I finished the valve cover paint today. It was interesting to see the rocker arms of my own engine for the first time.

Here's the valve cover before the last coat of clear.


And here it is finally reinstalled and everything.


I REALLY need to clean the engine bay, and I wish I could drive it to the shop tomorrow for a few things, but the liquid gasket needs to cure. So does the paint, I suppose.

 

looking good. i just got a dx same year and good job with the pics , gave me alot of ideas. i'm also on a budget and never thought of just painting the cover. pretty cool. can't wait for your next update

 

Since I don't have a splash guard on the underside of the engine bay (was never there since I've owned the car), I decided to temporarily convert my CAI into an SRI. It has been raining a lot here lately. My engine coughed at me just once while I drove through a particularly awesome puddle. Once was enough for me to do something about it. I also put a quality filter on it while I was at it, grey this time instead of red. It'll match the new dizzy, plug wires, and valve cover. During my last visit to the salvage yard, I also snagged some plug wire clips to clean up the display of my plug wires (like they're worth displaying). To finish it, I moved the little mounting brace for the intake to make the install stay in place this time.

 

Dude everything looks great nice job! Im also on a budget so youve given me some great ideas I have to say your very clever youve done a lot of things I wouldnt have thought of.

Keep up the good work im anxious to see what you will do next.

 

Your car is coming along nicely. Like so many others I'm looking to save cash while upgrading looks/sound/performance. Didnt realize the d16y7 would look so cool with a black valve cover. Definitely need to paint mine. BTW, CF will look tight on your ride, especially going along with other appearance mods you've mentioned. Definitely CF. Mine is costing me $600 including shipping and $20 install. I have a daily driver also and need to get to my low-paying job! The only drawback with CF is that now even more obnoxious dudes will want to race you in their beater Cavaliers and 4th gen Accords. Lol!

 

i would like to see the new headlights on, nice work man.

 

Very nice man

 

Another update, this time from the audio side of things.

When I first got my speakers, they were in my old 2000 DX and one was already halfway blown. One car and two years of outrighteously loud music later, I have managed to smite one of the 6x9s completely and one of the 6.5s in the front screams for mercy between bursts of static. The fat lady has not yet sung for the others, but fat Brad is about to.

I've always liked Alpine and I've got an Alpine head unit already, so why not go all the way?

I ordered some Alpine 2-way Type R 6x9s on eBay. They'll be here the 7th. The eBay guy screwed me on the 6.5s (had an auction with 11 available, but was backordered so I got a refund) so I just went to Best Buy and picked up some 2-way Type R 6.5s there. The only way I was able to justify buying them was to call them a late birthday present.

I hooked them up to my home audio amp and judged the stereo imaging to be the clearest I have heard from speakers belonging to me. It was like audio sex with positive and ground wires attached, except with Serj Tankian singing in the background instead of Barry White.

Can't wait until the other two get here so I can install them.

 

you car coming coming along, good choice on the alpine type r's. how much did they cost you? thinking of swapping my infinity and alpine speakers to all alpine type r's

 

The 6x9s were $108 shipped from ebay and the 6.5s were $160ish from Best Buy. The only reason I didn't wait on the guy from ebay to get the 6.5s in stock was because I am friggin sick of the static in my music. When I unhooked the offending stickers, it just wasn't the same coming from two speakers. I'm rushing the process a much as possible.

If you order on ebay from someone called "autosounds4less," you'll get a good deal but be sure to ask if they are in stock and not on backorder before you decide to bid or buy it now.