Talking about the actual block itself.

I'm thinking about doing solid red wrinkle/crackle finish, like how Honda valve covers are finished. However, I realize that would be a lot of red so I would be sanding down the raised edges of the rotor housings to bare aluminum and leaving some of the casting areas (like where it says 13B) bare as well. Anyone done this yet?

I just really don't like the striped look I've seen on most rotaries.

 

I know there are a couple intakes with that wrinkle finish paint on them and they look really neat. As far as color schemes I like to match the body color. I have red and black in my red and black vert...

 

My idea is to leave the intake and carb bare aluminum (racing beat upper w/ del'orto) and fit that to a wrinkle-finish red block. Then I'm going to make a custom header heat shield which will be wrapped in gold heat reflector tape (on one side) and then have the tan-colored header wrap on the header. It looks great in my mind.

 

i good wrinkle would be cool, if i could find something "sturdy"

 

I like the stock/not stock look. when I did my engine, I painted all the aluminum parts "Aluminum silver" and all the iron parts "cast iron coat". that way it always looks clean and wont rust/oxidize

 

i'm with Sgt.Stinkfist on this one.

i traditionally have gone for the stock look. i haven't painted a single engine I've built. as far as the ones I've seen and really thought were gorgeous - blue/polished aluminum- and a green/cast iron- scheme.

that said, i recently saw an all black engine that someone built and i must admit; it's gotten me thinking about doing either an all black or all charcoal scheme for a future project.

 

I saw an all-black motor (I think it was actually a 20b) that had the raised edges of the rotor housings polished. It was the best looking rotary engine I've seen...but I can't find it! I think it was Chip or Phil Sohn who built it, so I'm gonna try to find it again. I'll post back when/if I do.

Edit: Found it. It's not exactly how I remembered it, but I still think it looks awesome. So just imagine this but instead of black and grey, wrinkle-red.

 

So I decided to photoshop a picture of my engine with the colors I wanted. I think it looks best if the front and rear iron are left bare iron, and the center iron and both housings are painted with the wrinkle-red, which I've fabricated here with some texture-trickery.



It was a bit of a rush job, but I think it looks kickass! Just imagine all of those bolts actually polished and clean. I also did one where I left the center iron bare, and that one looked really good too. I'll have to do it in person to figure out which one I like better. I'm also thinking about painting the velocity stacks flat, smooth white. I think that would look very awesome. Can't really fake that in photoshop though, too many reflections.

 

Anyone? Anyone?

 

Big fan of an all black block

 

Is that the Atkins intake manifold? I'm considering buying one of those to replace my RB upper factory lower setup.

 

Mine came from rotary shack

 

Would you recommend it?

 

Super good quality. They polish parts to a mirror. The intake is ported nicely as well. I certainly would recommend it.

 

Do it! I love the look of this and it would be an awesome color scheme in my mind!

I'm planning on the future of my car involving a red engine bay with a matched red engine painted in sections with polished areas as well. This won't be for a long time yet but I think I'll love the red on Tornado Silver Metallic K8 color that my car is and it'll compliment the burgundy interior I think.

Anyways, my vote is yes - and I think the shop job is pretty well done for a hasty one

 

These are kind of dirty pics since it is at night, but this paint scheme is kinda tricky but deff will get some attention
The Paint is very sensitive but with enough coats, it works ok

 

Iron parts "Cast Iron" engine paint, aluminum parts polished. Highlighted red Mazda Meatball on my old-school midhousing for a hint of color:









I'm kind of a purist when it comes to the block; all my color is on accessories & wiring.

 

Your engine bay looks like a 80's retro-futuristic-super-fantastico time machine. I like it.

 

My goal exactly - with a subtle hat-tip to the 1960's Star Trek color scheme.

 

I say go for it with the red/polished. I've never seen the polished lip before, but that 20b looks amazing.

Haha brilliant!

Divin - do you clearcoat your polish or just regularly visit it with polish and elbow grease?

---

My engine bay when i still had the Dellorto on it:



all black engine, front cover, black lower intake, red upper intake, bare carb.

one of the previous owners had just done a quick rattle-can job on only the top of the engine, the spark plug and exhaust side are bare. It didn't look too bad, but would look way better all done uniformly. It was flaking off, so i'm in the process of pulling the rest off and polishing it up.

Personally my vote would either be what Sgt. Stinkfist has got, or the same only with polished housings.

 

I clearcoated hard to reach things like the front cover, air pump, trans bellhousing. Didn't clear the rotor housings as I thought heat might be an issue. Alt is up where I can hit it with wadding polish and a rag to keep it up.

 

and this is pretty much why I haven't painted any of mine. the engine in my brother's car was built around 1991 and it came to the original owner (a mutual friend of ours) painted - red rotor housings with black side housings. my brother got it in 1998-ish and the paint was still intact, but keep in mind that it basically sat unused for about 6 years before that. it took about a year for the paint to start coming off and I watched that process until my brother eventually removed the rest ... ... not pretty at all.

 

Divin Driver ...

one word ...

damn!

 

Awesome, thanks for the info Divin.

I was leaning towards the same conclusion - i'm worried about heat, and then having clearcoat caked in some places and not others, then having to remove THAT at some point.

Diabolical - yup i think you hit it right on the head there. bare metal or polished is where it's at for me, at least on this build.

 

Does anyone know if the BP Miata engine's oil cap is compatible with 13b oil cap?

Because this is gorgeous.