Please help us out, which engine bay looks better/cleaner to you.

Thanks for voting.

And the two contestants are. . .

1992 Honda Civic CX
1999 Honda Civic Si

First Car: NickQ, 1992 Civic CX
Then <FONT SIZE="1">LS turbo, look at the mess. </FONT>



Now <FONT SIZE="1">Swapped in a B18C, but still not the prettiest of engine bays, but some of the wiring was hidden in this picture.</FONT>




Still the b18c after a little clean up and some painting. But the engine bay was still way too cluttered for me at this point. Especially the battery area and "turbo" area.


So after numerous more hours spending on the engine bay, this is what it looks like today.
















How did I get to this point?
Well, here is your write up.

Besides the obvious swap from LS turbo to stock GSR

Removed

<FONT SIZE="1">* AC (ALL components, wires, and lines)
* PS (ALL components, wires, and lines)
* Drag 3 turbo (and ALL components, wires, and lines) from the LS
* ITR radiator (replaced w/ stock civic radiator, and single Fal slimline fan)
* Washer fluid resivior
* Stereo circuit breaker</FONT>

Relocated

<FONT SIZE="1">* ALL wiring from wiring harness
-Wiring moved from on top and across fender well, to underneath chassis, and outside of the engine bay. Between the fender and engine bay.
* Headlight wiring
-For both sides, I cut the headlight wiring, and ran it through a little hole in the chassis behind the headlamp assembly. Then I connected the wiring using solderless butt connectors, then heat wrapped it with black heat wrap.
* Radiator catch can
-I took off the front facia, and attached the can to the center radiator support, on the passenger side in front of the radiator, using black gardener's plastic coated wire. All that was needed after that was a hose long enough to reach it.This will not affect cooling enough to even matter. I have not seen ANY rise in tempature.
* Brake booster vaccume hose and check valve
-I bought a line of hose long enough to run underneath the booster and up to the intake manifold (approx 24"). I then used a pair of pliers to rotate the fitting on the top of the intake manifold to face down to better hide the hose. Be careful while doing this as not to break it off. I have noticed that on some engines, it is almost impossible to move without breaking.
* ALL battery wiring
-I removed the battery and all mounting hardware. I moved all wiring behind the battery and underneath the mount. I ran the negative wire behind, and around the passenger side to the fender wall. I moved the positive power wire behind and underneath the battery. Then up to the fuse block. I moved the positive starter wire behind and underneath the battery, under the chassis, and to the starter. (see Replaced section for new wire treatment)
* ALL misc. motor wiring (including; distributor, O2 sensor, VTEC, and GSR intake secondary wiring)
-Heat wrapped, and moved as close to the motor, and under the intake manifold, as possible, using black zip-ties.
* Fuel injector wiring
-While fuel rail was off (see Painted section) I disconnected the injector wiring. I removed all of the stock heat wrap from the injector wiring, pulled out as much as I could through the harness, and re-wrapped it with heat wrap. This lengthened the wiring just enough. I then ran each wire and connector as follows: I ran the wire for cylinder #1 (going from left to right) through the 1 & 2 runner. #2 through the 2 & 3 runner. #3 through the 3 & 4 runner. #4 on the outside of the #4 runner.I put back on the fuel rail, leaving the wiring underneath, and plugged the injectors back in. You will have to spin the injectors so that the connector is pointing at the driver (kinda diagonal-right). </FONT>

Replaced

<FONT SIZE="1">* ITR radiator for smaller, stock radiator
* Top radiator bracket
-I removed the stock radiator bracket. I cut a short length of metal plumbers tape and bent it to shape. This is a lot smaller and, in my opinion, looks much better. Then I attached it in place of the original.
* STR oil cap for stock oil cap
* Battery terminals (my little secret . If you really want to know what terminals I used, PM me)
* ALL battery wiring
-I used 0 gauge, Stinger ground wire (completley covered in heat wrap) with stinger gold connectors on everything.
* ALL ground wires
-I used 0-4 gauge stinger ground wire, completley heat wrapped in black, with stinger gold conectors.
* Red 8mm spark plug wires for stock black wires</FONT>

Painted

<FONT SIZE="1">* Engine bay
* Valve cover (Complete Write-up: https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=622687 )
* Spark plug wire cover
* Fuel Rail
* Fuel pressure regulator
* Cap on the passenger side of fuel rail
* VTEC solenoid
* Battery
* Battery hold down
* Master cylinder
* Clutch resivior bracket
* Intake manifold diaphram (top left)
* ALL motor mounts
* Exaust heat shield
* Radiator
* Radiator cap
* Radiator hold down bracket (see Replaced section)
* Hood latch (will not affect functionality)
* Tranny fluid line bracket (lower left)
* ALL brake lines
* ALL fuel lines</FONT>

Materials used

<FONT SIZE="1">* Paint
-Duplicolor 1200 degree engine enamel (satin black)
-Duplicolor black textureized paint (valve cover)
-Any Primer</FONT>

<FONT SIZE="1">* Paint stripping
-Aircraft paint remover (spray)
-GOOD pair of anti-corrosion gloves
-Fine grit wet sanding paper</FONT>

<FONT SIZE="1">* Wiring
-0 to 4 gauge Stinger ground wire
-Stinger gold wire connectors
-Black heat wrap
-Black electrical tape
-Black zip ties</FONT>

<FONT SIZE="1">* Misc.
-Metal plumbers tape
-Any masking tape for painting
-Simple Green spray for degreasing
-Hose from any auto parts store
-I replaced all nuts and bolts that I could with new, black ones from the hardware store</FONT>


Car Two: Robert, This is a '99 Si engine bay. Robert has spent many hours to make it look like it does today.
Polished motormounts
ITR Throttle body and Manifold
Stinger HPM Baby! (TY SS!)
Battery removed and dist block takes it's place.
SLimline overflow tank, why hide it when it looks sooo nice?
CUstom mounting bracket for coil
Sexy beast!

An engine bay with some life...not dark and dead...no offense! I know fat people wear black to hide their weight but what's your excuse?

 

Looks like your friend went crazy with the spray can

 

Black wire cover looks bad. Is the guy w/ the EG planning on replacing the stock airbox? My vote goes to the EM1

 

Both engine bays are clean. I love the look with all the wires hidden and all. I guess they Blue SI engine bay looks cleaner because it has a lot more color. The CX has all black. Not much to look at.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SIRIUS &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Is the guy w/ the EG planning on replacing the stock airbox? </TD></TR></TABLE>

I believe he is planning on keeping is stock until the turbo goes in.

 

Both look good in their own way.

All black bay is nice and stealthy.

Blue bay is blingin'.

 

Si hands down

 

I prefer the Si bay, simply because it's color matched. The CX is much less cluttered, and love the wireless look, but the black kills it. (This coming from someone that has a flat black engine bay with very little wiring)

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by rodrez &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I prefer the Si bay, simply because it's color matched. The CX is much less cluttered, and love the wireless look, but the black kills it. (This coming from someone that has a flat black engine bay with very little wiring)</TD></TR></TABLE>

i agree

 

for me it would be a toss up . i like the EK cuz it has some color to it . the eg looks like you jus masked off a few things and spray painted everything

both look nice though

 

i like the blue one better.. but both looks hella clean

 

Both are cleaned up real nice...but the ebp gets my vote.

 

i love empty black engine bays...eg hand down

 

i like both but i voted for the eg. def. looks like more work was put into it.

 

i like the blue better bc of all the eye candy

 

em1 would look 20x better with the stock valve cover instead of the tenzo pos, and if the wires were hidden.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Gump &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Looks like your friend went crazy with the spray can</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by CharlesInTurbocharge &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i like both but i voted for the eg. def. looks like more work was put into it. </TD></TR></TABLE>

i agree

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by rodrez &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I prefer the Si bay, simply because it's color matched. The CX is much less cluttered, and love the wireless look, but the black kills it. (This coming from someone that has a flat black engine bay with very little wiring)</TD></TR></TABLE>

word, the blue engine bay looks cleaner i guess because the engine bay is color matched and you can see it better.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PhreeStyleHB &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">em1 would look 20x better with the stock valve cover instead of the tenzo pos, and if the wires were hidden.</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

I like the blue engine bay in the EK

 

i prefer all black!

 

blue engine bay is my choice

 

my vote is for the Si (no bias here ), but it would win hands down if the ac and ps were removed and all the wiring hidden

 

Wow this is a very close poll