Quick 'n' Easy Engine Bay Smoothing
Or maybe "quick 'n' rough"
So I used this method I first discovered when wanting to smooth my licence number plates.
Tasmanian plates have eight holes punched in them.
I only use two and the unused ones looked untidy so used reflective white tape punched into circles to cover the others .
It worked great and so far has lasted thirteen years without any issues.
I recently removed the Carbing Triangulated strut brace from my Mx-5.
This left holes in the firewall near the VIN.
This panel is single skinned and quite flexible so it would be difficult to weld the holes without warpage.
So I'm using plumbers duct tape to repair the holes.
Stick the tape onto a couple of plastic filler applicator cards and punch out lots of circles with a leather punch.
I bought a pack of about a dozen different punch sizes very cheaply.
Using about 12mm here.
Prime with some plastic primer.
Shown the primer I used on the right.
It's an Australian brand but you should be able to find something similar wherever you live.
I'm painting some bolts to fix the front fender to the A-pillar at the same time.
That's the primer for them on the left.
To mix up the tiny quantity of paint required to do this , I use a teaspoon.
Two teaspoon of colour, one of hardener and a few drops of thinner.
I used the shown touch up gun to paint them, but if you don't have any spray gear, I'm sure an aerosol would work well.
Allow to dry.
I left these overnight.
Don't leave them too long though.
Paint dries progressively over time and you want the paint skin to be still quite flexible.
Use a razor blade or similar to remove the circles and stick them on.
See... Easy!
Apologies for the dirty engine bay.
Edit: Also handy on car exteriors. I've used this method successfully when removing a rear wing, emblems, mudflaps, etc. Stops water getting in.
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