[oz07]

Hi All-

Thanks in advance for any advice. Here is my situation and my questions and please forgive the long post but I wanted to give you the complete picture. I have a 67 GTO outside and interior are good but the engine compartment is crap! Wrong color on the block, very poor spray can job on the inner fenders and firewall - it's peeling and flaking off in spots. It is an AC car and the core support had rusted on the bottom where they hold water and someone did a "patch" job - looks very bad in appearence but functions fine. The core support is good everywhere else it just the bottom where the radiator sat. I have a replacement that I picked up that is near perfect since I knew someday I would get to this point. Now I want to make it where I can actually open the hood and not be laughed at. My experience level is not a lot - In over the years I've swapped out a few engines but never went any further than removing the hood to get it out. I can build you a house, remove and replace parts on an engine and have a decent mechanical ability but nowhere near an expert when it come to cars. Here are my questions:

What is the smartest way to go about making it nicer under the hood? Remove the engine? Can I get a decent job without removing it?

For the core support will a non experinced person such as myself be able to remove the fenders and replace it and get all things back in alignment without scratching the exterior all up? Should I just have the old "patch" job cut out and welded back with the piece from the other support?

I don't want to miss driving the car this year so I want to be careful how much of a project I tackle. I do want it to look nice though.

I'm not loaded with spare cash but I thought of checking around the Ohio area to see if I could find someone but based on things I've heard IF I could find someone would probablyy cost at least $800 (for engine in) and up. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[Jerry H.]

If you can build a house, and you have fair mechanical skills and have replaced an engine before, you can tackle this. If this job were mine and the core support needed replacing and the engine compartment needed detailing and you described, I would break down the whole front end.

Of course you need a little help from a friend, your wife, or teenager with the hood and maybe the fenders, etc. Start by removing the hood, fenders, bumper, inner fenders, grills, etc. Take pics, bag all fasterners, and mark & label them. When you get to the point where you have just the engine setting in the frame then the choice is yours. It is according to how far you want to go. You can do a pretty good job with the engine still in the car, but if you prefer, pull the engine, put it on a stand and detail it there. Make sure everything is super clean. I prefer to take the inner fenders an core support out to a commerical sandblaster and have them done (Of course do them yourself if you have the equipment) Its just faster and not as messy and usually doesn't cost very much. Just be sure to have them do them in very fine sand. When you get them back just prime, sand and paint.

The quality of your 'detail' job with be in just that, the details. All your fasteners needed to be replated. Every little bracket, clamp, etc needs attention. (Painted, replated, etc.) All the wiring needs cleaned or replaced as necessary. EVERY item needs attention. The Power Brake booster needs replating, NOT painting. The master cylinder needs painting. You get the idea.

There are probably some shops in your area that would do this, but probably not to the degree that you may like unless you pay big $$$. You might check at cruise nights or shows with other owners at to who did their work. It could be that they did it theirselves and they might take it on as a side job.

[David Jones]

My engine compartment was crap when I got my car also. Inner fenders and firewall and everything on them was sprayed with rattle can undercoat. Engine was a mix of metallic gold and off color Pontiac blue. I've never had my engine out, but have had the heads off. I have stripped all of the undercoat off and repainted the firewall and inner fenders. I also have cleaned and repainted the engine itself. With a little anal patience and some spray cans anything is possible.

[OLDFLM72]

David,
What valley pan are you using? Engine looks great btw!!
V/R,
Ty

[David Jones]

It originally came from Year One. I picked it up off of Ebay on the cheap.