GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Wasn't sure which part of the site to post this in, but I wanted to share my recent "mod" with the community here. I wanted some white in my engine bay to make it look like something when I popped the hood. Here's how I did it.This is what I had beforePrimed everythingThen a few coats of Gloss WhiteUsed the emblem I got from mrherbigThen I did the "16 valve vvt-i" in blackNot too great with a brush Clear-Coated everything and put it back inWhadya think?

I personally like the engine & fuse covers the best, esp with the Vibe badging. The other pieces, with the exception of the postive terminal cover just seemed to get lost in the bay from the pictures. May be a different look in person though, but all in all good job!

Thanks and yeah, I was expecting the caps to stick out more. But I wasn't thinking about the frame bein white in there. Maybe I'll do em red some time in the near future. That's what color I did my calipers.

I like. Air filter box needs the treatment, too. Caps look good. Red will not phase well with the overall theme, but probably would kill it. Vibe emblem is great. How did you do it?And you might as well paint the radiator brace across the front of the engine compartment. This really looks good.

Looks great! Thats something I want to do as well to spuce up the Vibe. Would like to paint mine silver to match the body. Did you use high temp paint or regular enamel?

Thanks for the opinion on red. And I gotta wait til it gets warm to do the radiator brace 8( Oh, and the painted emblem I did was a little project called paint swirling. You could find it on youtube if you search "guitar swirl" It's not NEAR as easy as it looks tho

I didn't use high temp. I used Adhesion Promoter and Krylon Fusion. It was just what I had so I used it.

Love it! I have an Abyss, and have white GrafxWerks accents here and there. You may have just inspired me to do my engine cover in either white or red. I love a black, white and red theme. I just haven't done much with red yet. I have the caliper paint, but I'm waiting for warmer weather. Decisions, decisions on the engine cover!

If you'll send me your bagdes I can swirl them like I did mine. Or come up with two spares and let me paint em like mine so you can use them under the hood and on the dash. Red, Black, and White

I like that you basically "reversed" the colors (black on white instead of white on black). Actually I'm a huge fan of your dedication to the black-white theme overall... love it when things match!

Haha...thanks alot. I appreciate the support in the ongoing efforts to achieve my vision of the aesthetics of my Vibe My shiny new sig definitely helps too

If you really wanted to go all out on the cover, I say powdercoat the bolts black or white. Those letters are tricky. If you ever want to clean it up I think the best way to go about it would be to go through and mask off all the way around. Pain in the (removed) Looks great overall

Quote, originally posted by bodhi_tree777 »Those letters are tricky. If you ever want to clean it up I think the best way to go about it would be to go through and mask off all the way around. Pain in the (removed) Or the vinyl decal overlays.

yeah if i had seen the overlays for the letters i would have done that 8( i looked EVERYWHERE for grafxwerks and JUST found out it was now gwdecals

Looks good!Anyone ever try a hard roller to paint the top of raised letters?Regarding the caps, I'd love something like that in chrome - especially with the frosty car.

Looking good!!!What colour were you planning on painting the intake?

Quote, originally posted by star_deceiver »What colour were you planning on painting the intake?IF I do it it will probably be white, but I'm undecided Quote, originally posted by Kincaid »Anyone ever try a hard roller to paint the top of raised letters?I tried a sponge brush and it didn't leave an even coat...not like my brushing did either tho 8( I suck with a brush.lol

nicely done i don't see it there but you can also paint your battery bracket

Quote, originally posted by bull77 »nicely done i don't see it there but you can also paint your battery bracket Thanks. And yeah....the bracket kinda doesn't exist 8( Lame first owner!!!

Love the White on Black. Looks Tuff! Great Job!

What kind of clear coat did you use? I've tried things similar to this back in my Civic days and the clear coat ended up ruining the whole project so I'm super sketchy now.

do you buy your adhesion promoter at a store or online? i can't find it anywhere locally; i would rather get it in a store than online because of s&h...it's as much as the product!looks great! i plan to do mine in red to match my future CAI!

Quote, originally posted by bassrocker032 »What kind of clear coat did you use? Krylon gloss clear coat. Bought at WalmartQuote, originally posted by DressedInBlack »do you buy your adhesion promoter at a store or online? i can't find it anywhere locally! I got mine from the Auto Zone in town. They have a fairly decent paint selection to choose from when I'm donig my gaming gear

Hey martyr, let me ask you something real quick. You paint the gauge cluster shroud, your engine cover, fuse box cover, and the little things, and yet your radio surrounding, driver side vent surrounding, and both door small inserts are still stock gray? I figured you'd paint those white too.

Valid question bassrocker032.I've been on the fence for four years about whether to paint em or not. Fear of the worst.I'm leanin more toward doin it now that the rest turned out so good tho.For a while I was thinkin it would be safer/easier to take em to the sign shop in town and letting them wrap those pieces in Gloss White vinyl. Again, I was on the fence....BUT I fear you may have just pushed me over by bringin that up Be on the lookout for freshly painted plasticz!!!

thanks for the tip! guess i will "get in the zone..." sometime this weekend!

Awesome btw about painting the gray stuff white. Honestly though, painting the main surrounding of the radio white may contrast horribly with the white ac vents On the othat hand with the rest of the interior being black, it'll look awesome. I'm planning on painting mine as well so I'm just throwing my conflicts and worries your way so we can help each other perfect this ****, lol. I'm still very satisfied with my painted black from chrome siding around my a/c cluster and i've always had an itch with this kind of stuff. I'll probably be doing something along the lines of painting everything like you've been planning so it'll be interesting to see how both our vibes turn out.

I've thought hard about the white vent overlays.I was thinkin maybe leave the two left vents (in the soon to be white pieces) black and the two on the right (in the black dash) white Not sure tho

sounds good but idk how it'll contrast. I'm personally split between blacking out all of the interior and accenting it with white wince the outside of my car will be white accented with black. For example having a black radio surrounding but white vents and radio face plate with black buttons, or with the window controls having black surrounding with white buttons. But I'm still very unsure, time for trial and lots of error i guess. I'm just very afraid to mess up and it look like total crap.

yeah i know what you mean by error.lolsigh....if only pieces were cheap like the plastic they're made of

TRUE THAT. And if only it was as easy to get them as it is to mess them up and have to drive around with them like that. I'm also considering black over white just to mix it up and i'll throw some white accents in there. I think the white might stand out to much. On the other hand it could turn out like your gauge cluster and be the perfect amount of white for its location on the car, but as stated, still nervous. It'll all figure itself out once painted, I just wish it would sand, prime, and perfectly paint itself instead of making me do it, lol. I'm also planning on tinting my headlights and tail lights soon so keep an eye out for that.

Looks very sharp!