While we had taken the radiator out for repair, we decided to go ahead and clean up a very, very dirty engine bay. Now, I do not have any "before" pictures but let assure you this engine bay had not seen any cleaning materials for probably it's entire life. Grease, oil, dust, rubber particles from a shredded belt or two, and over-spray from a poorly done "quicky" paint job (done before I got the car, of course) were all over the place. There was no amount of shine to be seen anywhere, to say the least.
Here's what we did:

1. Removed metal radiator shrouds, coil brackets, and splash pan. Sandblasted, sanded, and repainted all.
2. Covered distributor, coils, any exposed wiring, and air intake with plastic bags and plastic wrap + rubberbands.
3. Sprayed de-greasing product in engine bay, and carefully used a pressure washer to wash it off. Then scrubbed with toothbrushes and the likes to get exeptionally dirty spots.
4. Leaf blower'ed it dry
5. For the body color parts of the engine bay, we used paint cleaner and polished them with a rag.
6. Scrubbed those old rubber vacuum hoses and metal lines with a 3M cloth.
7. Re-painted an installed the repaired radiator
8. To top it all off, I gave the carburetor a much needed tune which solved my idle issues.

And presto, finally I can open the hood and not cringe at the sight of it. It sure makes working on the engine a lot easier when dirt and grime aren't covering everything up.

 

wow yes that turned out great

 

Really beautiful.

 

Nice and clean! I like it, nice work

 

Clean!

 

Looks very nice indeed, good job! It's hard tedious work, but surprising how it can transform the whole feel of the car. Looks like some of that grime helped perserve some of the finishes. A couple of observations, the hoses and rubber could use a little color and although a little extreme, I like to re gold zinc the hardware and clamps. Nothing makes it pop like shinny fasteners. Your belly pan looks exceptionally nice, did you paint that too? Another small tip to ultimate detailing are the small component labels on the alternator, compressor, fluid tanks and such. They are often overlooked but can add just those small touches of factory freshness. The devil is in the details and it looks like you're not afraid of some homework.

Where is that picture of the banked turn from? Looks like a killer backdrop for some photo's

 

Nice. and very satisfying too...
Been there!
changing my water pump and I started thinking, "well with THAT out of the way maybe I could just..."
aaaaaand I ended up pulling out everything off the sides and front of the compartment and going at it with the detailer's friend -as you discovered - the Toothbrush. Damn. 10 days (of and on) later it was as-new +. Gotta love how Sunset Red really pops back up with some elbow grease! even after some 27yrs under the grime.

Of course, then Banzai pointed out I should have used the OE hose fasteners....
d-OH!
so another detailing will be in the works. Gift that keeps on giving!

Stu Aull
80GS
Alaska

 

Also, change the clutch and break fluid. It will look nice and fresh to go with the clean look.

I also don't see the battery hold down.

 

Your still the only one I know of that gives his engine bay a bikini wax and buffing!

 

I found it amazing after pulling out the radiator and metal shrouds just how much room is in there, as you can see in your photo! The engine really takes up about 10% of the total compartment, haha.


Yep, sanded it down and repainted it, turned out better than I thought it would haha. That picture is from the old part of Fuji Speedway that has been abandoned, but really any abandoned race course would make an awesome place for a photoshoot if you don't want to go all the way to Japan!

 

I've never been to Japan, it would be interesting. I thought it might be some place in Ohio. The upper midwest is dotted with older, now derelect small tracks that only live in the memories of old racers.

 

Just found the "before" image, although it's taken from the opposite side.


Before and After:

 

very nice excellent job..

 

Really nice job - looks great.

 

+1 Great job!

 

That's fresh man, nice job.

 

Excellent improvement. Gotta love cleanliness under the hood. Next Stop WIRE TUCK !! kiddding.

 

Wow!

 

that looks really good

 

Magnificent. When are you available to do mine?

 

Thanks for the tip. And yeah when I got the car it didn't have any kind of battery bracket, so I guess I'll have to do some searching and find one. But then again, the battery doesn't really move anywhere as is...