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Engine Bay Make Over Tons of Pics


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This is going to be a super fast forward! I started working on the engine bay years before I started posting so I'll post everything I have up until right now and than continue to update it as I finish the work. I probably only have a few more months until the engine bay is show ready !

I unfortunately don't have any pics of the stock engine bay but most of us know what that looks like anyways. I found this pic online of a stock bay just for a starting point
stock_engine_bay.jpg
From there I really thought racing red wire loom looked great so I covered everything in it, it looked good and made the stock F150s I walked all over think it was the craziest truck on earth (oh how naive some of them were haha). I also starting painting some things the original color.
old_engine_bay.jpg
wire_loom_engine_bay.jpg
The next significant change was the great fire of 2012!
engine_fire.jpg
engine_fire_2.jpg
I was dumb back then and let someone install a stereo into my truck, they put the circuit breaker on top the fuse box and after a bit of spirited driving the connections grounded out on the brakes and started a small plastic fire. I completely lost brakes and E braked gently into some bushes by the pool house. Luckily I was a firefighter then and was just leaving the station so I called one of their personal phones and they showed up within two minutes. I had already extinguished by disconnecting battery and water that I had in truck but Im glad they showed none the less because loosing my truck is not an option.
This is when I first started ditching stuff in the engine bay, I ripped out everything they had done and made a new stereo(another thread) and put my battery in my tool box
battery_in_tool_box_2.jpg
battery_in_toolbox.jpg
battery_in_tool_box_3.jpg
From there I went through several alternators before I found one that could take the power from the stereo and inverters etc I was running. I had the black one replaced and fail twice on me when I decided to go big or go home and got a 400 amp monster from DC power. This alternator is perfect, great at idle etc and had it for years but it literally took 3 months (3 MONTHS!!!!) for them to ship it to me, everyone here can understand my frustration and how many times their tracking page was pinged by me those months.
old_alternator.jpg
red_alternator.jpg
These are a few pics of how the engine sat for awhile, I kept it much cleaner than in this pic and was very happy with it for several years while I was working on other aspects of the truck
old_painted_engine_bay.JPG
old_painted_engine_bay_2.JPG
old_painted_engine_bay_3.JPG
old_painted_engine_bay_4.JPG
Sand blasted and powder coated nearly every metal part in the truck, including core support
no_core_support.JPG
powder_coat_core_support.JPG
Next I started painting engine and interior parts while prepping the truck for paint. I sand blasted everything and than used a thick self etching primer to take the fake texture out of everything, did some bondo where needed than laid some SEM sandal primer on top to get the paint really flat and shine, and from there went into the 3 stage paint and did a matte clear.
primed_parts.jpg
bondo_radiator_support_2.JPG
bondo_radiator_cover.JPG
sanding_air_intake.JPG

....

 

 

okay well I guess I need someone else to reply to this so that I can post up the other half of the post, it says I did too many pictures which is weird because I host my own pics but whatever someone give me a spacer or something and I'll paste the rest of the post back in

 

 

you know you want too.....

 

 

there is some really good stuff coming....

 

 

thanks in advance !!

Edited by FatherSonSS (see edit history)
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sanding_valve_covers.JPG

 

painting_valve_covers.JPG

 

painting_engine_parts.jpg

 

painting_engine_parts_3.jpg

 

 

hydro_boost_install.JPG

 

Somewhere in there the hood and fenders got LineX, I plan to do the entire firewall when I pull the motor.

 

hood_dynomat.JPG

 

linex_fenders.JPG

 

linex_fender_2.JPG

 

linex_engine_bay.JPG

 

linex_hood.JPG

Got rid of the stock manifolds and EGR for some wrapped headers. I had to cut out and braze the hole for the EGR which sucks because I had to redo the ceramic coating completely, I couldn't just re coat the one spot

 

exhaust_manifold_and_egr.JPG

 

header_with_egr.JPG

 

wrapping_headers.JPG

 

painted_wrapped_headers.JPG

 

installing_headers.JPG

 

installing_headers_2.JPG

 

.... but stupid murphy caught up with me and I broke 2 of these suckers in the process

 

broken_exhaust_bolt.jpg

 

I broke the very front drivers side, for that one I just took wheel off and drilled it right out, but I also had a worst case scenario happen... I broke the rear drivers side the one tucked way in the firewall curve. I ended up un-bolting the motor and sprinkling a little magic on everything and got that one out but it took about 6 hours to do and was probably the second worst thing I've ever done to the truck (second only to the exhaust wrap fiberglass hell I put a good friend and myself through)

Edited by FatherSonSS (see edit history)
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After that I went into the ECM/Fuse Box/Coil relocation, theres a whole other thread on that process

wires_laying_on_engine_bay.JPG
wiring_engine_bay.JPG
Got rid of these guys
coils.jpg
and was left with this
old_valve_covers.JPG
Stuffed the cruise control, alarms, horns, and a couple other things into the wiper cowl
cruise_horns_alarm_wiper_cowl.JPG
How the fire wall used to look with all the junk and my way too big master cylinder hole
old_fire_wall_holes.JPG
SS headlight buckets
headlight_buckets_installed.JPG
Coating the frame
painting_frame.jpg
painting_frame_2.jpg
Old valve covers VS new ones. This literally took 12 minutes including the new temporary plumbing
valve_cover_comparison.jpg
And this is where I'm at now. I still have a lot I plan on doing like all new stainless plumbing, new radiators, new M/C, E fans, I'm gunna weld up a aluminum coolant can and catch cans, some wheel tubs, than several other little things to finish everything up I'll make sure to post as I go for the rest of it
clean_engine_bay.JPG
clean_engine_bay_2.JPG
clean_engine_bay_3.JPG
-Matt
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Love the valve covers!!! where can iget a set? are they direct bolt on?

 

 

Thank you ! I got them from ProFormParts, they have several different styles check them out at the bottom of this page

 

https://www.proformparts.com/category-exec/category_id/247/nm/GM_Performance_Parts/page_num/1

 

Like most true gear head sites its kind of weird to navigate but though those 7 pages there are several covers that work on our trucks

 

They bolt right on for the most part, they are much taller to accommodate for bigger stuff under there, so you have to check clearances but for us we should be good. You'll need a bolt kit but almost all of them come with it. You'll need to relocate your coil packs obviously. There are a hundred different ways to do this of varying difficulties you could go extreme like I did or some people just bring them higher up into the intake. And lastly you'll need to do a little minor plumbing. This is a great time to do a catch can if you can, if not any in-line PCV valve will work.

 

 

-Matt

Edited by FatherSonSS (see edit history)
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