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Not being critical of this accessory as I think it pretty cool for people wanting to personalize, customize their vehicles. That's the industry I've been in since the 70's and it's how I make my living. But, as a gearhead all my life, I do have a problem with motor covers looking like transformer toys. There is no mechanical or electrical component that vaguely resembles that cover. It's a piece of plastic made to hide what was not in GM's budget to make aesthetically pleasing underneath. In my younger years I was enthralled with the association mechanical components and the functions they performed. One of my favorite cars, my '64 XKE Jaguar was a stunning example of this in every area, motor, chassis, rear suspension and everything else.
So I'm betting the designers of this part, loved their Transformer toys and wanted to incorporate the then trendy Japanese pop culture design into it. I realize most people that look under a hood are clueless as to what anything does, nor do they care either. Was GM playing on this ignorance? What are your thoughts?
2025 C8 Z06/7/E-Ray of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
2023 C3 of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
2021 C8 of the Year Finalist Unmodified
2020 Corvette of the Year Finalist (performance mods)
2019 C1 of Year Winner (performance mods)
2017 Corvette of the Year Finalist
2016 C2 of Year
2015 C3 of Year Finalist
Originally Posted by Nick49
Not being critical of this accessory as I think it pretty cool for people wanting to personalize, customize their vehicles. That's the industry I've been in since the 70's and it's how I make my living. But, as a gearhead all my life, I do have a problem with motor covers looking like transformer toys. There is no mechanical or electrical component that vaguely resembles that cover. It's a piece of plastic made to hide what was not in GM's budget to make aesthetically pleasing underneath. In my younger years I was enthralled with the association mechanical components and the functions they performed. One of my favorite cars, my '64 XKE Jaguar was a stunning example of this in every area, motor, chassis, rear suspension and everything else.
So I'm betting the designers of this part, loved their Transformer toys and wanted to incorporate the then trendy Japanese pop culture design into it. I realize most people that look under a hood are clueless as to what anything does, nor do they care either. Was GM playing on this ignorance? What are your thoughts?
Oh, I'm an old gear head as well but just wanted to make my engine look better since you can now see it from the exterior. I don't disagree with you at all, but there are some of us that do our own wrenching on our cars. There hasn't been a Corvette engine worth gazing upon since the 90-95 ZR1. Some of the most beautiful motors were the fuelies from 57-65. It's function over form now but at least we can dress it up a bit.
So I'm betting the designers of this part, loved their Transformer toys and wanted to incorporate the then trendy Japanese pop culture design into it. I realize most people that look under a hood are clueless as to what anything does, nor do they care either. Was GM playing on this ignorance? What are your thoughts?
I think some of it is from where things have gone as the norm. Forty years ago air cooled motorcycles had beautiful engines that were very pleasant to look at, today if you take the body work off of a current sport bike, the engine looks like the Borg. It is a lot easier to make the engine and all ancillary components as cost effective as they can and just cover everything with a plastic cover. I service all our cars, and when I take the plastic cover off our Jeep Grand Cherokee engine, there is nothing pretty going on underneath. After the cover, they put zero into aesthetics.
Looks like Testors model paint. Bright red, gold, silver and black. I used the same on Porsche center caps and it lasted a long time considering the conditions. Don't go cheap on the artist brush, get several good ones.
Yep. Testors enamel. I used frog tape to mask the perimeter so I could be sloppy and then did the interior by hand. Just take your time and its pretty easy. All the areas are either recessed or raised. As Phil suggested, get a couple of decent brushes. I did most of the interior painting with a number 0, and big areas with a number 4. I used flat finish to make future touch-ups better.
I used the following Testers Enamel colors to match the dark carbon look Vector vs traditional Chrome/Silver.
Flat Gray 1163
Flat Red 1150
Flat Black 1149
Met. Gold 1144
