Engine Degrease and Cleaning

[Senorx470]

I will be attempting to degrease and clean up my engine bay for the first time tomorrow morning. Any tips or tricks? Dos and Don'ts? Anything not to get wet? Anything not to get cleaner on? Anything that needs to be covered? I have a pressure washer too. I also purchased some "Super Clean" which I was told is like "Simple Green". I'm still a total newbie and learning as I go along. Is it weird that I'm really excited to get started?

I'm looking to replace the air filter with a K&N Filter and new top too. I'm tired of looking at what's on top right now.

 

[ashman]

not weird at all.
I don't have a lot to offer on the cleaner. In my experience none of them are great. You'll probably have to scrub anything you really want to come off, and some areas are a real pain in the ass.

As far as getting anything wet goes, for the most part you should be fine. I'd try to cover the carb intake as best you can and the distributor cap too. It's not the end of the world if the cap gets wet but it may not start until it dries or you clean the water out of it.
Other than that, I can't think of anything that water or cleaner would hurt.

 

[sponsoredbydad]

I pressure wash mine all the time. Just don't aim directly at the dizy and what ash said about the carb. Take the filter off, stuff some rags into it and put a zip lock over it and let it rip. Now for that K&N filter. In MY Opinion ONLY I would steer away from it and stay with paper.Sure it breathes great but how do you think all that air gets in. For street fine for a wheeler to me no Bueno. Looks like the top metal piece on air cleaner is on upside down

 

[Senorx470]

I pressure wash mine all the time. Just don't aim directly at the dizy and what ash said about the carb. Take the filter off, stuff some rags into it and put a zip lock over it and let it rip. Now for that K&N filter. In MY Opinion ONLY I would steer away from it and stay with paper.Sure it breathes great but how do you think all that air gets in. For street fine for a wheeler to me no Bueno. Looks like the top metal piece on air cleaner is on upside down

You'd be right. The bolt isn't long enough to have the air cleaner top fit right side up. Can a longer bolt be bought and installed? On second thought, I'm not feeling any chrome in my engine compartment. I'm wanting to stay semi-original. Some painted is cool with me, but no chrome pieces.

 

[diesel4me]

Castrol Super Clean will take paint off brand new aluminum/zinc die cast lawnmower engines if you leave it on more than a minute or so...dont ask me how I know.....

It'll also eat away at things like pistons of you let them soak in it long enough too--we used to soak heavily carboned up pistons in it at the auto parts store's machine shop,but not for very long,to remove the crust without wire brushing them......so beware of using it on aluminum...or things like carbs ,etc...full strength its pretty potent..

 

[ashman]

Can a longer bolt be bought and installed?

yeah, it's just a standard sized bolt. take it down to your local home depot, lowes, etc, and just get one a touch longer.

On mine I was having trouble finding a bolt long enough so I just bought some threaded rod (also available at any home improvement store) of the correct diameter and cut it to the length I wanted and put a nut on top.

 

[sponsoredbydad]

You'd be right. The bolt isn't long enough to have the air cleaner top fit right side up. Can a longer bolt be bought and installed? On second thought, I'm not feeling any chrome in my engine compartment. I'm wanting to stay semi-original. Some painted is cool with me, but no chrome pieces.

Just use a piece of all thread and presto. I just changed mine out to go from a 3" tall filter to a 5" tall filter

 

[Senorx470]

Found this under a rattle can paint job on my driver's wheel well? Super Clean strips rattle can paint come to find out. LOL. Does this mean it's an original wheel well. The sticker looks pretty well preserved. Wondering if it's a reproduction?

Finding surface rust covered by rattle can. Should I sand it off and re-paint?

 

[Greg72]

I'm sure if you live in a big city you can find a professional steam cleaning service.

I took an old truck to one in the San Jose, CA area many years ago and was AMAZED at how well it cleaned everything under the truck in the engine compartment.

The secret is actually LOW-PRESSURE, but very HIGH temperature water/cleaning solution..... yes probably close to actual steam. The end result was a truck that was a LOT more fun to work on, and of course made it a cinch to find any leaks that existed in a hurry.

Ran me around $100 if I recall......but it was money well spent for results you'd probably never replicate at home.


-G

 

[Senorx470]

Don't know why I was thinking this would take only one morning to finish. Found out the PO just spray painted the entire engine and engine bay with black spray paint. The degreaser and pressure washer stripped the spray paint and now I have surface rust that I need to address. I quickly became overwhelmed and the temperature went over 100°. Decided to call it a day and regroup.

Baby steps is the key word for today. Should I just get a steel brush wheel for my drill and strip the rust/spray paint on the wheel wells? I figure I'll start from the driver's side and work my way to the other side eventually.