It's about 40 degrees out today so I figured I'd probably better take advantage of it and get a project done on one of the cars. One of the things that bothers me on a nice custom car has always been when a plain old battery is just hanging out in the engine compartment looking ugly. Most of my cars I will move them to the trunk, but I'm also in the process of doing a finish job in there so I can open it at car shows and I also want to keep all my trunk space on this car. So I did some searching and found a couple places that will sell you a sheet of finned aluminum that they call a battery cover. Its just a rough cast 7x12 sheed with two slots cut in it, but its the right size and i couldnt fine anywhere that'd just sell my finned aluminum by the foot. The engine has finned valve covers, breather, and valley cover so I wanted to tie into those and have something different than the usual box. So since its just a sheet, you've got to figure out how to make it work (you can't just strap a sheet of metal across + and - posts). So while looking around the shop for something to use as a insulated spacer, I came across an old jet kit case from one of my Yamaha V-maxes. Put it on top of the battery and it's about 3/8" taller than the posts, it's stout, and I'll store jets and e clips for the carb in it and other "Just in case" stuff. Bonus is it's hold down tabs cover the battery terminals for an extra insulator between the aluminum and battery.... That idea sorted I started the sanding process, which if you've never done it before just imaging how tedious and dirty it is then times that by 4. Taking a break heading to ACE to get the nuts I want to use on the brackets and meet my body shop buddies for our Saturday lunch and beers. Be back in a few to continue......
.......Well sometimes those Saturday lunches turn into evening road trips.....and slow Sundays.....been sanding off and on between other projects after work. Its coming along nicely, but casting was ROUGH. Did get some chrome washers and acorn nuts to match the setup I did on the valve and valley covers, and some new plug wire holders. Little projects add up to big differences
Alright got it pretty close to good enough. Laid a small piece of sound deadener on it for an extra layer of insulation between this and the battery, just in case. Maybe get this little fiasco finished up by Sunday night depending on the weather.
Looks good. Gotta love the black polish on your hands in between the cracks of your skin for the day.
Thanks Joe. I did end up using the aluminum brightener we talked about on the whole thing after sanding but before polishing. The low points had quite a bit of black staining so I let it soak and scrubbed the acid in with a toothbrush, then just rinsed off. Didn't do any more finish work on the lows, it matches the valve covers pretty good now.
Today was 30+ and sunny mixed with snow.....perfect winter garage weather so I finished up this little project.....you guys ever have one of those cars that fights you tooth and nail no matter how small the project is? That's my Riviera. Made 3 parts store runs for proper length studs and nuts, and drilled one extra hole doing a simple battery cover, but I won't bore you with all the little details.....ditched the plastic spacer idea and I ended up laying a triple layer butyl pad on the bottom of the cover, followed by a layer of gorilla tape, a layer of plastic, then another layer of sound deadener, plastic, then tape again, so I'm pretty sure its not going to wear through. Laid another layer of black paint down on the surprisingly nice battery tray, put the fresh charged battery in, and voila. Done. While doing my admittedly cheesy but good looking plug wire holders, I discovered the battery cover doubles as a nice tool/parts tray, and that was something that was severely lacking with the Riv. Wire holders look pretty dang good for 5 bucks and change, also made my magnetic race signs and got started on decals for the beater.
Decided it was just too much plain aluminum and was too much of an eye catcher when I opened the hood, taking away from the engine itself. So painted the whole thing black, then sanded off just the tops of the ribs, and re-polished. Much happier now, looks like it belongs and you don't directly notice it nearly as much....man my phone camera sucks.
I hate when that happens- spending hours on one detail and after it's done, not totally happy with the results. Then, the end product that you're happy with could have been done in a fraction of the time. I can't even begin to count the number of times that I've done this on my car. At least you used the same piece of aluminum. I usually buy something, spend hours making something from it, and then when not happy with it, use something that I already had in the garage!
Hahaha....yeah, me too. Do it all the time, but that's how the cars get better every year........I didn't notice it while working, but looks like I need to put the wire harnesses back in their holders.
