my car is going to be running again... one day

[Michel Paiement]

Have not been on the site much since i blew my engine in my eclipse in Aug. the balance shaft belt broke making its way under my timing belt bending a couple valves. I'm building a 2.3L stroker engine, I hope to be done by March 2010.  I got a 100mm eagle crank, eagle rods, wiseco pistons, ARP stud kit, balance shaft del. kit, stainless valves, bronze valve guides, V3 dsm link. I'll keep everyone posted on my progress.

[Brett Haviland]

Nice bundle of parts there buddy!  Get em together now and take me for a rip!

[John Hartman]

Holy overkill there Mr "I bent some valves so I need a new crank etc..." 

Should be potent.  Hope your tranny, axles and other stuff can take all that.

[Brett Haviland]

hrrmmm i wonder what is going to break next! lol

[Michel Paiement]

Doing performance upgrades and engine builds is hobbie of mine and it keeps me busy, bending the valves just gave me a excuse to do a full engine build lol, will see what brakes on me as we go I’ll just up grade 

[Michel Paiement]

So i have been slowly working at my car, i have the engine out now, and on the stand. I have the head at the machine shop, going to bring the block next week. I am really wanting to strip my engine bay apart and get it repainted looks like ass scratches all over the place from some hacker at one point i guess, trying to think of how i can clean up the engine harness at the same time.

[John Hartman]

I strongly suggest against actually having the engine bay repainted.  It won't turn out as nice as you envision unless you spend big bucks.

Lots of degreaser and pressurewashing will get it really nice.  Then touch up paint well applied on the larger scratches and nicks.  I bet that makes it really nice, especially when the engine is back in.

PS I told the guys at the engine shop to make one piston loose for ya 

[Michel Paiement]

I strongly suggest against actually having the engine bay repainted.  It won't turn out as nice as you envision unless you spend big bucks.

Lots of degreaser and pressurewashing will get it really nice.  Then touch up paint well applied on the larger scratches and nicks.  I bet that makes it really nice, especially when the engine is back in.

PS I told the guys at the engine shop to make one piston loose for ya 

I was going to get it repained at a body shop. Lol they are going to have a hard time making a loose piston, I'm putting it together my self

[John Hartman]

yea but one hole will be 10thou bigger 

[Michel Paiement]

Getting the engine together, I'm getting excited to drive my car again

[CamWeiss]

Kinda missed it earlier, but I agree with John's post...
No paint.


It's incredibly soft after it comes out of the booth. Very easy to scratch, and if you wanted to avoid damage/marring/scuffs/scratches you'd have to wait weeks to let it harden up.

Plus, to do it right, you'd have to take every single thing out of the whole engine bay to respray it body colour. Trying to mask around stuff is a PITA and often doesn't look right when you see a seam around where you taped something.
And then since you redid the bay, you'd end up starting on things like brackets, etc.


Tons of degreaser + pressurewasher + scrubbrush to get it clean, and if you're still not happy polish the highly visible bits (Rad x-member, strut tops, top of the firewall, etc).


Looks good otherwise. Are you going to paint or polish the trans, or just leave it as-is?

[Matt Fredrikson]

Had my green engine bay done gloss black. Engine was out and Kevin at evolution had a guy come and do it. I paid $700 to have it done but they pulled everyting off the fenders and firewall and it turned out amazing I would do it again. On the other hand Glen Martin and I did his crx in a weekend and it turned out pretty sick to not as good but close considering it was with spray cans. Call Kevin and ask him for the guys number. I'll post you a pic of mine later when I'm not on my iPod.