We’ve all been there: Walked up to an innocuous-looking vehicle needing some attention and popped the hood, only to be greeted with a filthy mess that would make even a trench-war veteran flinch. When the time comes to do any engine work, it’s a shame to be faced with a ratty engine compartment—especially when it’s your own car.
We recently …
Did you guys run a short story not long ago about refinishing/painting a white TR6's engine compartment WITHOUT removing the engine? I recall having to remove the ancilliary items, but not the block. I have a 74' TR6 which just received a great new paint job, and I'd like to treat the engine bay to a re-spray without pulling the motor...
Erik S.
Hi Guys,
I never got a response from my comment above almost 10 years ago... My question still stands...
I’d like to see the article, (if I recall correctly) about respraying an engine bay WITHOUT removing the engine. It was a white TR6 if I recall.
Perhaps I’ll get a response this time. I still would like to paint the engine bay of my TR6 without removing the engine.
Erik S. aka Aktifspeed
Aktifspeed said:Hi Guys,
I never got a response from my comment above almost 10 years ago... My question still stands...
I’d like to see the article, (if I recall correctly) about respraying an engine bay WITHOUT removing the engine. It was a white TR6 if I recall.
Perhaps I’ll get a response this time. I still would like to paint the engine bay of my TR6 without removing the engine.
Erik S. aka Aktifspeed
You do know that these are articles that are being scanned and posted, right? When they are posted, it crossposts to the forum.
They do have a search function for their back issues that could help answer the question about identifying which issues their TR6 build might have shown in.
Or better yet, ask over on the GRM forum directly as I've seen more than one person clean and paint their engine bay without completely removing the engine or major assemblies. This usually involves standard paint masking tricks along with aluminum foil for things like hoses and harnesses.
Hope this helps.
That was a sweet Z. The guy who bought it got an incredible car. You chaps do good work.
In reply to Stefan :
Thanks Stefan,
I knew they were scanning the older articles, however I did not know that they automatically cross posted to the forum. I’ll do a search there... Thanks for the tip.
Erik S.
Step 0. Remove engine.
In the "reduce, reuse, recycle" department, here's something I learned about degreasing engine compartments, particularly on the kind of Hopelessly Shot Old British Sports Cars with which I've so often messed about.
If you usea trigger-type sprayer to apply degreaser, at least on a really grimy engine bay, you'll end up with carpal tunnel syndrome in like nine and a half minutes. So I came up with a neat hack:
1. Take an empty 2L soda bottle. (If it had something sticky in it, clean it out, or use an empty club soda bottle.) Reserve the plastic bottle cap.
2. With a finishing nail or a small awl, punch a small hole in the cap, about 1mm across.
3. Fill the 2L bottle with a mix of hot water and Simple Green cleaning concentrate. Adjust the proportion of concentrate to water depending on grime level; I used a ratio of about 3 parts water/1 part concentrate for the engine bay of an MGB.
4. Hold the soda bottle in one hand and apply light pressure to the middle of the bottle. This results in a constant stream of hot water-degreasing compound which you can direct right onto the area you're working on. To stop the stream, release your pressure on the bottle.
5. When the grease/cooked-on oil has started to soften, use a plastic Bondo spreader to scrape it off the sides of the engine bay, the crossmember, etc. (If you start off using a sponge, it will just get impregnated with grease and oil in the first pass.) Keep up a steady but light stream as you scrape, to soften each successive layer while you work.
6. Once you have removed the baked-on goo, THEN you can use shop rags or sponges to wipe the paint clean.
Simple Green works very well for this, as it's available in concentrate form, is biodegradable and non-toxic, and leaves your car's engine bay with the fresh scent of sassafras, the herb used to make filé powder for adding to your gumbo. Laissez les bons temps rouler!
In reply to Aktifspeed :
You can definitely tape off the engine, remove the ancillaries on the fender wells and firewall and accomplish nearly the same level job.
The engine compartment still looks great, occasional wipe down keeps thing neat and clean.
Current photo, attached.
Colin G.
1970 #2483
In reply to Aktifspeed :
A little late, but the article you were looking for
https://classicmotorsports.com/articles/repainting-engine-bay-8-easy-steps/
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