Perhaps you should paint the starter in semi gloss black and give the whole engine a light black wash. The wash will highlight the high spots and bring out more depth in the assembly making it look more realistic. I am sure some of the more experienced members will be able to offer more and possibly better advice.
After looking at it more closely, I see there is no problem, as David said ,optical illusion due to the angle of the photo. My apologies if I caused you any unnecessary stress. Paint looks fantastic.
Beautiful job building the Sheckter car. He was my hero in the 70's, being the first and only South African driver to be F1 champion. I still want to build this kit, hope mine turns out as good as yours.
Take your time with it,and keep checking how the different parts fit together. Also remember to check how the different sub assemblies fit with each other before glueing it all together. Good luck on build number 2.
I originally tried 30's inspired motor cars. Came up empty. Then tried excalibur cars, again nothing. Eventually tried Unknown European motorcar manufacturers and bingo found an image of a red one with a very 70's looking couple standing behind it. That image gave me a name and Wikipedia gave me the rest.