latest mod under the hood

[bigfish]

Hello all,

It's been a while since my last post and I thought I would share my latest mod under the hood. I have pretty much done as much as I'm willing to do on the performance end of the spectrum, so I thought it was time to work on the aesthetic end...

I recently needed to replace my valve cover gaskets on both sides. So while the valve covers were off the guys at Valley Moterwerks (Walter, Alex and Nick) in Rancho Cordova, CA. bead-blasted, primed and painted them, we went with a flat red. I think we ended up with three coats of primer and three coats of paint.

Once we got the valve covers back on, I took the valve cover plastic trim pieces, the supercharger stabilization rod and plastic engine cover to the guys at Specialty Car Craft (Andy and Larry) in Los Angeles, CA. They cleaned, stripped, tapped and prepped the plastic pieces. Then they did an amazing job matching the color of the valve covers.

I then took the painted trim pieces back to Valley Motorwerks and they put everything back on the motor. I'm very happy with the finished product, the engine really pops now when you open the hood and the red really compliments other items on my X...

I'm very picky about who I trust with my cars and I can tell you both groups did an amazing job helping to complete this project. If your in CA and need any work done to your vehicle, I highly recommend both of these shops.

www.vmwerks.com 916 636-9526

www.specialtycarcraft.com 310 838-5551

Their attention to detail is amazing. No mater how big or small the job they both get things done on time, on budget and the quality of the work is superlative. Thanks guys.

I have attahced a few pic's of the project....

[markreg]

That's awesome! They did a real good job.

[TwinsPoppa]

Nice! It reminds me of Ferraris.

BTW .. did you think about getting the strut bar done in red too?

[m5james]

Nice work. I've seen people go as far as filling the holes in the VC's to get rid of the pitting. The shop who rebuilt my engine in the 7 painted them black, came out nice, but I'd rather add some color like you have.

[Weasel]

I think I'm just gonna stay simple and sand/clean/paint the valve covers with the cast aluminum looking rattle can from the auto parts store when I do my gaskets in the near future... just to make the engine look brand new.

[bigfish]

Yep I did think about it, wasn't sure how much red would be too much, still not sure, but that is still on my mind!

Originally Posted by TwinsPoppa

Nice! It reminds me of Ferraris.

BTW .. did you think about getting the strut bar done in red too?

[bigfish]

They offered to fill pitting but we ended up running out of time. I needed the X back for a road trip. The pitting is always gonna bother me a little, however when you look at the whole project, it was a minor detail.

Originally Posted by m5james

Nice work. I've seen people go as far as filling the holes in the VC's to get rid of the pitting. The shop who rebuilt my engine in the 7 painted them black, came out nice, but I'd rather add some color like you have.

[bigfish]

I actually thought about that too, but figured that I'm not gonna have VC's off again anytime soon so why not make them pop when you open the hood! Good luck with your VC project!

Originally Posted by Weasel

I think I'm just gonna stay simple and sand/clean/paint the valve covers with the cast aluminum looking rattle can from the auto parts store when I do my gaskets in the near future... just to make the engine look brand new.

[Weasel]

I'm sure I'll take before and after pics when I do it, I'm just gonna have to take a vacation day or two from work to do the work needed on my poor neglected X5 since I've been working 7 days a week otherwise and will never be able to make time for it. If I don't do the cast aluminum looking spray I'd do gloss black, kinda at a 60/40 split in my head which way I wanna go.... clean oem look or custom look............?

[X5X]

Nice I am planing to do the same to my red BMW 8-series