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Before

Engine area when I bought the car After

The very satisfying result

This project was put off for the longest time because of the fear of removing the alternator - a perfectly functioning one at that ! The removal of the alternator is a project all of it's own and because it has been covered in many other places I am not going to go into it in depth as a separate subject here other than to say it just was not that hard. In fact, it was not the demon that I had built it up to be.

The biggest part of this project was to figure out how everything comes off and in what order. I did not remove the valve covers because I enjoy a drip free engine now and I did want to create more problems than I went into this project with. I decided to use the same colors as the interior to keep everything consistent.

I chose to paint the engine rather than powder coat the items because I had used heat paint on previous projects (race boat engines and a 350 in a '57 Chevy) and I have never had a problem with fading, chipping or discoloration.

[Click on Image to Enlarge]

Not exactly a shot from the sales literature. Although nasty looking it is not greasy and oily so clean up will not be too much of a chore. The paint on the body portion was flaking off in some spots and the wiring was a rats nest. The A/C is first on the list to go. With the A/C out there is a little more room to work. It didn't work very well and this is a Targa so most of the driving is top off anyway. Yes, that is the same engine ! The overall look of the car is really enhanced with the colors used on it. Who says red heads are no fun ?

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