Silex

Well guys, the big day is soon fast arriving and i need to know what you guys recommend for cleaning out the engine bay. In particular (and yes I did a search for this) is rust. I've various pics of my engine bay and you can clearly see in the top-left one the rusted piece near the top-right of the pic. Overall, the engine is just plain dirty and I need all the help I can get . TIA.



BTW sorry for the crappy pics, the camera is real crappy and I had to scan the pics in and I obviously upped the brightness too much. Plus not to mention that the pics I have here aren't the full size since they aren't on my host .

twinturborx7pete

iTrader: (3)

CARB AND CHOKE CLEANER!!! WORKS BETTER THAN DEGREASER AND EVAPORATES! YAY!

Its the best thing for cleaning parts.. makes the silver pieces really shiny... other than that you can put a bag over your alternator... take out your batter and spary the whole engine bay with Simple Green or GUNK and let it sit for a bit and pressure wash it out...

The Carb Cleaner works good if you have a lot of time on your hands... hehe

rotorbrain

soap and water is the best. its safe and easy. get dawn dishwashing soap and mix it up. no matter what you will have to scrub. there is no getting away from that. . . unless of course you arent that detailed about how clean you want it. that pipe that you say is rusted. is it not aluminum? if it isnt, then you need to replace it with aluminum. . . thats the only way to go!!! then polish it. or powder coat it. youll never have problems if you powder coat it. that stuff is awesome.

amp

iTrader: (50)

simple green wipes

ptrhahn

iTrader: (9)

Is there any reason why you shouldn't just pay someone to steam-clean it?

(other than the price)

dpasseto

Dude...how could you let your engine bay get that dirty?

rx4ur7

try alum piping it doesnt rust. this makes you wonder what the inside of the piping looks like

VTAOE

I can't really help you with the rust, but I have a few ideas on cleaning up the rest of your engine.

In VA we have a product called Greased Lightning which will clean up your engine really nice. It is a company based out of NC (I think) so it may not have gotten to you in CA yet. You can find it at your local walmart. I don't think it is in the automotive section it is somewhere else. You may have to ask someone.

What I do is use the Greased Lightning to cut all the grease and gunk, but it leaves kind of a funny film. So I use Simple Green to cut the film and it helps clean some too.

I would suggest going out and getting a spray and pump system at Lowes (or something like it) that is normally used to spray pesticides on your plants on the outside of your house. Then all you have to is mix up some of the simple green in the container and pumping it up so that you can just pull the trigger and spray it instead of constantly squeezing the trigger on the bottle. You should note that Simple Green is still very effective when mixing it with water (see the back of the bottle for directions) and so this sprayer system turns out to save you from buying so much simple green and it is alot easier on the muscles in your hands and forearms after a full day of cleaning.

I just thought I would share my experience with everyone.

- Cody

VTAOE

I forgot to mention that I suggested this to someone on the "big list" one time and several people told me the Air Force or Navy did a study and found that Simple Green actually eats away at aluminum over a long period of time. I think that is because they just let it dry and sit on the aluminum. So keep a water hose near by so you can spray it off before it dries (which you should be doing anyways).

You should also be careful to try and keep the Simple Green off the paint of your fenders. There is a warning on the bottle to try and keep it away from paint. I would just suggest to rinse it off quickly if it does accidently come into contact with paint. I really don't think it will hurt anything.

If you are really serious about cleaning then check out:
http://www.griotsgarage.com/index.jsp

They have some great products that will make your car look BRAND NEW and smell like it too. I think I've said way too much already. Let me know if you have any questions for me.

Trexthe3rd

I just have one question, how long have you been running a single turbo through the stock IC??

1bad7

go to your local motorcycle shop and ask for a product called S100, its a total cycle cleaner and is amazing. all you do is spray it on everything in the engine bay with a spray bottle thats included, let it sit for 5 minutes and pressure wash it off. this stuff will get the hardest baked on **** off and wont hurt your paint or piping. have fun

apexkw

i use that greased lightning stuff at work and it is really amazing...i dont know if you have heard of it though...its called P21S and it is really really good. its kinda expensive though. i always order it through the local performance shop...just cause they can get stuff.

yodaddy

just sand it off then paint the pipe black to match the rest of them.

CrispyRX7

iTrader: (139)

For the rust use stuff called Naval Jelly.
Works well but be sure to only use it on parts that have been romved from the car and be sure to rinse it well.
Regards,
Crispy

Single7

CrispyRX7 is correct about the rust. Naval Jelly will take rust off really easy. Be sure not to let it dry and rinse it off completely. An air compressor is very handy since you will need to air dry the item you just put the naval jelly on or else it will rust all over again. You can find Naval Jelly at your local Home Depot or Lowes in the paint department near the paint stripping solvents. Don't ask a regular clerk because they probably won't know what it is . - Tommy

turbojeff

iTrader: (30)

Steam clean it! Brake cleaner and carb cleaner is not the way to go for mostly road grime. You need to be able to RINSE AWAY the dirt.

I've hosed tons of FD and FC engine bays, the alternator is fine without covering it.

I don't have the best looking engine bay here but it is pretty freakin' clean. Check the FD and FC.

http://community.webshots.com/user/turbojeff

Jeff

Silex

Now to answer some questions.

Well basically I just bought the car and I got it this way so I basically got it this way. All this car needs is some TLC and I'm willing to give it, but just need some help along the way .

Again, I havn't it so if I were to honestly answer your question, I would say 0 miles pretty much . But since the previous owner has had it, he's been running the current setup for well over 9K miles on a reman engine from SP Engineering. Trust me guys, I don't need an upgraded I/C quite yet. I won't get into that argument again...

Hey cody, man thanks a ton. I will try whatever I can and will make notes of you everyone else's suggestions and go check them out. I know this will be the suckiest part of the cleaning process (the initial cleaning), but once I get her spotless, it shouldn't be so hard later .

Hey bad7, I was wondering if you could give me more info on this cleaner? Because I don't have an air compressor or any compressor for that matter so I won't be able to wash it off so easily that way. Thanks again for the suggestion .

TBC in next post...

Silex

That's 2 marks for Greased Lightning . Going to have to check it out now for sure .

That's a great idea man, albeit the poor mans way out which I might have to do, but it all depends if that Naval Jelly stuff works out (plus I don't have a power sander) which leads me to the next quote...

Thanks Crispy . I am going to have to try this for sure and just see how well it works. I guess I am going to have to find an air compressor it seems .

Okay Jeff, I checked out your bay and man is it spotless ! I have considered steam cleaning before, but I have no idea on the cost. can you throw me a simple figure out?

Again, thanks guys for all the suggestions and I will make a quick note right now on how to go about cleaning it. But also, what parts of the electrical system that are visible do i need to cover or watch out for? The ABS in the top-left of the engine bay? I don't want to short anything unecessarily . Any other suggestions are greatly appreciated .

mazdaspeed00

iTrader: (6)

damn that is clean good work

Silex

Any other word guys? I would liek some replies regarding my tedious post made to each and every one of you .

jspecracer7

You've got a single turbo RX-7 and the STOCK intercooler?

You don't need to worry about cleaning your engine. You need to worry about getting an aftermarket replacement. If you notice, the Stock Intercooler has PLASTIC End Tanks. Over time, the metal teeth that hold the end tanks to the Intercooler core will come apart and/or break....this leads to NO BOOST.

turbojeff

iTrader: (30)

I've never covered a thing. I've hosed and hosed away with NO PROBLEMS ever.

Since some of your car isn't stock then you might need to cover the air filter (if they are open elements).

As for cleaning I'd actually start out by cleaning it off in the driveway with a hose and some Super Clean. Get it wet first then squirt some Super Clean on everything keeping it off the outside paint. Let it sit for just a minute or two and rinse. That should clean all the light stuff off. Then give the really dirty areas a second and third application. I use a rag and wash the paint under the hood. Once you clean everything you shouldn't need to use Super Clean very often, it is a harsh cleaner but it is sometimes needed to get the heavy dirt and grease off.

As for steam cleaning cost, I've done it at the carwash for $1.25. You'll have to let the car sit for a long time if you live very far from the carwash, you don't want to wash down a hot engine and/or turbo.

Jeff

Flybye

Here is what always works for me...
1)Disconnect battery
2)Spray engine with heavy duty engine degreaser
3)Wait 10-15 minutes
4)Hose engine down
5)With small tooth brush and some degreaser, I tackle some of the hard to reach areas
6)Hose engine down again
7)Repeat steps 2-6 until desired cleanliness is achieved
8)Allow sun to completly dry out the engine bay
9)Spray engine bay with silicone spray
10)Reconnect battery

I've done it like this several times and have never had any problems starting the engine. The main thing is to make sure the car is in direct sunlight to ensure the sun completly dries everything out.

Silex

Thanks for the concern racer7, but I'm sorta still unsure of how the previous owner took care of things like that. I'm pretty sure that it is the stock i/c, but the odo has 112K miles now and you would think the stock i/c would have gave way by now. I need to double check that, but it sure does look stock.

Thanks guys for the replies. I totally forgot about that steam cleaning thing at the car wash area. I will give that a go . I'll try your suggestion too FlyBye and see what I can do. Wish me luck guys!