Black coolant reservoir...

[AndrewBird]

I did a tank black as well and it came it great. The longer you leave it in, the darker it gets.

[CW325]

If you were to dye it black it would probably come out purple at first. I would dye it a dark color first and than black.

[AndrewBird]

Can you bleach the tank on a m42 or e34 radiator??

Bleach really does't work all that well. The reason the plastic yellows it not because it is stained, but because the plastic chemically changes over time and turns yellow. Cleaning the surface of the plastic isn't going to change the plastic itself. You will just end up with clean, yellowed plastic.

Dying them, like I said before, will color it into the plastic, not just a surface coating like paint. Here is a picture of my fuel tank on my Go-Ped when it was blue:


Fuel wasn't able to "wash" the color off, so I'm sure it would work fine for coolant/washer fluid.

[stamar]

that delphin with the m50 is so tight.

[peytonracer4]

I painted mine and it looks great. I do worry a little about not seeing the level but I'll just fill it to overflowing every now and then...

BTW - best paint to use is Krylon Fusion for plastic. I did mine in satin black. Washer fluid tank too. Looks great and there's no way this stuff is flaking off - the paint bonded incredibly well.

I tried the bleaching method on my washer tank but it just wasn't clean enough for me...

Some pics as I was reassembling my bay:

what paint do you have on your valve cover gasket? is it really that matte in person?

[straight6pwr]

looks good, but i've never seen the paint hold very well on any of the e30 engine plastic bits. always ends up flaking off.

[5Toes]

Can you bleach the tank on a m42 or e34 radiator??

[AndrewBird]

RIT fabric die will die the plastic any color you would like. I've done it on several other items made of similar/the same plastic.

[ohthejosh]

Maybe masking of a small portion of the tank before painting it would solve the issue with not being able to see the level. But since its all black im not sure if that would even work really.

Ross, maybe if you do paint your reservoir you can mask off an area vertically to try and see if you are able to read the levels. An area no wider than a No 2 pencil would be ideal I think.

[EyExR]

I painted mine and it looks great. I do worry a little about not seeing the level but I'll just fill it to overflowing every now and then...

BTW - best paint to use is Krylon Fusion for plastic. I did mine in satin black. Washer fluid tank too. Looks great and there's no way this stuff is flaking off - the paint bonded incredibly well.

I tried the bleaching method on my washer tank but it just wasn't clean enough for me...

Some pics as I was reassembling my bay:

[nando]

it looks nice but then you can't see the coolant level. same with painting over the fuse box.

Too bad they're like $95 new. I need a new one too.

[ohthejosh]

Off topic but, is that a M30 air filter box on the M50? Looks awesome! Goes very well with the rest of the engine.

[BMWManiac]

I bought a new coolant overflow tank and will try bleaching the winshield washer tank instead of buying a new one....I bought a new one for my E36 and it does wonders to make the engine bay look "new"

[MR 325]

^ Euro E36 uses the same as late model E30.

That's how they look when you buy a new one. I put a new one in my car 6 years ago and it still looks good. They're supposed to be somewhat translucent so you can see the coolant level. ;)

[ak-]

Well the clear one I posted is from a Euro e36.
About $80 bones