I'm working on cleaning up my engine. This thing has layers and layers of grease and oil and dirt on it. It came from an area with a lot of clay soil, so that's mixed in there too. I'm working on the front of the engine right now, the area around the timing chain cover. There's lots of nooks and crannies and weird spots that has collected gunk that just won't come up. I've scraped and scratched and doused it with purple power and used brake cleaner and you name it. The car's not running so I can't take it to a wash or power wash it. Anyone got any ideas on getting the grime out of those areas? Also, it looks like originally the water pump and timing chain cover were painted engine red. Would you repaint it red, or a metallic silver? I'm kinda torn.
If your not up for renting a power washer from the local hardware store, I would suggest a smaller wire brush and a lot of patience. Start at the top and work your way down. Also, put down some cardboard or something so you dont end up cleaning the concrete like I had to.
The car's inside my shop, so for now the power washer is out. Could I use a small wire wheel on a dremmel without doing damage?
I dont see why not. I started with a 2 " scraper, then wire brushed it real good. Dug in the tight spots with a piece of an old wire hanger.After all that, sprayed it down with some degreaser and power washed. I would imagine you could rinse it down pretty good with a water hose and nozzle too. The rinse helped me see what I missed. I guess it depends on how much you want to put into it.
Harbor freight has some degreaser that goes for about $10 a gallon. You can mix it down quite a bit but I have used it right out of the jug and it works great. I had transmission fluid under the car on the concrete in front of the garage when I did the engine swap in my 64. I had to get back under the car to hook stuff up so I put some of that stuff on it and after a few minutes I hosed it down and you couldn't tell it was ever there. Other than that I would buy a gallon of simple green and a spray bottle and spray the engine down and let it soak, then spray it again. Scrub and rinse.
X2 on the harbor freight degreaser. it works great im currently cleaning up the engine on my electra as well I personally think that the factory Buick red for our engines is beautiful, im so glad I went for it rather than another color i was thinking of. Heres some pics of mine. http://v8buick.com/showthread.php?t=186971 TA and other places carry the correct red color, as it is not gloss or completely matte.
There are several good books on the subject or auto detailing. Each has a section on engien detailing. The wire brush may not be the best choice on some areas. Make full use of all those old tooth brushes and any sort of tool to get into the nooks and crannies. The book in my library is "Ultimate Auto Detailing" by David Jacobs, Jr. It's a good starting place. To get the engine truely clean without it running I would suggest taking parts off the engine as you clean and then reinstall them. In your case, remove the air cleaner, p/s pump, cooling fan and clutch, upper radiator hose, belts, and the other misc. items to be able to really get in there and work at cleaning. Start at the top or the engine and work down and from front to back. As for painting the engine, it should be Buick Red to be correct. There a several pics on the site of engines to show what they should look like when done to different standards; i.e. concours restoration, street machine, etc. Dig in and get those fingernails dirty!
How much did you take off before painting the block? Did you strip it down or just try to work around a lot of the wires and hoses?
If there is any possible way,,, any way,,, even if you have to tow the car there and back,,, take it to a steam cleaner or pressure washer... you are going to work your glutimus maximus off and still not accomplish what you could do with 1 hour on a steam cleaner... a steam cleaner is the best money and effort that I have ever spent.... If you cant do that ,,, do like Dave says,,, use simple green....it works wonders, but you have to keep it wet...if it drys out it quits working....
Has anyone tried one of these hand-held steam cleaners? They seem ike they might be handy, nice and portable, and the spout thing could reach into a lot of the nooks and crannies - steam it, then rinse??? http://cgi.ebay.ca/NEW-Steamfast-SF...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item23038b8eda
I would not waste my time with the steam thing you see on the info commercials. Use a commercial steam cleaner or like the other posters said pull it apart and do it right. You will be glad U did when its over and put back together. Mine is also really cake'd up with gunk. I own a pressure cleaner and it really didnt make a dent B-cause I could not get into the places where its the thickest. My plan is to pull the engine and ge-gasket the entire assmb clean and reassmb/ reinstall. that way I will be able to properly detail the engine cavity as well. Good Luck,Steve
Eventually I plan on putting a power washer to it, once things warm up. I'm trying to get as much off as I can now though, and this stuff is seriously stuck on the engine. There's layers and layers of clay and grease/grime on this thing. I've got a lot of stuff off the engine and I figure while it's off might as well clean the stuff I can't normally get to.
surprisingly i didnt move much around. I taped things off that I just couldnt avoid, had a handy peice of cardboard in my other hand to block off any backspray etc. and some skillfull spraycan angling
When i did my 55 thats in the camaro i used gm engine shampoo, worked really well ,used wire brush to work the shampoo into dirt ran a gargen hose of the hot water tap in the house & used a high pressure tip to rinse engine . It to can be thinned down but i used it straight out of the pail . I did the same as u got most of the stuff off with scrapers wire brushs o ring piks are very handy for tight little holes, also u can get little toothbrush type wire brushs that work well . I used air die grinder with flapper wheels , long burrs at very slow speed in the hard to reach areas , just enough speed to bust up the hard grease & grime around the timeing cover. This was before i got my pressure washer(life is now good) . The best is apressure or steam jenny if u can get one . Good luck ,know all about doing it the slow way but it works just takes time. Later Bake PS painted valve covers black engine grey and intake , water pump,timing cover &oil pump silver & oil pan black . Looks pretty good but its never going into a correct car & paints cheap .
I used the dremel with a wire brush attachment and a bigger wire brush on a drill and a lot of elbow grease. I think I've got as much off the front of the engine as I can without a power wash. Now I've got to put it back together and get the thing running, I hope. This engine started off with about an inch of grease and grime all over every surface.
I posted this elsewheres, but thought this would be a good follow up to this thread. Here are the pics from what I did to the front of my engine. The color is off because it was dark in the shop when I took the pic and the shop lights throw a lot of glare. In retrospect, I should have done the heads with aluma blast, but this will do for now. I want to take the intake manifold off this summer for cleaning, which is why I didn't paint it. I don't have any of the accessories back on yet, hopefully this week I will be able to work on that. The valve covers are just mocked on there, not sealed and set yet, and the oil filter is getting changed. I did get some over spray underneath, but it's all on the grease and grime which will hopefully come off. When I first got this car there was about an inch of grease and grime all over the front of the engine. It took a lot of time and cleaning to get it down to clean metal to paint.
Now put some of that cleaning knowlage and hard work into the engine cavity. hit the fender tubs with low gloss black while u have it all apart. your friends will say WOW!
