I love this forum best of all the forums i go to. the ideas from the people here are so practical in most situations, and something that most people can do for themselves without relying on others. i want to clean the engine compartment of my 85 Caprice Estate. It is filthy under there, and lots of caked up oil on the block, on all sides of the engine. Im looking for good ideas, because i dont have the money to pay to have it professionally done, and most degreasers are hell on the hoses and belts. Im in the process of slowly re-doing the vaccum hoses and id hate to ruin the ones i have already done. so let the creative juices flow. what has worked for you fellas? I hate taking my car to a shop and the engine compartment looking neglected, its almost like taking a dirty child to the DR. They give you 'the look'.
I found this DIY some time ago: http://www.classicalpontiac.com/restoration/10.html This is a computer site, but there's a heck of a DIY about prepping and painting different metals and plastics: http://www.overclockers.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=72&catid=54:howto And if you need an extreme perfectionist to model: :banghead3: http://www.miracledetail.co.uk/index.html I like this HAMB thread too: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=97179
I get a couple cans of degreaser (spray on) and go to a DIY carwash and clean off the heavy muck. Bags on the carb, electronic ignition, trans filler tube, PWR steering pump, distributor. Big elastic bands. Let it dry. You can clean up the exhaust and intake manifold rust with a strong solution of your wife's white vinegar and 2 tablespoons of salt. Soak some rags and rest them on the manifolds (cool engine). Then clean off the vinegar with clean water after a few hours. The crusty rust will need some scraping off. It's a mild hydrochloric acid that can affect people with sensitive skin, so a box of those cheap surgical gloves can help. I think its $3.00 for 50 pair (most pharmacies and grocery stores). Vinegar is about $3.00 per gallon. BTW, you can reuse it for a few days. I restored my emergency brake cables with it - roadsalt makes a mess of them up here. I use masking tape with a ballpoint pen to mark the wires and take them off for the stuff that has to come off to get access to the block or the engine compartment sheetmetal. Use the vinegar/salt solution on the sheetmetal, especially where there's rusty grounds, probably the pan too. The inside of the valve covers is usually a gunky mess. I go to a secondhand store and pick up a couple of big plastic tubs or fridge drawers (veggie drawers) and soak them, covering the drawers with plastic bags or sheeting. I've seen cans of 'spray masking' compounds that you can get at an industrial machine supply vendor or a machinist supply shop. It comes off with water or varsol. You could use that behind the powerbrake vacuum booster on the firewall, paint it and then put a bag on the booster and do the firewall. If you want the brake lines cleaned off, soak them with a rag damp with vinegar. The only thing better is Por15's Metal Ready, but it's pricey ($22.00 for a quart). It leaves a protective, paint-friendly treatment on the clean metal (Aluminum or Steel). Paints are a personal choice, so I'd read the can, and use whatever they say for cleaning and priming/prepping. Rubber grommets can be cleaned with a good cleaner for rubber. I used to use lacquer thinners or acetone, but it accelerates the rubber to rot. Use a product like SEM's vinyl clear or vinyl soap or brake fluid. Plastic covers and so on, depend on the finish. If they aren't painted, gasoline or a degreaser, then a Laundry detergent like Tide or Cheer and a nail brush. If they're painted, watch out for peeling paint. You might be better off with the products they use to refinish the new plastic body panels (bumpers, air dams, etc.). If they're really chipped, I'd use a Paint Stripper and clean them off without scratching them. Refinish with your best call on paints. Stick with engine/machine paints, since they're treated to handle gasoline and oil spills, on the components and engine. The sheetmetal is far enough from the engine heat that it won't react as badly. One tip I learned a while ago is to use that rocker panel chip protector paint around the battery area before you repaint the engine compartment. The battery acid doesn't eat that stuff. That's my CPU memory dump. Hope it helps.
