Thought I was done with this stuff, then Rochester started pimpin these engine bay beautification projects in my head. Went to Home Depot last week for that High heat paint for my exhaust cans and saw they now had Plastidip in a few other colors besides black, they stocked Red, White, Blue, and Gunmetal.
Since my G's theme is pretty much black & carbon I thought Gunmetal might be a good blend so here it goes.

I Plastidipped the following~
~Radiator Cover, Battery & Master Cylinder Covers, Band Trim in front of the covers, Engine Cover, Coolant tank, and Front & Rear Infiniti Emblems.
I vinyl wrapped the Infiniti Emblem on the engine cover w/ matte black vinyl.

Parts prepped & ready to Plastidip (sorry forgot to takes pics of the prepped engine cover since I did that after all these parts )








Here's the coolant tank, shout out to Rochester for the idea to paint this along w/ the fluid level window, came out pretty sweet I must say



And the rest of the finished pics, really like the gunmetal color, and Plastidip is such a forgiving paint that as long as you do decent prep your almost guaranteed nice results. And best of all I'm officially CHROME FREE!!!

 

I was assuming you'd experiment with something first, like one of the back panel covers. But no, you went all in with a full-day project and plastidip madness. It looks way more blue than it does gunmetal.

Your front emblem is all wrong now, by whatever measure I'm using for right & wrong, and fully aware that it's just an opinion. Painting the sides of the emblem that fit into the grille just doesn't work.

The radiator cover *OR* the coolant fluid overflow bin, but painting them both looks weird to me. Given this process, I don't think you should dip the large radiator cover.

As for the engine cover, I think I know you well enough now to bet good money you're not happy with that. The details and the edging are just sloppy, Brad. Sorry.

The only thing I do rather like is the back corners, where you painted the covers and supporting plastics. That looks pretty good in these photos, although having that rectangular cut-out over the embossed labels calls way too much attention to something that doesn't deserve it.

Being plastidip, I'm highly suspect about it's durability. Not so much from heat, but from the errant scratch from... well, anything. I imagine the plastidip very easily ripping just because you set some wrench down on it.

I'm happy to see you giving the Newt attention to detail under the hood. Heck, I've been after you to do something for a long time now. But this... it's just too much, buddy. Way too much.

 

Given what you did recently, professionally vinyl dipping your side mirrors and front lip, then cleared and nite shaded, I was rather hoping you'd do the same with the two covers in the back corners. I thought that would look fantastic.

Didn't realize earlier when you said "Dip" that you meant more of this rattlecan rubber.

 

Damn, that's some tough love I must admit John. First off the pics come off like a bluish hue and if I use a flash on the emblems they look white
It's more of a battleship gray in my best estimation. The front emblem I painted is just as it was chromed, any part that was chrome is now gray so I didn't paint anything that was black previously. IMO it looks really good, especially w/ the carbon grill and blacked headlights. I think I did a decent job edge blocking the paint, there's a couple places that I might need to address but overall I'm about 95% pleased.
As always I sincerely appreciate your honest feedback

 

if i knew you well enough, I would also say Im not feeling it. in my opinion, keeping the engine bay as OEM as possible is the cleanest way. Painting OEM pieces look too homemade, if that makes sense. Its hard to beat a nice clean OEM matte black plastic cover. If you must do something, go with a full CF theme. I am also not a fan of the Injen SRIs. I think they are the least appealing intake, cosmetically speaking.

If you going for murdered out, front emblem should be high gloss black, if not keep it oem chrome along with the rear for balance.

Thats what I would have said if I knew you a little better. To each their own though. I am a big fan of everything else you've done though.

 

I know, man. It was tough to write, because I really wanted to like everything you did here.

On the upside, your work here did plant an idea in my head for a subtle painting mod under the hood. Just a piece, not nearly as all-encompassing as what you did here. But this is your thread, and I'll not ***** it.

You're still my favorite forum member here in the Sedans. But then, you're probably everyone's favorite forum member.


It does. Good turn of phrase. I would apply that same criticism to my painted engine cover.

 

CF would look better all of those thing you painted turned out blue !! not even gunmetal

try this out :

Silicone Post-MAF Intake Hoses from Z1 or HPS or any other brand ( black )

what i think you did here is you over paint every thing you see black that's my opinion

you got that right old man

 

The colors don't really jive with me, but painting your car is something super personal. As long as you're happy, I say more power to you.

More than anything, I'd say you should spend a little time with a bottle of simple (soylent?) green and detail your engine bay. The dust on your air intake hoses esp. draws the eye away from the star of the show.

On another note, how much trouble was it to remove the coolant reservoir? I'd like to paint mine black; it just seems to stand out too much the way it is. It didn't look like you drained it first. Could you post/pm a quick DIY on how you got that out?

 

I don't really care for the under the hood stuff, but for the emblems, I still prefer the gloss look. I don't like the matte look of PD.

 

I was thinking that, too. Like putting on a fancy suit, but not taking a shower first.


Absolutely effortless. You don't need a write up. Just look at it.


Haha, wow. (Newt is old. We're both old, LOL)

 

In his defense, I've been in a few different parts of New Mexico, and I'm surprised his engine bay is as clean as it is. That effing dust gets EVERYWHERE.

 

This turned out fairly good in my opinion. I think I like the fact that you took a chance and experimented. I enjoy seeing how creative people get with plastidip. I wasns't expecting the gunmetal to turn out that way though. Maybe order some glossifier to give the dip a lil more shine and depth. It should also help darken it a bit. Thanks for sharing and I did get an idea off of this as well

 

Oh well, I like it
And it really IS gray, the pics have a funky blue tint for whatever reason

And you guys know me, if I do something I'm not happy with it's gone, redone, done differently etc. But I like the end result and you'd really have to see the emblems in person I think.

And thanks for the opinions, I may not agree w/ some of them but I appreciate your honesty

 

Thanks Tevi, for whatever reason gray doesn't photo well (or maybe it's just the cheaper cameras ) like that guy that had pics of his gray CF interior looked snow white, it's quite a bit darker in real life. At any rate, appreciate the comments, and if you got something from it so much the better!

 

that's your fault don't use the flash when you taking pictures , flash makes any color looks like another one