Custom Engine Half Covers

I don't like the look of the more modern engines when covers are removed. All the thin wires running all over and all the plastic boxes just don't do it for me. After the supercharger was installed, obviously my original engine cover wasn't going to work, so I had to come up with an alternative. After searching for a few weeks I found that options are limited and could only find one company that made what I was looking for. Carbon By Design makes engine half covers and that's what I bought, but the quality and fit isn't what I was expecting for the money. However, like I said there is nothing else available at the time of this writing, so if you dive in to these expect to do some body work like sanding, bondo filling, etc for them to be right.

Initially I was just going to paint them Hemi Orange, apply some vinyl letters, and clear coat them. However I decided to have a local artist do some flames and he applied the vinyl and clear coated them with automotive clear for me. If your in middle TN I highly suggest Air2Art as Shane does an AMAZING job as you can see from the pictures.

For this modification you'll need:

Half Covers

400 Grit wet/dry sand paper

Red sanding pad

Bondo spot putty

Duplicolor premium primer P/N FP010

Duplicolor Hemi Orange Engine Enamel P/N DE1652

Duplicolor Acrylic Enamel Clear P/N DA1692

Vinyl decals if desired

3/8 socket wrench

10mm socket

3/8 drive 8" extension for socket wrench

Dremel with sanding barrels and cutting bit

Pneumatic 90 Degree Angle Grinder and 80 Grit sanding discs

Saftey glasses

*Alternatively you can have these professionally painted. I ended up deciding to do flames, so I primed and painted on the Hemi Orange then ahd a professional painter do flames, apply the vinyl lettering, and clear.

Difficulty Rating:

This project is basically like any body work that needs to be completed. You'll do lots of sanding and filling to get these to fit properly, then you'll prime and paint.

Here's a video and some pictures I shot as I worked on this project: