R4 Charger Red body color.

Chained_360 · Feb 1, 2017

ocdart said:
This will probably not be a big help. But, IMO, paint the engine whatever color you want. It's your car and you're the only one who needs to be happy with how it looks.
Some Mopar engine colors just do go well with the color of the car.

Yeah, thats kinda what I was thinking. While a red engine would be cool (because 340), that's not what the car has. The car was originally Matador red and is now maroon, but the compartment is still red. I think a blue engine would look the nicest. Here's what it looks like now:

Chained_360 · Feb 1, 2017

I actually just got the best/worst idea ever... I am also an enthusiast about tanks, and one of my favorite colors on the planet is olive drab... What would you think about an olive drab/GI themed engine? I would go for a matte finish, and could even paint white lettering on it.

DesertRat · Feb 1, 2017

Pull the engine, its easy. Paint the engine bay body color and the engine any color you choose. I painted my engine body color which happened to be a Viper red.

Chained_360 · Feb 1, 2017

DesertRat said:
Pull the engine, its easy. Paint the engine bay body color and the engine any color you choose. I painted my engine body color which happened to be a Viper red.

I think I'm just going to do the engine this round, although I'll definitely clean the bay and maybe clay bar it. I think I'm going to go with either turquoise or Mopar Blue (OEM pn# P4349217AB) for the engine itself.

DesertRat · Feb 1, 2017

Chained_360 said:
I think I'm just going to do the engine this round, although I'll definitely clean the bay and maybe clay bar it. I think I'm going to go with either turquoise or Mopar Blue (OEM pn# P4349217AB) for the engine itself.

I know how that goes, once you start there is no stopping until you complete the job :thumbsup:

Good luck, a 68 Notch is a thing of beauty!

j par · Feb 1, 2017

The first thing I do is pull the engine and transmission. Clean, reseal, and paint (a.k.a. krylon rebuild)
From that day forward I'm not working on (or under) a pile of grease...

stixx · Feb 2, 2017

Chained_360 said:
I think I'm just going to do the engine this round, although I'll definitely clean the bay and maybe clay bar it.

The vintage look is all the trend lately, so i would pull the engine and paint it whatever color (maybe not olive drab :poke:

), like blue. Then clean the engine bay, treat it some with Scotchbrite and put a layer of satin clear coat over it.

MrJLR · Feb 2, 2017

68 notchback barracuda here......I went with red

abodyjoe · Feb 2, 2017

i prefer them the proper color for the year.. personal preference is what it is..

the 273/318 was also red in 68 from what i remember.. blue didn't come till 70..

should be able to scrub the hell out of that engine bay and it will look light years better..

phscollectorcarworld: 1968 Plymouth Barracuda 318 4 speed fastback

MrJLR · Feb 2, 2017

Also, if you want it to STAY looking good in there...
New oil pan gasket
New valve cover gaskets
Water pump gaskets
Fuel pump gasket
Freeze plugs

New belts and hoses go a long way as well.....Spark plug wires and route them nice and clean.

Simple green with scotch-brite pads and rags.....
The scrubbing and cleaning and painting are nearly free....crack a beer, turn on a radio and spend the time...I did this on and off for several beers...I mean days! Lot's of relaxing hours not working hard...scrub-scrub here, scrub-scrub there....
It doesn't have to be hard labor.
Don't forget to clean the underside of the hood too!

Jeff

Chained_360 · Feb 2, 2017

Wow, those are some pretty engine bays! I think I'm also leaning towards finding some OE style valve covers, I actually really like the look of them when they're done up right. It may be a while before this job happens, but I will definitely post photos as I go!

MrJLR · Feb 2, 2017

Chained_360 said:
Wow, those are some pretty engine bays! I think I'm also leaning towards finding some OE style valve covers, I actually really like the look of them when they're done up right. It may be a while before this job happens, but I will definitely post photos as I go!

Absolutely! We love before and afters!

Jeff

69conv · Feb 2, 2017

Jegs sells a convoluted wire harness tubing by Trans Dapt that does a really nice job of cleaning up the underhood wiring. Its split on the side to insert the wires and keeps everything neat. I really like what it did for my engine compartment. Btw the black looks 1000% better than the chrome.

yellow rose · Feb 2, 2017

MrJLR said:
Also, if you want it to STAY looking good in there...
New oil pan gasket
New valve cover gaskets
Water pump gaskets
Fuel pump gasket
Freeze plugs

New belts and hoses go a long way as well.....Spark plug wires and route them nice and clean.

Simple green with scotch-brite pads and rags.....
The scrubbing and cleaning and painting are nearly free....crack a beer, turn on a radio and spend the time...I did this on and off for several beers...I mean days! Lot's of relaxing hours not working hard...scrub-scrub here, scrub-scrub there....
It doesn't have to be hard labor.
Don't forget to clean the underside of the hood too!

Jeff

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I like the engine with the TQ. Always liked that carb.

diymirage · Feb 2, 2017

if you really want to spruce up the engine bay...install a blower on the engine

j par · Feb 2, 2017

I usually buy a couple bags of that corrugated tubing at Harbor Freight for I don't know a couple dollars a bag. At the swap meet you can find that wire Loom stuff in all kinds of colors and it should be dirt cheap. I like to use black and use black tape at each end to close it or seal it so it doesn't fall off. Agreed - It's a nice easy product to use it really touches up the spaghetti nicely....
I don't want to post a picture of my car motor for the millionth time but it's on the show or share small or your motor compartment or something like that thread right now.
Sorry voice command..

69conv said:
Jegs sells a convoluted wire harness tubing by Trans Dapt that does a really nice job of cleaning up the underhood wiring. Its split on the side to insert the wires and keeps everything neat. I really like what it did for my engine compartment. Btw the black looks 1000% better than the chrome.

Chained_360 · Feb 2, 2017

diymirage said:
if you really want to spruce up the engine bay...install a blower on the engine

Oh man would I love that, you got an extra one laying around that I can have?

diymirage · Feb 2, 2017

if i did...it would look like this

Trevor B · Feb 3, 2017

When I did the Duster's engine bay, I used a genius trick I found somewhere on this site (can't remember who/where): tinfoil on wires, torsion bars, anything you don't want to paint or get paint on. Way easier than taping off!

Divenut · Feb 3, 2017

My daughters and I spruced up our 340 w/o pulling the motor. We did pull everything off the motor to clean and repaint though. While it will make purist cringe, it's the way my girls wanted "their" Duster to be. ;-) I think they did pretty darn good!