DocG's Official Underhood Cleaning Project

[DocG]

I can has my own thread?

As many of you know, my car is in pretty good shape but the engine bay needs some help. Long story short, the engine is half tore down right now replacing some intake gaskets. So what better time to detail as much as I can right!

I'll post some pics of its current state, and I'll add a few with it tore down later.

1) Powdercoating. I'm thinking about having the upper, lower, valve covers, and throttle body coated. I'm leaning towards black, but not for sure. I may not have the lower coated and maybe will just spray it silver since its hardly visible, and the silver would give some contrast to the black. Any suggestions??

2) Any good cleaning supplies for sprucing up some stuff? I'm not in a position now to degrease and spray with a hose. I need something that I can either wipe on and off, or spray on and let it do its thing by itself.

I've been using Back to Black on the plastics a little bit, it helps. Has anyone used tire foam cleaner on their looms and things like that? I don't want to have to get into each little crease on those things!

Any tips would be great! Here we gooooooooooo!

 

[NIKwoaC]

I vote for a metallic/metal flake silver for powder coat. Being a black car, painting everything black might make it disappear.

I use "Greased Lightning Orange Blast" for general spray and wipe operations. Its safe, and does pretty good on grime. I've noticed that it does awesome on adhesive residue (leftover from that cloth-like electrical tape Ford used on wires). If you are careful, though, carb cleaner applied to a cloth and then wiping really breaks through grease and road grime. The problem is that it will attack painted and plastic surfaces. Electronic parts cleaner is a little safer, and has a similar cleaning effect.

 

[25thmustang]

Powder coat it light silver, I am one of the very few who doesn't like the black unless it is in the perfect engine bay. A light colored bay with a well done black looks alright. Your black bay, needs some bright silver to make it look right!

 

[DocG]

I'll have to give that Greased Lightning a try. I'm trying to avoid anything too harsh!

Good point about the black. I thought about doing the intake black and then detailing the ribs and lettering in silver, but maybe I'll swap that. Keep the valve covers black and do the intakes in some sort of silver.

Too many options!!

Alot of things in that bay need some touching up. For instance, all the bolt heads along the fire wall.....I may just pick up some modeling paint and touch those up by hand. Bigger things like the radiator shroud, once it warms up mask it all off and just rattle can the parts that show.

Anyone ever use modeling paint like that?

 

[DocG]

I'm liking the silver idea.....or a grey maybe? Here's some pics of the guy's work who would be doing the coating. He does an awesome job and is like half mile away from me.

 

[NIKwoaC]

I'm liking the silver idea.....or a grey maybe? Here's some pics of the guy's work who would be doing the coating. He does an awesome job and is like half mile away from me.

Those look fantastic. IMHO, cleaned up stock valve covers can look better than any aftermarket alternative out there.

 

[DocG]

Those look fantastic. IMHO, cleaned up stock valve covers can look better than any aftermarket alternative out there.

I like the stockers too....but don't think they fit with my heads. Mine are currently black, I forget which brand.

That dark grey is starting to grow on me....it would be different! Valve covers, upper intake, TB, and EGR spacer all in that dark grey....hmmm....

 

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

Doc i'd go with that silvery almost chrome color for the valve covers. With an EFI engine you barely see half the covers anyways and i think with a darker color it might just make the engine look dirty.

You can come up and detail my engine bay if you want. I got the engine out last night and i've got 24 years of road grime with your name on it

 

[LaserSVT]

I am thinking lime green on the plenum and hot pink on the heads. Do the lower plenum and t-body in a deep purple mettalic flake that has pink and green mettalic flakes in it

 

[S&B]

I am thinking lime green on the plenum and hot pink on the heads. Do the lower plenum and t-body in a deep purple mettalic flake that has pink and green mettalic flakes in it

took the words right out of my Mowwwffff

 

[DocG]

I am thinking lime green on the plenum and hot pink on the heads. Do the lower plenum and t-body in a deep purple mettalic flake that has pink and green mettalic flakes in it

Useless

took the words right out of my Mowwwffff

And Useless's little sister.

 

[25thmustang]

Those look fantastic. IMHO, cleaned up stock valve covers can look better than any aftermarket alternative out there.

x2, other than the fact they always look better than aftermarkets!

 

[DocG]

I'm gonna go talk to the powder guy tomorrow!

Gotta pull the valve covers first tho. Silver is sounding like a good option. He has shown several metal flake types of silvers too. He said he could get basically any color, he'd just have to order it.

Does $75 for the upper and lower intakes sound like a good price for powder coating. Hoping I can get the upper, lower, TB, spacer, and valve covers for $150. It'll look like a whole new engine then.

 

[1991notchbackLX]

I'm gonna go talk to the powder guy tomorrow!

View attachment 269324 this guy? ew! i hope there's no lightning... (sorry, too easy)


i think those stock powdercoated VCs would look awesome, i just got some black powdercoated trickflow ones to match my black track heat and they are sickkk, matching upper intake and VCs FTW, it's like when t3h gf has on matching bra and panties

 

[LaserSVT]

I'm gonna go talk to the powder guy tomorrow!

Gotta pull the valve covers first tho. Silver is sounding like a good option. He has shown several metal flake types of silvers too. He said he could get basically any color, he'd just have to order it.

Does $75 for the upper and lower intakes sound like a good price for powder coating. Hoping I can get the upper, lower, TB, spacer, and valve covers for $150. It'll look like a whole new engine then.

No, that sounds good. Place by me charges $55 per wheel to powdercoat so with all that you have then you have a good price there

You know what would look killer and I have never seen before? Hypercoat them! Powdercoating places all know how to do it. Its a high polished black so that it looks light gray but shifts in depth from different angles. I think that would look sic!

 

[DocG]

No, that sounds good. Place by me charges $55 per wheel to powdercoat so with all that you have then you have a good price there

You know what would look killer and I have never seen before? Hypercoat them! Powdercoating places all know how to do it. Its a high polished black so that it looks light gray but shifts in depth from different angles. I think that would look sic!

I can ask him about hypercoating. He does do some black chrome, but said that the surface needs to be pretty smooth and shiny already to have it look right. Basically doing it over real chrome. If it were smooth enough he could chrome it and then black chrome it, but none of my parts are that smooth. This damn Holley stuff is pretty porous and I don't think it'd look right.

I won't actually be getting new VC's, just powdercoating the ones I have, which are currently black....well sorta black these days.

Here's some pics of his other work......


Gloss black powdered wheels.

A couple of silvers I'm considering for my stuff....

View attachment 269281



Here's something that was black chrome, but you can see how smooth that is.

Something called black wrinkle....

and finally a chrome type finish...on plastic 2v covers

 

[stykthyn]

a black chrome motor would be sick

 

[SMOKEDYA]

ok i might be lost here on the hole "powdercoating" theory? isnt the main reason or wanting for powdercoating? just the toughness of the finsh? meaning it's harder to chip off? or does it also stand up to extreme temps? if it's both why not save yourself tons of cash and get high temp engine paint or even 500* paint at that to paint it yourself?i caint see the intake or valve covers getting hot enough to melt or wrinkle those parts when painted. and for the toughness are ya gonna be beating on the stuff all the time with a hammer?in your bay i vote for silver and maybe do your intake same color as the bay. your valve covers look like SN95 covers? dont do black most people caint pull it off with lots of black espically in a black bay! and i feel the bay color needs to match the body color!theres very few that can pull off a black motor peace

john

 

[25thmustang]

I can tell you with the 1200 degree paint I used, it changed color on me and looks much worse than when I first did it. Powder Coating should help prevent that. Not to mention paint chips real easy, powder coat doesn't.

 

[DocG]

For the price....I'm not sure I can pass up having it coated.

I just can't decide on the scheme!!

Silver seems to be teh way to go. But doing the VC's and intakes all in silver seems like a bit much. Would be nice to have a little contract.

So I'm debating having the VC's done again in a black, perhaps a glossy black.....and the rest silver color of some sort.

Or doing it all in silver and touching up all the bolts with black paint.

Decisions....decisions!!

Most of the rest of that bay should come clean with the right elbow grease. I'm gonna take off the VC's tonight, then finish scraping gaskets then start cleaning up that firewall area that is hard to get to with the manifold on.

Once I can all the hard to reach places cleaned up, hopefully I'll have everything back to reassemble it all. Then I can pull her out and do some real degreasing with a hose if it warms up any. Then come back and put some protectants on the hoses and looms and plastics.....and use some model paint or something to touch up bolts and what not. Probably about the best I can do without ripping it all apart.