I see all these pics of older hondas with clean *** engine bays. Mine with 25k is pretty damn dirty now. I have a local drive up cleaner thing where you can spray engine cleaner all under the hood and then pressure wash it. Is that safe though? For the belts and what not?

Any info and how guys keep your engines clean would be nice. If you got a clean engine bay post it up!

 

Here's what I do before ever car show:

1. let engine run until warm, not hot, warm. turn off.
2. take plastic grocery bags and cover intake filter, distributor, fusebox, and alternator.
3. taking a garden hose, lightly spray down entire engine bay and underside of hood.
3. Using Simple Green full strength, spray down entire engine, let sit for approx. 5 mins or so.
4. on the jet setting, spray off entire engine and hood.
5. Remove bags and crank car. Let it run until most of the water is dried up.
6. Take a towel and dry any spots that arent yet.
7. You can use a toothbrush, simple green and a towel to get any spots missed.
8. Use Meguiers Vinyl and Rubber dressing on entire engine. Also makes the underside of the hood sparkle.

If you do it correctly the first time, it's alot easier keeping it clean from then on.

engine bay of my wagon:


underside of hood after a toothbrush and simple green:

 

yeah..simple green is awesome...I usually only have to simple green it with a toothbrush at the beginning of the show season...after that just spraying simple green and rinsing with water works for me

 

Looks good. But dude, lol, how long it take you to do that with a toothbrush?

 

Wow, you guys are good This is the only way I could get my engine bay clean

And its already dirty again. I try to use tire shine on the hoses and just occasionally give everything a once over with a microfiber towel and simple green

 

two of my friends used the gunk engine brite stuff on their engines before going out to a show, the engine bay was extremely clean!! i wish i had a better picture and before/after.. maybe i'll do it with my engine bay. definately a huge improvement, they just covered electrical with plastic and followed the instructions on the bottle.. oh and used a full bottle aswell, definately worth it.

 

i have no pics, but i clean using Purple decreaser, and a brush and scrup it, then any rubber shine.... i dont waste time covering anything, it doesnt matter if anything gets wet, its a myth

 

I do the same process as dfaulkner, but minus the vinyl dressing. Simple green

 

the first time I ever did the engine on the coupe, it took me three nights to get it perfect.

 

clean = yummy! good write up mullet man!

 

 

simple green and time does wonders

 

I use Simple Green and then cover everything up like mentioned above and spray with a powerwasher and then let dry and then pat everything down and then to get shiny i use armor all and a rag



not the best motor but decent (D16Z6)

 

check the detailing thread sticky'd at the top.

 

ive seen super clean ones that look like they barely run

 

If I had a pick of mine id show it. I just had mine painted
Try using simple green, it works real well

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SoFa king fast &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">ive seen super clean ones that look like they barely run</TD></TR></TABLE>

they run fine,
they just have many components/wiring hidden out of view.

and non essential stuff removed..

 

Thanks for all the replys guys. Looks like simple green and a day off from work it is

 

I wish I had the guts to spray water into my engine bay, it's pretty dirty.

 

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by GGhatchie &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I wish I had the guts to spray water into my engine bay, it's pretty dirty.</TD></TR></TABLE>

it really doesnt matter, i dont know why so many people think it does, u can drench it, just dont submerge it, haha.... i spray mine all the time, in fact i just finished doing mine, iv been sraying mine for 3 years and nothing happens, just make sure your spark plug wires are plugged well so that water doesnt get in there.... happened to me once and all the happened was i was rocking 3 cylinders for like an hour til it dried up. more 2 cents from me

 

i like to clean my bay and keep it tidy and neat.

I polish whatever I can,
remove whatever I can,
and i'm going to start rerouting wiring and such.
i'm also picky about what I put in there and how it'll look.

anyways, when I clean my bay, I'll either cover up my dizzy and maybe fusebox,
used to do the alternator too but it's a bitch to get to.

But really, you can just go at it without ANYTHING covered, and it wont hurt anything, just if you're using a high pressure wash, dont' go blasting your electrical componenets with high pressure water, avoid directly spraying them.

Engine bay components are built with the fact that they may get wet in mind.