All That Glitters Is Not Gold

19 Jan All That Glitters Is Not Gold

But in this case, it is.

Wrapping engine parts in gold is not just for aesthetic purposes. It also works wonders in decreasing heat soak between different parts of the engine. For example, the McLaren F1’s engine bay is almost entirely lined with the stuff. And if it works for McLaren, well, it should work for everybody.

In that vein, we decided that our project Genesis Coupe could benefit from some bling (and also from reduced heat soak). In order to keep the engine bay’s heat from affecting the air circulating through the intercooler, Tom spent a good part of last night and this morning wrapping the Genesis’ charge pipes with the gold foil wrap. Not content with just the charge pipes, he then went on to wrap the intake’s airbox in the stuff as well, keeping that fresh air nice and heat-free.

And since we love the show as much as we love the go around here, Tom focused his lucrative wrap career on the spark plug cover, giving the rear part of the engine bay a little shiny goodness.

We think it turned out great. And we didn’t even let him have an X-acto knife. All he needed was a razor blade and some good old-fashioned time. We couldn’t have asked for better results from Tom’s arts-and-crafts day.