Last week I took some notice to @BULL's engine bay, shown here.

Didn't even bother asking if I could use his pic, because the work here is something to be proud of. Not only is it clean and unique, but the wire tuck, trimmed hole caps, and blank plates show a special attention to detail. Nice job.



One of the elements I really like here are the blank plates over the shock towers. I love this idea, and have been rolling it around in my head, wondering about materials, fitment, access, etc. BULL's response was measurements, tupperware, and online retail for center cars... all perfect sense for what is essentially an arts & crafts project. I did a similar things a few years ago, where I brought the back plastics together:

https://www.myg37.com/forums/g37-sed...nel-blank.html

In that same theme, I'm thinking something might come from a thread on this topic of shock tower blank plates. To see if anyone else in interested in pursuing this, or at the least, collect some ideas and discussion.

And here's my current engine bay:

 

Agreed, BULL's engine bay is by far the cleanest and minimalist of any bay I've seen and he deserves credit for accomplishing this! While I currently have no interest in pursuing this tid-bit of OCD on my own ride, I'm thinking the easiest way to mass produce those shock tower covers might be via 3D printer unless you can locate some off the shelf plastic bits that works One advantage to the 3D printer is you could incorporate raised lettering or embossed logos on each cover

 

3D printing... yeah, I could see someone doing that. There's a few people here in the forum who dabble in 3D printing.

Absinthe, I'm not interested in mass producing anything. That's not the point.

 

As is customary I've come out of my automotive winter hibernation as I've been plotting away my many projects for the G this summer (most of which probably won't get finished). I was perusing thread you referenced above a couple days ago and I too took notice of the capped off shock towers in Bull's engine bay. I like the look too, however with my Fortune Auto coil-overs, I wouldn't be able to pull of quite that clean of a look, even if I were to remove the adjuster. That said, I've started contemplating a cover that works similarly but leaves open space for just the adjuster **** to poke through. I think I just need to go outside and open the hood and stare for a bit until I'm inspired to the best solution.

Here's an obligatory shot from my engine bay..

 

That would be really easy to 3D print, and PETG should easily hold up to that heat.

I could throw something together if anyone really wants. What comes to mind is a printed cap, which snaps into place. I could add a hole in the center (which can be filled with a removable rubber plug) to gain access to the coilover adjusters. (assuming they don't stick out very far)

 

X2, Reading the Kid's comment I initially thought of the same. If you'd like to get fancy then take that file and have it made in billet AL.

For those that ITS components dont poke out the body hole this is what you'd get. THIS IS AN EXAMPLE ONLY AND NOT THE ACTUAL SIZE.
To obtain the SIZE, measure the ID in MILLIMETERS of the shock tower hole.
Look up this ##MM CENTER CAPS ON EBAY AND AMAZON


Should look something like this.



Measuring is important due to the hole having a lip, for this to work correctly the cap must sit flush, some of these sellers have full specs for these caps so take advantage of these.
Scuff them and paint them of whatever color and you're done.

I used a piece of flat clear plastic dipped in paint. I made mines into a small "LID" that is slightly oversize to rest on that same lip.

 

The reason why I did such a cheap method for mines was desperation. I needed to paint the bay.
While Scuffing the bay and plugging some of the holes I thought it would be simple to make that.
"I could always order it or I could always make it and move forward 10 steps"

Another benefit of this cap is you can lube up this area here and preserve this area and not have to take a look at it.
Strut mounts suck on these cars, I believe part of that is debris. Many shocks could have been saved if the top thread was kept lubricated.

It's been about 20k miles

Now that we're in the printing era, I'm excited to see can cool thing can we print for engine parts, etc

 

BULL, your blank plate looks more like a cap; something that goes over the inner ring, not sits inside the hole.

Could you take a close up photo of this for us please?

Also (segue), it looks like you removed the little hole plugs throughout, some left open and some filled in. Looking at that, I like the look, however I'm not liking the idea of leaving holes uncovered, so maybe some white hole plugs, since my bay is white. Did you look into replacement plugs at all? I should probably remove one and figure out what it is.

 

 

The center hole measures out at 50mm for me, give or take 1mm. Anyone care to confirm that, or nail the size exactly?

And there are these here, which are 50mm inner diameter, with a lip. For a sticker or emblem, I'm guessing.
There there's there here:

 

Does anyone reading this have a tool for measuring the inside diameter of a hole? All I have is a ruler and some eyeballs. And to better facilitate measurement, I'd have to remove the FSTB, which isn't a big deal, just... figure someone else could do this measurement better than me, is all.

 

Ill go see if my caliper will fit in there. I have a FSTB also... so it probably won't. But I'll try.

 

While you wait, try to find an object around your house that appears to be of similar circumference. Mason jar lids, plastic cap, etc.
Ebay caps will never disappoint.

 

Alright I got it, it's 49.7mm ID.

 

You. Are. The. Man.