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*UPDATED PICTURES*
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Well here are a few pics. Hard to capture the lighting, but I did my best.
Another day I will re-aim the lights but its not too bad. Im just having some trouble mounting the switch. Ill do it tommorow when im not going insane from soldering!
So around here, there are a lot of night time car shows at local fast food places. Well, I worked awhile cleaning up my engine, but people cant see it at night. I was planning on puttng some neons in the engine bay. Few problems come to mind, space and heat.
This is the only pic I can find of my engine bay right now, looks a lot better, but thats not the point of this thread. Although my new strut bar, spark plug wires and battery terminals will be ordered soon
The 4 places that are circled are most likely the 4 places where heat isnt that big of an issue.
Would there be any heat resistant stuff I would need to look at... like a clear engine paint to paint on the neons or I should be fine? Thanks in advance.
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Originally Posted by dysk8forlife
supercharger whine>girlfriend whine
Last edited by RedPhoenix; 05-27-2005 at 10:48 PM.
if you really want to light your engine bay with colored light, I would recommend picking up a 12v LED kit from somewhere (you should be able to find quite a few online). They will have less problems with the heat from the engine and such. Another recommendation is if you just want your engine to show off without looking odd with colored light, just wire a 12v halogen light on the underside of the hood with a switch tucked away somewhere (you can either wire it to your ignition if you don't want to worry about accidentally leaving it on and running down your battery, or if you are going to be at the show for a long time, you can just wire it straight to the battery). Even if you go with LED's, I would recommend wiring them somewhere where they won't be directly visible, and where they won't get alot of heat (such as under the front body support aka. the spots you circled to the left and right of the radiator). This will keep the light indirect which will make the overall effect look better.
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All motor. Leave the body kits off and make the car move fast, corner tight, stop fast and always blueprint your engine work.
I can do LEDS. I have a problem with aiming them when I solder on a wafer board. I can try that, I have about 20 blue leds laying around, I can try it and see how it looks. Im not particular about it underside of my hood, just because it would be very visable, maybe partially blnding. I have a dead noeon laying around, I should leave it in my engine bay for awhile and see how well it takes the heat. They are water resistant, which is nice.
the neon's will melt if you drive your car hard...trust me.
Even if its near the back of the headlights? It doesnt get that hot there. I have a temp sensor around here I can test it and read it while im driving. Tommorow I will stick the neon in my engine bay and test it. I drive partially hard, im getting more concered with the gas prices soaring though. Not to mention, the more I add to my car, the less hard I drive it.
well, you can give it a shot...but check it often...you may realize that on a hot day (around 98 degrees) if you drive for a good distance, that even right next to the headlights and under that front support, it will still get pretty hot.
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All motor. Leave the body kits off and make the car move fast, corner tight, stop fast and always blueprint your engine work.
well, you can give it a shot...but check it often...you may realize that on a hot day (around 98 degrees) if you drive for a good distance, that even right next to the headlights and under that front support, it will still get pretty hot.
Indeed, thanks for the headsup. I will check it. Its florida, is always 90F+, lol. So I can check that. You guys think this would look pretty cool? I might aswell finish on my neons... You can call me the neon-man byu the time I am done with this.
use Varads LEDs, prewired for a 2 wire hook up, they mounted with double sided tape, then you can adjust them to any position... and they're bright
i used these in my air vents too, haven't tried for the engine yet, for about $14 you get a pack of 4. I have some loose ones, maybe tomorrow, i'll hook them up, and temp. mount them in your designated areas and take pics, so we can both see how it looks... wouldn't hurt right?
of course if you have money, i would do Color Morphics (colormorphics.com), but thats if you have money burning a hole in your pocket... BTW your exhaust manifold heat sheild, did you paint that or was it like that? (what paint did you use, .... im about to do mine)
ok, I cant sleep and i seem to be a lil post whore tonight... so i crawled out of bed, and decided to give it a whirl... too much faith in a product, the Varad's LEDs just need to stay inside the cab.. not in the engine bay.. they weren't that bright, even in the pitch black dark of night... you'd need too many to bother with... try with Neons, or bright LED rods... lemme know how it looks... im focused on the interior right now.. as for the paint, i'll give it a whirl.. was going to powder coat my valve cover, but paint should work out, i have a spare so it wont hurt to try. As for the power steering cap - i painted mine... so dont feel alone, anything plastic under the hood got a coat of paint... even the fan shrouds (those im proud of) i'll post a pic tomorrow.. its on the other computer. PS does anyone know of a good place to send things for chrome plating?? Example, intake manifolds....
Well, I got to test heat pretty good today. I first stuck it in the places I wanted it to be. I ran the car for a few hours, off and on while I did my errands, I ran it hard aswell.. well harder than normal. Took out the neon, no signs of damage, warping etc, infact it was pretty cool, maybearound 100F, if that.
I then took the neon and placed it in my oven at 150F for an hour. Took it out, no signs of damage, just obviously hotter, lol. The 4 places I want it, dont get hot enough to hurt these neons.
Here are updated pics of my engine bay. Slowly its being cleaned up.. not just soap and water... but actual polish.
Thank you, i do what I can for the little money I put into the engine bay
The next places that need to be polished are around the battery and in the back right corner where one neon will go. Weight reduction? Yeah cause i probably removed about 400 pounds in dirt
I also have to tackle the job of cleaning the 2 containers, steering and cooalnt, or replacing them... or something. Just butt ugly.
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