Cosmin's 1994 Toyota Corolla DX "Brianna"

[watkins]

and then there is the BIG problem of the exhaust getting blown on by air coming out of the radiator. Cool exhaust = high emissions. You want exhaust manifold and catalyst away from any cooling effects, so catalyst starts working sooner. Reducing cold catalyst light-off time is real important.

Hence the heat shield over the exhaust. Keeps the hot air where its supposed to be. All the hot air that doent belong is more easily removed. I probably should have worded my last post a bit differently.

[Rope-Pusher]

and then there is the BIG problem of the exhaust getting blown on by air coming out of the radiator. Cool exhaust = high emissions. You want exhaust manifold and catalyst away from any cooling effects, so catalyst starts working sooner. Reducing cold catalyst light-off time is real important.

Hence the heat shield over the exhaust. Keeps the hot air where its supposed to be. All the hot air that doent belong is more easily removed. I probably should have worded my last post a bit differently.

They put heatshields over rear-mounted exhausts too, to hold the heat in. When all things are equal, rear exhaust is easier to get the cat to light sooner and lower emissions, but tunnel temps are higher and intake ends up getting heated by the air flowing through radiator. The fact that it is done both ways is probably a good indicator that, like most things in life, there is not one perfect way to do it.

[noob5,000,000]

I'm going to start lighting my exhaust on fire. My emissions will be 1337.

[Rope-Pusher]

I'm going to start lighting my exhaust on fire. My emissions will be 1337.

SEE - Just like Paul Simon sed: "there must be 50 ways to exhaust your cylinder head."

[theholycow]

SEE - Just like Paul Simon sed: "there must be 50 ways to exhaust your cylinder head."

[94Corolla5Speed]

Small update: I got a worn hubcap from the junkyard Saturday, since my car likes to toss them off. I really wanted this one since it had all the plastic clips on the inside still attached, a rarity. Since I have never painted anything before, i figured, what the hell, it's a $4 hubcap, I have very little to lose. I decided to paint this and see how it turned out.


After about an hour of washing (it was filthy), a bit of scuffing, and some masking tape to cover up the (fake & not correct number of) bolts.


After 3 coats of primer. Turned out not too bad so far.

I am currently waiting on the primer to dry now so I can do the topcoat.

[theholycow]

Did you use primer made for plastic?

I'm going to use nasty old hubcaps to make pizza pan aero/racing disks.

[94Corolla5Speed]

Yea, it's a general purpose primer, it says you can use it on plastic.

[watkins]

Based on the color thats Rustoleum self etching primer?

[94Corolla5Speed]

No, it was just some generic $2 primer that pepboys had laying around. Forget the name right now. Here it is finished:


Not to be immodest, but it turned out pretty well for my first time spray painting, and with less than ideal conditions and prep.

But, my dumbass self, always doing dumbass things, decides to try to take off the masking tape for the bolts while the paint is still semi wet. My damn nails put a few small gouges in the paint near the bolts

[Rope-Pusher]

But, my dumbass self, always doing dumbass things, decides to try to take off the masking tape for the bolts while the paint is still semi wet. My damn nails put a few small gouges in the paint near the bolts

When this guy touched something he shouldn't have, he wrote a book about it and got rich.


Your book could be titled "No Touch Wet Paint!"

[DKaz]

Sweet hubcaps! I definitely want the pizzapan hubcaps though. I wanna be a Hyper Miller.

[94Corolla5Speed]

Thank you!

I took a crappy picture today to see how it looked compared to the other ones. What say you StaShi, is the colormatch close enough? I'll let you all guess if it's the front or the rear that I painted, shouldn't be too hard:

[theholycow]

The front is in a shadow and the rear is in the sun so I can't give a worthwhile opinion, but I think I see brake dust on the front...

[94Corolla5Speed]

The rear is the painted one. Count the bolts