Cleaning engine bay

[Lwanmtr]

Ok, so I'm doing busy work...cleaning parts getting ready to do some painting n stuff and well my engine bay looks like it hasnt been cleaned in over 15 years (which im sure it hasnt)

51225

Im wondering whats safe to remove from the tub?
There's some parts I want to clean and repaint like the plate that holds the resistor pack. I can see 3 bolts holding that on..correct?
Also was thinking of taking out that bar that holds the wiring harness and riveting in some cable holds like from home depot or something..good idea? bad?

Is it safe to get in there with a pressure washer? Whats the best detergent?

Basically any tips and stuff on cleaning it out, without doing something nuts like pulling the engine..hehe.

Thanks

[sdg3205]

Ok, so I'm doing busy work...cleaning parts getting ready to do some painting n stuff and well my engine bay looks like it hasnt been cleaned in over 15 years (which im sure it hasnt)

51225

Im wondering whats safe to remove from the tub?
There's some parts I want to clean and repaint like the plate that holds the resistor pack. I can see 3 bolts holding that on..correct?
Also was thinking of taking out that bar that holds the wiring harness and riveting in some cable holds like from home depot or something..good idea? bad?

Is it safe to get in there with a pressure washer? Whats the best detergent?

Basically any tips and stuff on cleaning it out, without doing something nuts like pulling the engine..hehe.

Thanks

You can safely remove as much or as little from the engine compartment as you like. I've had great luck bead blasting and painting with high-heat engine paints. for the black, SEM Trim Black is fantastic and hold up well for a rattle can.

As much as David T hates me for saying this, I degrease with brake clean and simple green. I clean with dawn and water sparingly - i really don't trust the oil cap to be even close to water tight.

[Lwanmtr]

Not sure how in depth I'll get in there...mostly going move what I can outof the way and clean the sides mostly...avoiding getting any liquids around openings (like oil cap)...hehe.

Yeah, SEM Trim Black is my go to on most of the stuff...lol

[mluder]

Agree with Dave... You can dismount as much as you want.

In my case, I took almost everything off the side walls and most of the engine except the AC compressor and the plate in the passenger wall that holds all the plugs and coil.
I stripped the engine. Cleaned and painted the fuel dist and intake manifold off the car. Plugged all the holes in the bock and painted as much as I could reach in place. Painted all the pipes off the car. All the pontoons in place. There's a lot that can be done without removing the engine.

Here's how far I took it...
51231

Painting the bay...
51234

Here's where I ended up.
51232

This is from about a year later....
51233

Cheers
Steve

[Lwanmtr]

I probably wont take it that far down. Just enough to get at the sides.

Any mountings I need to be aware of that have like captive nuts inside the pontoons that could fall inside and become unrecoverable?

[David T]

Keep water away from the top of the motor. You don't want it to get on (or in) the distributor or in the spark plug wells. For grease build-up use Gunk and let it soak in before washing it off. You might want to seal the top of the motor with some plastic before cleaning.

[Lwanmtr]

Yeah, I'll wrap the engine and other bits before i do anything in there. Engine prolly needs some work done on it and dont want to add to what may need...hehe.

[GS450-Junkie]

Agree with Dave... You can dismount as much as you want.

In my case, I took almost everything off the side walls and most of the engine except the AC compressor and the plate in the passenger wall that holds all the plugs and coil.
I stripped the engine. Cleaned and painted the fuel dist and intake manifold off the car. Plugged all the holes in the bock and painted as much as I could reach in place. Painted all the pipes off the car. All the pontoons in place. There's a lot that can be done without removing the engine.

Here's how far I took it...
51231

Painting the bay...
51234

Here's where I ended up.
51232

This is from about a year later....
51233

Cheers
Steve

This looks amazing. I need to do this to mine....

[MrChocky]

I probably wont take it that far down. Just enough to get at the sides.

That's what I said, now I have the engine out and the frame lifted.


Any mountings I need to be aware of that have like captive nuts inside the pontoons that could fall inside and become unrecoverable?

Naw, but you might want to remove go into the pontoons anyway.