engine compartments

[CHR!S/DVK]

i'm nearing the point where my car gets painted, as well as my engine compartment.
i emptied it out yesterday and it looks like this:



i'm still in doubt what to do with the compartment, i was thinking of a back plate to put some stuff like my breatherbox and some electronics plugs on.
also, i don't know if i should put some isolation back in there. is it only there for isolating sound?

tell me some ideas about the best and nicest way to take care of the engine compartment
and let me see some pictures.

thanks

[Brian Silva]

I wanted to go for that clean look so ground all the clips off of the firewall and prepared the compartment to be painted. It really depends on the look you are going for. I have seen firewalls with engine turned stainless steel firewalls that look pretty slick as well. The insulation in the engine compartment is mostly there for sound. I will post some pics later today.

[CHR!S/DVK]

I wanted to go for that clean look so ground all the clips off of the firewall and prepared the compartment to be painted. It really depends on the look you are going for. I have seen firewalls with engine turned stainless steel firewalls that look pretty slick as well. The insulation in the engine compartment is mostly there for sound. I will post some pics later today.

i almost forgot that i have to remove the clips.
and for the style, as you say, a firewall can be very cool, but i like the curves in the backwall as well.
i'm eager to see some pictures!

[Jim Ratto]

whatever avenue to take as far as firewall, be doubly sure you are certain that it is secured tightly to body of car. I've seen a few "disaster stories" of motors dying a horrible death because the firewall was allowed to flap loose and ended up getting inhaled by the engine fan, sealing against front opening for fan intake, robbing the motor of all its cooling air.
I had this happen on my way out of town on a roadtrip 18 years ago.... luckily, I had a head temp gauge and noticed it was running WAY above where it normally did.... something was obviously very wrong. Pulled off highway, popped decklid, and lo and behold, the soundproofing was right up and over the air intake on the front of the shroud. I used the factory clips too. I would use the factory clips along with 1" fender washers and self tapping screws to secure the stock tarboard.
An old friend of mine wasn't so lucky. He was driving from NothernCalif to Carlsbad back in 1999 for Drag Day in his '73 convertible Bug, with 1776. when he met us at the hotel in Irvine he said "somewhere before Grapevine the motor lost a lot of power" (Grapevine is a long, steep, extreme grade that snakes over the Transverse Range, the mountains that separate So Cal from the san Joaquin Valley), and when he let it come to lower rpms, the oil light was ON (not flickering).
I opened decklid and sure enough, the engine fan had eaten the tarboard. It was tight up against the fan housing. He tried starting the motor, and by the sound of the "no effort" starter (freewheeling) I knew the motor was gone. Cooked. Dead. Nothing Left.
I popped valve covers off and the wall of Death Stench wafted out (burnt engine oil). It was fried. The insides of the heads were golden brown.
Everything in that motor was junk. Rod bearings... gone. Heads...every seat sunk. Exhaust valves were ghost white with blue on stems just under heads. Rings were siezed in ring grooves. Rockers stuck on shafts (which were blue). Case... spread @ center main and case savers were pulled. It was very sad.
My point here is BE CAREFUL

[Diederick/DVK]

the idea of using 1 or 2 layers of b-quiet sound deadening topped off with an aluminum firewall is what i might opt for...
i think i'd either use pop rivets to secure the firewall, however, in the absence of a pop rivet gun washers and parker screws are another option. i only wonder how to then "bolt" on a small breather box... any ideas?

[Sam K]

I can appreciate a nicely painted firewall, but I prefer the look of the stock insulation in the engine compartment. I had experience similar to Jim, though, so I always put a few of sheet metal scews with very large daimeter flat washers through the firewall in the area behind the fan. As long as the engine is installed, you can't see them. Cheap insurance.

[lawrence]

The next time I have my engine out I am going to put some type of insulation on the firewall of the engine bay. My engine is loud and I want the sound level in the cockpit to go down. Right now it is painted a gray color to contrast the black engine tin.

[Rennsurfer]

Redwagon, I fully agree with everything that you posted. Next time my engine's out, I'm gonna add the extra screws and fender washers behind the fan area... out of sight.

I've always had new factory insulation in my two Cal Look cars. Here's a recent shot of my '67.


And my '66.


I dig the look of a painted firewall... but for my own cars, I prefer the function and quietness of the factory stuff on there. Good luck with what you end up with, Chris. At the end of the day, it's YOUR car... so you have to be happy with it. Please keep us updated when you decide.

[Chuck Fryer]

For those of you who want the quite but are concerned about the tarboard getting sucked up by the fan, how about more insulation on the interior side of the firewall? You could pull the carpet back and use some sound deadening like dynamat or similar and just glue the carpet back.

[bilboa2]

Also have had a friend chase heating problems forever, but when he reved motor, insulation sucked in near fan.. harder to diagnose than you think. Here is a pic of my car (5 yrs ago)when it had a 2332 w 1.3/4 with berg heater boxes, i did the firewall with sound deadner (dyno mat?), then made engine turned firewall one swirl/turn at a time.Luckily only one error deep behind at bottom. New motor, 2442 in works,(dyno'd 182 hp at 4500 feet W belt and muff) thing fanshroud, going to empi cross bar style linkage, fuel lines behind shroud, brand new style compufire on firewall. cleaner look i hope. empi eyebrow decklid allows big berg velocity stacks. Wants and ideas change as I see other neat engine compartment ideas. Oh yeah, ck out eng lites doug berg placed in tin.bill

[WCB Hitler's Hot Rod]

Bill can you please show us more pics of your car? Your car is one of my favorites and deserves to be on the front cover of a magazine. There are soo many trinkets on your car that can easily be missed. Anyone have the pic. of it parked in front of the legend party at hotel in Ontario the day before Bug In 32?

[stealth67vw]

Are those 155s up front? Looks bitchen.

[bilboa2]

155's up front, newer nevada lisc plates say "60s look". bill

[Sarge]

Lookin' good, Bill!

[danny gabbard]

anothea nevada brotha

[Jim Ratto]

Also have had a friend chase heating problems forever, but when he reved motor, insulation sucked in near fan.. harder to diagnose than you think. Here is a pic of my car (5 yrs ago)when it had a 2332 w 1.3/4 with berg heater boxes, i did the firewall with sound deadner (dyno mat?), then made engine turned firewall one swirl/turn at a time.Luckily only one error deep behind at bottom. New motor, 2442 in works,(dyno'd 182 hp at 4500 feet W belt and muff) thing fanshroud, going to empi cross bar style linkage, fuel lines behind shroud, brand new style compufire on firewall. cleaner look i hope. empi eyebrow decklid allows big berg velocity stacks. Wants and ideas change as I see other neat engine compartment ideas. Oh yeah, ck out eng lites doug berg placed in tin.bill

Bill, I have to say your car is the best looking Cal Look car I have seen in a long long LONG time. That car is just about PERFECT.

[Jason Foster]

Hell yeah and talk about a BITCHEN color!

[Jim Ratto]

love that car

[Brian Silva]

killer looking car! Love the engine turned firewall and the t-bar license plate bracket 

[bilboa2]

yep jason, bahama blue. orig color of car.thanks for the compliments,but need to thank doug berg for his MANY added additional touches/ideas. Pedal assby cnc'd of brm, clutch and brake pedals beefed up and chromed.Tach and mount. Tach is an OLD "football" sun unit with late model moon guts inside calibrated to 4 cyc.SUN and moon eyes logos etched/cnc'd in tach brkt with outside view etching of "william rodgers" der kliener panzers volkswagon club.Berg 5 speed shift handle signitured dkps2 etc.line loc switch just below handle.MANY other "douged" items. deep sump with breather holes/jackets,..polished tranny ribs with dkp emplem and cutouts for empi camber compensator to go through. Weber side vent panels with dkp bird emblem..He redid tranny, looks like a polished watch. DOUG IS AN ARTIST... and friend...bill

[DKK Ted]

Hey Bill, how ya doing? Yup! I remember Doug working on that car, he did alot of work on that thing. Bill that car really looks good. Oh ya! finally going to put my BIG motor together. I'll e-mail you the details. Take care Bill!

Ted

[WCB Hitler's Hot Rod]

Thanks Bill for sharing. Just added a few more to my fav. pics.

[Diederick/DVK]

just wondering if there are anymore ideas on how to give the engine compartment a cal-look treatment.
any related photos would be nice

[vwxtc4free]

For those of you who want the quiet but are concerned about the tarboard getting sucked up by the fan, how about more insulation on the interior side of the firewall? You could pull the carpet back and use some sound deadening like dynamat or similar and just glue the carpet back.

Thats what I did .   But straight cuts,magnaflow & IDA's barking ,who wants to quiet that down! 

Ok.. maybe if it was your sole transportation...............and then ,ONLY maybe.

[peach_]

For those of you who want the quiet but are concerned about the tarboard getting sucked up by the fan, how about more insulation on the interior side of the firewall? You could pull the carpet back and use some sound deadening like dynamat or similar and just glue the carpet back.

Thats what I did .   But straight cuts,magnaflow & IDA's barking ,who wants to quiet that down! 

Ok.. maybe if it was your sole transportation...............and then ,ONLY maybe.

It will be for me  lol

[roland]

if you want quiet get some earplugs..

[Hotrodvw]

I just went through this.  My car was already painted, but the engine was out, and i wanted to paint the engine bay.  I had a tar board style insulation up, hated it.  It warperd and looked like crap after 2 yrs.  Painted, it looks soooooo much cleaner!  I cut the spikes off, ground them flush, and it really made things nice.  We don't need no stinking sound insulation!

Before:


After:

[GreenTom]

grate looking engine bay, I'm shooting into that kinda look of an engine just briliant I'll put some photos in march wish me luck.

[Neil Davies]

just wondering if there are anymore ideas on how to give the engine compartment a cal-look treatment.
any related photos would be nice

Either body colour with satin black tin or satin black with gloss black tin would be my preferences.

[Sarge]

In the old days, no one did much with the engine compartment... they just slid the old stocker out and added an IDA equipped piece in it's place.  I like the idea of a detailed and body color painted firewall, but I'm not sure if I'd like the extra noise.