Since the TII swap was completed in early July, I've taken extra care to make sure the car's exterior is always clean. However, the engine bay has been another story. The firewall and the motor's surrounding bodywork has been covered in dirt, grime and overall ugliness. The various connectors and brackets under the hood were nearly un-noticable as they were caked in yuck and blended well with the rest of the dirt. Armed with a bottle of simple green and various brushes, I went to work. I spent a couple of hours and got the major cleaning over with...I even had a chance to polish the IC piping. I still have a few hours of work left as the scrubbing takes a long time. The coolant filler neck alone took about 20 minutes to clear off the grime and remove the stains. The next step involves paint...I'm going to remove, scuff and paint a lot of stuff including various brackets and the AFM. I'd also like to get a load of new 10mm bolts from the local hardware store to a add to the effect.

I though this picture would come out better, I should have used the flash. What is visible looks ok though, more to come with the next update.



I also had a chance to machine polish the car this weekend. I've been using Meguiars NXT sealant since the swap and have loved the results. The machine was able to remove/hide a lot more than I could by hand. If any of you have been curious about NXT, it's among the best you can find in an auto parts store. It's comparable to Zaino, but doesn't last as long. The best part of most synthetic sealants is that they leave no residue...a big plus in my book

 

Nice, I want those sideskirts.

 

Oh boy, the same project I need to embark on. It's looking good.

I am planning on removing damn near everything from the fire and fender walls. I'm gonna sand and repaint all the brackets, get new bolts, remove pullies and manifolds and send them out to be powder coated, put in all new vac lines, and scrub and polish all that plastic. Probably rewrap all the wires with electrical tape as well. It's gonna end up being more than a weekend project, as I'm sure yours is as well. You're definitely a step ahead of me right now though.

 

I'm just doing easy cleanup...though I'd love to re-wrap my harness, it'd be a PITA. I should have had it done when the swap was completed (duh). Pretty much anything very easily seen in the engine bay will be re-done.

 

yes yes yes.

damn good looking car.

 

What do you guys think of a gunmetal type color for the brackets etc...instead of bright silver? I think it would look pretty cool and not get gross looking as easily as the lighter paints would...

My FAVORITE look is the black crinkle coating - I believe BlueTII has a lot of little stuff under the hood in this color but I don't think it's a paint. His bay is also way beyond what I'm looking for (it's perfect).

 

Gunmetal>every other color on the spectrum

 

God damn that's awesome.

 

Nice cleaning job man.....looks great.

 

yeah you need to come to my house and help me out with my clean engine project What brushes did you use???? Thanks.

 

I used a wheel brush on the firewall and strut towers and for the engine items I used a few smaller brushes of various size/stiffness. To start with, I sprayed some simple green on the area I wanted - no need to douse it, just a nice misting. Then, after about 10 minutes of dwell time, I sprayed simple green on the stiffest brush (a wide battery brush) and went to work. Since the battery brush is metal, if you apply too much pressure you'll score the area. It just needs a few moments of scrubbing.

Have plenty of rags...you'll use them up In between each scrubbing, have a rag damp with a mixture of simple green/water in a bucket and wipe the area clean so you can see how you're progressing. During the scrubbing, the dirt/grime and grease will spread and you can't really see how well it's going until you wipe it down. As the area gets cleaner, move to softer brush so you don't scratch/score the metal. I have a stiff bristle brush about the size of 2 toothbrushes that worked well...a toothbrush also comes in handy for hard to reach areas (flexy head kind )

It takes a lot of time...as I said before, there is still a TON to do and I'm just going for a cleaner newer look, not a show engine bay by ANY means. There is a lot of easy stuff to do that gets things looking much better, time is the only real expense.

 

You did not indicate whether or not you rinsed the Simple Green off with H2O. If not, is there much odor in the cabin?

 

I sprayed all the painted surfaces with simple green, let it soak then agitated with the wheel brush. Then, everything was rinsed with the garden hose very thoroughly. I only covered the air filter...I didn't spray the engine with water at all, just the firewall, frame and strut towers (not having A/C, P/S or a battery in the compartment make things much much much easier to get to hehe). Then, I went to work with the engine itself with the brushes as described earlier. Since I worked for a couple of hours with the hood open, the degreaser scent vented and my interior smells normal.

 

It's so pretty.....

 

Damn, can't wait to take everything apart and do this myself one day. It's gotten to cold nowadays though. =T Maybe next summer... Nice job by the way. ^_^

 

The beauty of having a shop at your disposal = heat in the winter and A/C in the summer

 

yes very nice job, I did my engine bay a while ago but I just worked with a wet rag and some engine degreaser, a few brushes, but what pisses me off is how rusted the front cover gets