decided to spend some time cleanin up the engine bay. winter didnt get it too dirty but there was a good amount of salt rock/residue that i didnt want around.

procedure:
-cover header and intake filter
-used pressure washer and sprayed everything possible
-used air compressor to air dry w/e i could
-hand dried with towel everything air couldnt
-used q-tips for the real tight and grimey areas
-Turtle waxed every bit of metal i could reach
-used Armor All Ultimate Clean that i sprayedon atowel to puton allthe plastic and rubber pieces
-sprayed some oven degreaser on the valve cover and towel and scrubed w/e grime i could get off

before:

after:


like i said, wasnt too dirty to begin with but atleast now its shiney and i got all that salt junk outthere some spots on the valve cover that the degreaser wont get off...if i can find a color very similar to what it is now, i'll prolly paint it and polish the lettering. only other thing i'll be gettingthat'll make the bay somewhat more presentable is a new, lightweight battery. hopefully i'll be getting one soon enough..

 

everything looks good but try vinylex for the rubber hoses instead of armor all, which causes rubber deterioration and cracking.

vinelex is pricey at almost $10 a bottle (at Pep Boys) but it lasts longer per application so it equals out.

 

i've used armor all on all of the rubber and plastic pieces on my car for about 2 years nowand have yet to notice any cracking or deterioration...i do want something that last longer in the shiney factor tho, ill try that vinelex stuff out.

 

vinylex is shinier than armor all if that's what you're after:

 

Looks good man.

Did you not cover your dizzy though? I didnt see that listed in your procedure

 

Someone should do a DIY on properly cleaning the engine bay. i saw one guy today at the car wash just pop the hood of his Kia and then start spraying lol


EDIT: Nevermind i found the DIY already lol Looking > Me

 

im so overdue for one of these its not even funny...lol...i need to when i have time,if i took pics of how it looks now it would make grown men weep.

 

i gotta do mine as well

and if your valve cover is stock... its just aluminum..... no paint on it at all....

id paint it black and then polish the leters...
this summer i want to paint ALOT of my engine bay parts!

i would even paint the header with some blackheat paint........ i see those rust preaty easily.... wouldnt hurt anything

 

well i forgot who said it but one guy said if you wanted to paint it then put chapstick or something like that on the letters then paint it and then after you can just wipe it off and the paint wont get on the letters....i think im gonna do mine black.....sooner or later...lol

 

just got a slightly better pic since theres more light out now..


nope didnt cover anything but the header and filter. reason i covered the header is because im not sure what water will really do to theceramic coating. covered the filter because i just cleaned/re-oiled it not long ago and didnt want to mess it up, also chances are water would havegone up the tubewith the hi-pressure machine i was using.

everything else is completely fine to get soaked. the mechanics at my work spray the hell out of most of the cars engines that come in. i asked if it would hurt anything like the battery and they said nope, the guy even sprayed the hell out of the battery right in front of me to prove it lol. my car still runs, drove around today with no problems.

chances are i prolly wont paint my valve cover. i dont like the cheap kinda shine that comes from rattle canning it. if i really wanted to paint it, i'll prolly have it powder coated but i have other things i wana do with my car first..i think ill just take it off and really get to scrubin the hell out of it with a good degreaser.

i guess i cant complain too much, after all its got close to 180k miles on it. lil grime here and there aint so bad..