Hey guys,

Thinking of steam pressure washing my engine bay before I repaint everything, etc... The underbody of my car is SO oily its not funny. Anyway, I have a few Q's:

1. What kind of paint should I use for the underbody without breaking the bank? Is there a spray-on rubber coating that I should be using or will rust-oleum high temp do ok? Ditto for the parts of the engine bay that won't be seen (I've got some partly rusting bare metal patches I want to cover and am not able to move the vehicle to a place where I could get a proper paint job on the bay).

2. Can I wire-wheel the manifold exteriors with a dremel or some such to smooth them out and clean them up a bit? Same for the brackets? Any advice on this? I'd like to make them a bit smoother and easier to clean. Are the intake manifolds steel or aluminum? Will I have to / should I paint them silver again after the wirewheel or will they be pretty much ok?

3. Is there a readily available rubbery coating sort of like wire insulation I can "paint" onto the wire harness and other small brackets? They seem to rust quickly, and rubber would reduce their sharp edges. Plus it would clean faster.

4. Can I wire-wheel the outside of the turbo? Obviously I don't think I can paint the outside of it for heat reasons but its a bit dirty and I'd like to get it clean. Is there any good way to clean its insides short of taking it apart and rebuilding it?

Thanks!!

 

the intake manifolds are alluminium, i used a wire wheel on the upper and lower a couple of months ago and they came up excellent. after the wire wheel i used metal polish to bring out the shine, i've got a pic somewhere but cant find it at the moment. they've been back on the car about 2 months now and they are still clean and shiny, theres also been lots of snow and rain here the last couple of months but they havn't discoloured.... yet. i think the compressor side of the turbo is also made from alluminium so along as you cover up the internals i don't see what harm a wire wheel would do.

 

Use tire foam when you're done. That's what dealerships do before you get your new car so that it looks nice. I've been doing it for years now, and it really makes it look nice. Just spray it on and leave it sit for a few hours, next time you open your hood...voila!

 

Cool suggestions, and thanks den for the feedback.

den - What kind of wire wheel did you end up using?

kmags - What kind of tire foam do you use?

Anybody else got ideas or answers? Especially on that rubbery coating Q and the underbody stuff.

 

Just a note, most spray degreasers tend to be caustic & will agressively tarnish aluminum, so if you use them, rinse promptly.
Cleaned:


Here is a trick after it's all cleaned up.
Spray lightly with tire shine stuff, then blast it with an air hose or leaf blower to smooth & shine it.
Shined:

 

i used a fairly heavy duty steel one, the bristles were about 2 inches long and i just hooked it up to a normal electric drill. couldn't get into everywhere with that so i finished it off with a smaller steel wheel on the dremmel.

 

Just a note I noticed when I used a brass wirebrush wheel hooked up on a drill back In my NA days. Sure, It turns out fantastic when all Is said and done. But your Manifolds (anything aluminum) will slowly start to tarnish. I had prestine Manifolds when I did this and by the next season they became grey. Following season, greyer. etc. It was a year from their, they looked like crap. Atleast to me It did.

I'd clearcoat them after you run a brush over them to seal the shine. If you want equality along all aluminum surfaces, just sandblast them. Thats where the tickets at!

 

Hmm... good point. I'd heard that certain brushes themselves could tarnish aluminum, though, too. According to the dremel kit, stainless steel brushes won't have such a propensity towards that. But I was thinking of clearcoating or silver-coating them anyway. I may get a whole batch of stuff powder coated, and in the process I'll see if they have a clearcoat or something. Might get my exhaust parts coated at the same time.

 

Tarnish by means as time passing by. It'll get grey and when you run your finger over It will be black. As for wirebrushes, use a brass one. It's pretty soft as far as whats out their. Anyone have a better recommendation to a softer one?

If you are not consistent In the pressure applied, you will have some areas darker than others even though you've got the grim/crap off the aluminum. I'd just go lightly throughout the duration (It wil take longer) at the expense of not "scoring" the aluminum/manifolds.

*edit* I know you can't use any brush on a s5 na UIM. It'll scratch It and ruin It's pre-existant finish.

 

Silverrotor, nice new avatar. I'll miss the dragon but I'm sure this one will grow on me.

Is there such a thing as clearcoat powercoat? Is powdercoating the intake manifolds a bad idea (outside and non-gasket areas only, of course)?

 

and I was just getting used to the dragon....

 

any tire foam will do. I personally use black magic because it seems to last longer and it smells nice. kinda fruity, but nice.

 

thats a pretty looking engine bay SureShot. Do you steamclean it ever? Mine is usually clean, I just find it hard to get to the lower areas of it without removing tons of stuff. Im also a little leery of steamcleaning in there...

 

Thanks! I've got a new one everyday 'til I get bored or get a warning......just messing around. There Is no way I'm losing my dragon.

My car Is down now. I just seperated the Coils off the Ignitors to sandblast and clearcoat. Just recently, I've taken all brackets and bolt/nuts off to do the same. I've begun to appreciate the effects of sandblasting followed by a shot of clearcoat. Seeing how I've stopped hitting myself on the head for not sandblasting/painting my Engine Bay before the TII conversion, I've scrubbed the entire EB down and waxed It. It'll look nice with my waxed Intercooler pipes Installed once I relocate my Battery.

I have no experience on powder coating though.

 

What clearcoat do you use?

 

this is what the lim came up like after using the steel wire wheel but before going at it with the dremmel or metal polish.

 

another...

 

Damn Den, those are gorgeous. If I could find a good high-temp clearcoat to use (its right above the turbo) then I'd definitely do that.

 

do'h.. tripple post

 

appologies

 

i havn't got any more pics of them finished at the moment but yeah they did come up really well, was very suprised.. but pleased this is what the lim looked like before :

 

I used VHT Flame Proof Coating SP-115 Clear and I'm happy.

Another reason why I refrained from wirebrushing my TII Manifolds Is there are to many crevices. You won't get all of It by hand.

Excuse the over posted pic, but this will give you the Idea of how the Manifolds turned out.


This pic shows a before and after comparison of the sandblasted silverrotors. Hehe.

J/K. They were steam cleaned. I thought I'd through this pic In seeing how steam cleaning was mentioned In this thread.

 

For the brush on rubber coating, use a product called Plasti-Dip. You brush on a bunch of coats and it forms a nice little rubber coating. Available in lots of colours too. Also good for dipping tool handles.
http://www.plastidip.com/consumer/index.html

I picked up a can of the blue plasti-dip, and ive used it on tools, keys, and wire. It's fantastic.

 

nice job silverrotor, looks excellent. especially the rotor

 

Ooh bioweapon, good call. I just found out about and picked up a can of that today at home depot. Bright yellow.. to match my engine + trim. Will be having fun with that after I get the parts beadblasted.

Will be trying that VHT flameproof coating you mention Silverrotor, and uh, damn, those rotors are very nice. I'll try to find a local sandblasting shop I can get the intake manifolds and such blasted. My car is such a rust heap it needs a lot of work.

Nice catch, den. I saw that happen and was gonna say somethign but I figured I'd be nice and let you take care of it first.