Engine bay: black vs body color

[Daveyd]

Posting this up again. Not really a poll but didn’t want to revive dead ones from like 5 years ago. It seems that the love of broncos is still spreading and growing. It seems like the black engine bay coloration is more prevalent than ever. Possibly because raptor liner is more popular, or that more modern engines are going into high dollar builds and lose the look of originality anyway, and lack does look clean. What do you guys think? I like both a lot on certain builds.

 

[Shimmy]

i'll always prefer paint. black looks clean but still like an after thought or that it's "hiding" imperfections/blemishes that the owner/builder could cover up. that being said i dont know why we don't see more color matched raptor lined engine bays. i think that would be a nice touch

 

[bronkenn]

I painted mine and colored raptor liner on the firewall from the firewall/floor pan seam down. Hard to see in the pic.

 

[Speedrdr]

I asked that question myself. @DirtDonk responded with an emphatic “body color”. After doing some ‘small section’ painting, I found that I have to agree.

 

[904Bronco]

Body color...

 

[ared77]

My 2 cents, body color.

 

[BruiserOutdoors]

I painted mine and colored raptor liner on the firewall from the firewall/floor pan seam down. Hard to see in the pic.

What % did you tint your raptor? mL or gram amount, if you recall? Perfect match.

 

[bronkenn]

I don't recall how I mixed it, but I know I only bought one pint of nonbinder tint. I also added HyTech insulating beads to it. I am pretty sure the raptor liner came with instructions for the amount of tint to add.

 

[AZ73]

I instructed the paint shop to paint it black. When I saw the finished work, I told them to paint it the body color. I did keep the underside of the wheel wells and outer aprons black epoxy to hold up to abuse from the tires.

 

[fordfan]

I have a '69 that I have blown completely apart all because some enterprising soul painted under the hood black. It is Boxwood green and it would have looked so much better than the black! It was pull the engine or pull the body to correct it, so now it's a basket case!...

Most of the time the black under hood is the easy way out instead of having it clean and body color.

 

[Jaxgtc]

Given the choice, I like body color. Black looks great, but it will always be a focal point.

 

[56f100bbw]

Body color but a early mustang matte black

 

[Bung72]

Um.....Engine bay?

 

[Got4wd]

Good discussion. I could go either way. The black is nice since it’s less prone to scratches etc. I’m sure the cost factor is probably a little less. Prep and paint wise.

 

[ba123]

Body color is the nicest, imho.