yes i said pretty damnit! im sick of it, i was motivated to clean mine, but as i was lookin in my compartment, i noticed something i dont see in ANY of these other pics......i have black crap everywhere. i think its some kind of rust proofing or something. its hard as crap to get off, and its EVERYWHERE..sucks ***

 

I had a ton of that stuff on my engine bay too. I got it off in less than a second!!!!

Just go to the store and do the following. Take $10 with you. For $5 you can get ENGINE FOAM CLEANER. For another $5 you can get a bottle of this ORANGE DEGREASER SPRAY. Then for another $5, I take the $10 back, take $15... anyway... for another $5 you can get a detailing spray for later.

Take the foam and spray it all over your engine compartment, everywhere. Let it sit for a good 10 minutes. Then spray on some more!!! The foam will soon disappear and then use the engine degreaser (orange stuff) it just sprays right on. Let that sit for a while. By the way, I assume you're at the coinwash with the power washer already. Now take the power washer, and spray everything off. Most of the black stuff will come off. The parts that don't, just crab a cotten cloth and rub the black stuff a bit and it will come right off very easily. I had that in places too, it looks like rust proofing, but I didn't like it. I got rid of everything to dealer showroom condition, just look at my other post !!!!

Once you're done cleaning, take the DETAILER spray and spray it over everything. Careful on the plastic parts (ie where air filter is) because if you spray too much it'll look like runny paint! (it's not paint though, it's just shiny coat or something).

 

And presto... the end result

Only took me about 1 hour at the coinwash!!!

 

sounds like a plan but im not a fan of sparying water into my engine comparment

 

You know niether was I. So I covered the battery with a rag. I was going to cover the distributor cap but there's already this plastic thing covering it on the TPI engine so I didn't bother.

The thing you gotta remember is when I drove down to the coin wash my engine was hot. So the second I sprayed the water on most of it evaporated several seconds later so it's not like I'm damaging anything.

!!!

 

Looks good.

 

Hey easySPEED. Thanks for the tip. I have that crap under my hood too. Now go back to the store. Take $40 with you and GET SOME NEW HOOD STRUTS. That motor deserves better!

 

Looks good easySPEED

No way keep the $40, I love the custom hood support. I'm thinking of selling them on ebay for $20.

 

When my hood struts were blown I used needle nose vice grips and clamped them to the chrome rod so it could not retract into the housing.

 

I do have one thing to ask about "all the black" stuff under your hood fattie92. I have some stuff as well that looks like some sort of rustproofing spray. It is all over the radiator support and behind the headlights. There is also over spray on the fender wells. It is thicker than paint and will not come off. It is not dirt so nobody ask me am I sure. Below is a pic. Check out the black directly behind the headlights and directly to the left of the windshield washer bottle, that is the over spray. I absolutley hate it. One day I am going to give the car a good restoration. Pull the motor, take everything out, strip EVERYTHING down and repaint it in a brighter white.

 

Ummm... Is that a good idea? Last I heard hot engine+cold water=potentially cracked block? My can of degreaser (still haven't used it yet) says to use it when the engine is cold.

 

I wont even spray water on my lawn mower engine when it's hot, but look at all the off road motorcycle and car guys that just drive right into it!

 

your engine would have to be really hot, and the water, chemicals really cold. Around me coin op car washes use hot water.

Also, for it to cause damage, you would really have to focus a large temperature change on a small area.

yif you got there shortly with a cooler engine, sprayed the stuff on, waited, more stuff, waited, then washed, i can't see there being a problem

 

Cold water on a hot block could potentially be enough of a temperature change to cause damage. It might be a one in a million chance but the risk is still there. If someone wants to do it that way then more power to them, but for my 'bird the engine has to be cool at least. Replacing the block takes longer than waiting for it to cool down.

My Jimmy on the other hand, I wouldn't mind an excuse to pull the 4.3...

 

trust me, spray water on to a warm engine, never a hot one, water has tremondous cooling effect and also there is another way it will weaken the engine, heads or whatever, I cannot remember the term exactly but the metal crystallises from rapid cooling and slowly weakens it. I am a pilot and you never pull out the throtle and put in into a dive because the air rapidly cools the engine and has the same effect.

 

Think about those trucks that go mudding and the only thing above the water is the carb and distributor. Mud all over the block! As far as putting cold water on a hot block even if some one has done that a thousand times there must have one person that cracked his block before. I dont like to practice to many bad habits.

 

you guys know you like my engine bay!! lol just kidding mine is dirty as sh$$t...

i have to clean it one of these days.

 

EasySpeed- what is the stuff called that you used to make your plastic (air intake) all shiny? Can I just use armorall? -89IRO

 

What was that about clean engine compartments??




:lala: :lala: :lala:
Seriously, 1 year ago...I gaurantee you this was THE WORST looking engine compartment on this whole board. You just need -

-Time
-Detication
-Effort

 

Me too...and it's true...the term is shock cooling.

 

WHOA!!! Check it out, he has the Rare as hell Factory "Hood Stick". That was a multi purpose piece of wood that served as a hood strut and an ugly stick (for the days yo need to kick some ***).... sweet...

 

Wow, I'm glad I know not spray water in there. I never have but I always figured a little water shouldn't hurt anything. I guess I should stop using snow to cool down the engine on my 2-stroke. Me and my buddies thought it was cool how it dissapered when it hit the hot pipe.

 

how's this for clean:

granted it's a little easier without the usless stuff getting in the way.

 

hot metal in contact with cold water, = weak metal, thats why most welders wont use water to cool down there welds inless something is on fire

now im not saying your going to crack your block, you problaly crack your heads before the thick metal block, but in extreme conditions, a engine at 300+ degrees, on a 100 degree day, shot it with ice cold water, and doing it over and over, roll the dice

 

I don't think that option is too rare these days.

 

woah somebody brought this post from the dead...

the stuff i sprayed was some detailing spray. i wish i hadn't... i spent tons of time cleaning it up after and chipped the paint on my valve covers using the pressure washer...

i now use armorall to polish my engine plastic... that detailing spray was silicone based and left this rubber layer over everythign in my engine bay, i didn't like it!!!

 

oh and... i got hood shocks long time ago hehe

 

the water i used to clean my engine bay a year ago was actually warm water...

 

is this the black tar stuff your talkin about? i got it too. I cleaned it off one fender, but still on the other fender. I stopped after paint started to some off with it and decided that i could live with what ever. im starting to wax under the hood too now

 

There is such a thing

 

as the edit button

 

Even though this post is old, here's just my $0.02: Scrub a dub, man! Get in there with some elbow grease and hunt those nooks and crannies (sounds dirty). When my motor was out for the rebuild I cleaned, cleaned, and cleaned. I replaced ALL the factory split-loom with new, washed the paint, polished, and did a little wax job on the firewall, inner fenders, and core support. Nowadays it's just about keepin' it clean. It's not impossible to get in there and clean it up real well, then it's as simple as maintaining it.


You can kinda see small amount of gloss on the inner fender wells and firewall. I got some "Wax-as-u-Dry" I'm going to hit the inner fenders with, we'll see how that goes (Oh yeah, I've re-wired my hairy plug wires since this shot )

 

My bay wasn't too bad in it's first to incarnations,





I like it better with the mostly black engine bay,

 

Hey guys, so nothing has to be covered up? Aren't there parts of the motor that shouldn't get water in it?? I dunno I'm deathly afraid of spraying water in to the engine bay, and having the car not start up again...

 

As for just spraying water into your engine compartment, you can't really harm anything (aside from the whole extreme temp. change). Think about when your driving in a rain storm! Ever open up the hood and notice that your engine is soaked? At least here in Arizona, when it rains...it RAINS...then 2 minutes after it started its dry and 120* again....

Plus, it really isn't a bad idea every now and then to go out into your front yard, open up your hood, use your rare wooden hood prop, and spray down your engine. As long as the engine is cool you really don't have anything to worry about. Prevents excessive dirt build-up and keeps things shiny! (Well, at least keeps them from getting any worse)

 

Spraying the engine bay with water won't affect your engine. It's not like your submerging it in a lake (now that will cause a problem). But when using the hose water will just run off.

i bought some plastic and duct tape from home depot and covered about half my car. then i bought 5 spray bottles of engine degreaser that I from pep boys. I sprayed my engine bay down with the degreaser, and rinsed it off. you have to be carefull not to get it on and wires or paint, cause the degreaser will eat everything. but now the bay looks like new. Took almost all day, but well worth it!

 

Dirty pic, it cleans up a little bit better!

 

A little engine degreaser + water =

 

first off, spraying water into the engine bay isn't necessarily going to destroy anything, but it can.

I killed off a TPS sensor one time washing my engine bay. I also originally used the air filter mount that is shown in the directions of the paxton supercharger install (below the fender) and a few trips in the rain and i was out a maf sensor.

So there are sensors in the engine bay that can be harmed by water. Be cautious.

And since everyone keeps posting such nice pictures of engine bays, i'll post one of my rat's nest



one of these days i'll go back and clean up all the wiring mess, but this engine is just coming out anyway.

 

I don't spray anything into my engine bay anymore.... whenever I do, my car won't run for a day or two. Pretty dang frustrating......

 

you look like you've got the same setup i have under the hood.

what are you running?

 

WWWWwwwaaaaaaaaaaa! I have some cleaning to do myself!

 

i know how ya feel about a dirty engine and then goin to a clean one. this is when i first got my car.

 

and heres a present day pic. its come along way but still no where near show worther just alot better.

 

Timz- looks great. All I think you need to do is replace your overflow tank and windshield washer tank. Then maybe neaten up the wires a little (plug wires), then you'll be set. -89IRO

 

Hey thanx man, yea when i do my headers i got the plug wires u cut to lenght and im nt sure if i wanna try and hid them or just make it look neater but then i also have to hid the power wire for my amps or when i relocate my battery it will be moved also.

i wanna get the size of the coolant container just like in my brothers 91 z29, the big coolant container andthen ill just get a new washer container too, that washer fluid is like is say 3 yrs old almost lol shows how much i use my car in the rain and or use my whipers, it used to be filled to the top at on point.

 

Jebus I forgot this thread existed....

Like I was saying before, a little love and tender care for your car and its 2000 parts is all it takes. Just hose your bay off every now and then, you don't need to get rough with it. Look at mine, it's never been degreased or steamcleaned in the 13 years its been alive! Granted not the most show-ready bay in the world, but it shure as h*ll ain't dirty!

 

Awsome bay man I like the Edelbrock Elete covers I was thinking about getting them now I'm gonna have to

 

Your most of the way there it also serves as a hatch strut, and comes in handy for prostreet jousting tourniments!

 

What is the rat nest of wires on the front?