i want to show my engine in shows what should i do to get that look without spending alot of money?

Elbow grease and fanatical attention to each and every detail will take you further than money, IMO.

I am always impressed by a meticulous engine compartment that has little to no chrome, braided hose, etc. Some guys have a knack for making stuff look mint with nothing more than some cleaning solvent, sand paper and rattle can paint.

no greasy fingerprints or oi trails, not a hint of rust (check out that brake master cyl) or dirt, lots of fresh, shiny paint. No loose or stray wires or vacuum hoses. No wires or hoses that are too long and drape all over everything, or are too short and pulled tight.
For wiring, find a place that sells the factory style plastic holders. Nice black plastic looks good. Bright red or blue or yellow looks ricey, IMO.
One idea that might be a little unorthodox for a showcar would be to do the engine bay, firewall, inner fenders, etc in black primer. Then shine up everything on the engine. That way the engine will pop out at you and hopefully draw attention away from the boring stuff like the brake booster and stuff.
Oh, and jet-hot coat the headers or something.
Another idea - find a brochure for your year that has a pic of the engine bay (I think MadMike has scans of them for most years on this site) and try to emulate that look on your car.
Not that I'm a show car fan or judge, but that's what I'd do. Basically make it pretty, and make it so a Marine in full dress uniform could work in there with those white gloves and not get yelled at by his drill sergeant afterwards! LOL

It also depends on what type of engine you've got right now. Is it a stock engine? Modified? High output? Also, what is the rest of the car like?

I like the look of braided lines, but it has to go with the rest of the car. I'm getting over the whole shiny engine compartment thing, and when I build my new engine, I'm going to be using all braided lines, but the black lines (TwistLok) instead of the stainless. I like the black twist-lok hoses and the black fittings that you can get for them. Cleaning everything up and using stainless or black oxide hardware will go a long way.


You don't want everything to be perfect, save for the cheap grade 8 hardware that is all corroded.

It's show worthy when you WOULDN'T eat off it,,,, because you would feel bad about getting it dirty. And follow the K.I.S.S. theory. An engine bay cluttered up with wires and hoses is not going to win any awards (short of restored classics that is).

I agree with Marv's K.I.S.S theory. In the last year I've seen a few pictures of Rad Rides cars and I love his engine compartments. He believes the less you can see the better. He takes the extra steps to hide as much as possible. Some other things you can do is grind the outside surface of the block and heads to smooth them out before painting them for a nicer finish. Basically, You want everything in the engine compartment to look clean and look like it belongs where it is.

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1973 Type LT/RS
http://www.apiem.com/camaro

mine is just a 70's performance look with correct high perf. parts for that time.no braided lines no stainless or billet aluminum pulleys just plain ole brute hp.my engine is exactly what a baldwin motion sbc would look like.
i've won 10 trophies at local car shows and this is a daily driver.once a week i'll wipe the engine down and clean all the underhood items with castrol superclean.
i've gone to alot of car shows and notice people really don't take alot of time looking at cars with tons of chrome,billet,stainless steel and braided fuel lines.they look at muscle cars for what they remember them as like mine.take a look at my webpage and on the last page is a pic of my motor.i'm going to put a pic up with the fly eye air cleaner on it soon instead of the tall air filter


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1972 chevy camaro ss 350 sbc 425 hp/356 @ the wheels,350 trans,373 gears,daily driver with restification in progress for the old school / day 2 look
future plans- turning it into a baldwin motion Z30 clone

"IF IT'S TO LOUD YOUR TO OLD"
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