Have any members here detailed an engine before? What do I have to cover before spraying down my engine, I know the distributor is one, but what kind of sensors? Does the Vtec solenoid have to be covered? What did you guys use?

Brian

 

I don't cover anything except the air filter if you have an open one. Don't concentrate the spray at the distributor or alternator. Simple green works well and doesn't stink or stain. Black magic engine degreaser/detailer worked the best...but I can't find it anymore.

Detail it at a carwash that has a pressure washer. Or better yet, find a pressure washer with steam. We have a big *** pressure washer with a diesel steam burner at work.

You can use armorall to shine everything up after. But I leave it just looking clean.

Anyway, this was beyond a simple detail job, but simple green really does work well. The engine was swapped out for a different one (which I also cleaned up with simple green), but the shock towers and the rest of the bay are obviously original.

Before:


After:



My S2000 engine bay always looks like it just rolled out of the showroom...but to be fair, I never drive that in the snow and it only has like 40k on it. That's always cleaned with simple green also. Ignore the ugly *** AEM intake that's no longer on the car.



This is the black magic stuff, plus armor all on my old SR20'd 240SX:


And after some scrubbing and armorall'ing on my old GSR. This thing was daily driven with 158k miles at this point.




My ITR's engine bay looks great already, but could use some work. I just bought it in November and never got a chance to clean it up before putting it in storage.

A lot of it also has to do with replacing rusted bolts with new ones that have a coating on them. I did this on my EM1. Whenever I go to the junkyard, I always raid Hondas for their 10,12,and 14mm interior bolts to use in the engine bay or on the license plate bolts. The interior bolts are almost always mint and still have that goldish plating on them. I always also take the upper mount bolts from the rear shocks to replace the rusty front ones. They never charge me for bolts. So...free bolts lol.

I paint brackets with either high temp black or wrinkle black paint. Epoxy paint works awesome too.

Heat shields can be painted using header paint.

I also put the car on a lift/jackstands and clean the underneath of the engine as well as the chassis. I keep everything SUPER clean on all my cars.


I paint or replace anything else that's rusted once I have the car for long enough. My EM1 is a good example of all of the above. Too bad there's no pics of that.

 

foamy engine bright works well (you can find it by the simple green in an automotive store).

Simple green full strength while the engine is warm (not hot) is the best for quick easy cleaning.

 

The problem with engine brite is the headaches from the horrible stink.

 

Black magic works great, You can still pick it up in stores here in northern CA.

 

WD-40

http://www.civic4g.com/index.php/for...ic.php?t=10412

 

I would not use a pressure washer on the motor at all just my opinion. Water can get in places that you don't want it due to old gaskets and such. I cover the dis, alt, and valve cover with towels then spray simple green on the bay and then use a reg bucket and soap and wash the painted surfaces. Let it sit a couple min but make sure it doesn't dry then rinse of carefully with hose without a nozzle. Finally use towel or whatever and dry as much as possible. I then usually turn car on and let it dry what water is left. After it's dry I turn off car let it cool then spray cd2 engine detailer (hard to find but it's out there) over entire bay then turn car on and let it dry itself for 5 or so min then wipe off excess. Afterwards I wash the rest of the vehicle to get the degreaser and detailer that might have got on outside panels off. Been doing it this way for years on all MY cars and customers. I usually do this a few times a year to my personal car when I have the time. Hope this helps.

A customers car no engine shots but yeah

 

Water, car washing soap, armoral and Lots of elbow grease GL

 

^ so clean