Suggestions on cleaning engine?

Well we were out working on the olds yesterday and SWMBO is dead set on cleaning the 35 years of muck and grime off the 403 before it goes in the car. I am not opposed to this however it seems that without tearing the engine down it will be hard to get it really looking decent.

We had the Gunk engine cleaner and good old Simple green and neither one is really breaking this stuff down. Any suggestions from the collective? On the plus side the valve covers still have most of their corp blue paint intact.

Oven cleaner and a pressure washer.

Oven cleaner's pretty harsh, might dissolve some seals...I'd try simple green + pressure washer first.

Yikes, oven cleaner?

My method works pretty well in my experience. I use simple green, first I start the engine and let it come to temp. Then I shut it off and use aluminum foil to cover the alternator and distributor thoroughly (sometimes I may use a long oven mitt to reach into tight now hot places to apply the foil).
Then I generously spray the simple green EVERYWHERE, strut towers, firewall, engine, coat it well. Then close the hood and let the steam do the work for you. Keep in mind that simple green is strong stuff, so don't use aggressive brushes (even plastic bristle ones can be too much) on the painted parts of the engine bay after this, just wipe them with a rag or paper towels depending on the grime level. I like to let it sit for 10 - 15 minutes or so and then hose it all off. Now, at this point I like to get all those rubber and plastic bits looking spectacular too, so I hit the entire bay again with a tire dressing called F21 Ultra Wet, it comes in a neon greenish bottle I believe. I am sure if you have another brand it would work fine. I spray everywhere and then wipe the flatter surfaces and hoses with a fresh rag to evenly distribute the stuff to avoid splotchy-ness. Rinse if needed after about 5 minutes, remove the foil and I usually go ahead and crank her up again and let her idle enough to dry out the bay. Water sitting on electronics can be bad, m'kay?

Yeah I could see the heat from warming up the engine helping considerably but remember this engine is sitting on a stand out of the car. Heck I don't even have the carb on there right now considering the old iron manifold is being replaced with an aluminium Edlebrock model.

Maybe I will try the Simple Green again and let it sit on there a bit longer.

I usually like to scrap off the biggest, thickest deposits with a flat head screw driver first.

I used simple green and a toothbrush to get into all the nooks and cranies on my saab's engine

rebelgtp wrote: Yeah I could see the heat from warming up the engine helping considerably but remember this engine is sitting on a stand out of the car. Heck I don't even have the carb on there right now considering the old iron manifold is being replaced with an aluminium Edlebrock model. Maybe I will try the Simple Green again and let it sit on there a bit longer.

True, heating up the engine bay may be more difficult without the actual engine installed, but here's my suggestion: Take the 2 biggest pots you have and fill them with water. Bring them to a boil. Place them in under the car's engine bay and spray simple green everywhere. Close the hood. Maybe even throw a large old blanket or towel over the wheel wells to help trap the steam. Wait 10 - 15 minutes and then scrub if needed. Should work the same.

I'm kind of a specialist in cleaning up old grungy engines.

Tape up the ports and spray it down with Simple Green. Grab a scraper (the kind with the replaceable regular razor blades) and use that on all of the flat areas. Use a selection of wire brushes on the rest of the block (while it's still soaking in Simple Green, reapply as needed). Then hit it with a pressure washer. You may need to repeat.

When all the gunk is gone, I would highly suggest paining it with some DupliColor High Heat engine paint, in the OEM color of course.

I went from this:

to this:

with the engine in the car. (It looks even better now, I really, really need to update my build thread... )

Purple Power degreaser, stiff nylon brushes, scrapers and scotchbrite pads to get the big chunks off, followed by a spray gun full of lacquer thinner at high pressure and with the fan set to full narrow. It works like a solvent pressure washer.

Then more solvent and paper towel 'til it's spotless.

Then self-etching primer and engine paint.

NICE ^^^

anyways, i'd suggest least brutal for first try.

deep bristle soft brush, painters brushes, toothbrushes, and strong mix carwash.

spot target anything too soiled for this combo with something stronger.

rebelgtp wrote: Well we were out working on the olds yesterday and SWMBO is dead set on cleaning the 35 years of muck and grime off the 403 before it goes in the car.

So the engine is out of the car now? That makes it a lot easier.

Scrape off what you can with putty knives, screwdrivers, sticks or whatever other implements you have on hand. Use a solvent and a rag or paper towels to wipe it as clean as you can, then move to Simple Green or other non-solvent cleaner of your choice. Use wire brushes (both rotary ones in a drill and hand brushes) to remove loose paint and rust, then use your cleaners again. Get as much dirt and grease off as you can before the wire brushing, as it gums up your wire brush.

It's also a good time to replace gaskets and seals as needed, so the engine stays clean - it's a lot easier to deal with pan gaskets or main seals when the engine is out and on a stand.

Never tried cleaning an engine with it, but it ate 20 years of brake dust off a steel wheel once, and left the paint alone. Also melts tobacco tar instantly.

Watch the pH on Totally Awesome - the MSDS lists it at 12-13 for the concentrate. Degreasers often rely on high pH to help break up grease. At 12-13, the straight concentrate could eat unprotected aluminum. They don't list a pH for use dilution level, so you're probably ok if you don't let it soak.

scrape off the thickest grunge with a screwdriver and.or putty knife..

load it into the back of your pickup...

drive to the closest coin operated car wash...

wash it off...

why is this so complicated?

I vote a good solvent and emulsifier as opposed to using a caustic (aka alkali; aka high pH) like oven cleaner.

We use strong caustic for cleaning duty at the brewery. It is fine on our silicone and (non-petroleum based) rubber gaskets . Stainless steal has no problem. Iron gets pitted fast. Aluminum disintegrates.

Well I figure I will give the Simple Green another shot. The bottle I have has been sitting in the shop for ever and was a premix. Went to the hardware store and picked up a gallon jug of concentrate.

If nothing else I will go to the inlaws and get their carpet cleaning truck and its pressure washer with nice hot water.

Javelin those pics have inspired me to get the engine clean before putting it in. I actually already have some corporate blue and black engine paint in the shop. Will more than likely redo the block and heads in corp blue and then the valve covers black for a little contrast.

Before hitting the gunk with simple green, scrape or abrade what you can. Rough surface means more area to act on.

I have nothing to offer, but I think I want to pay Mojo to clean my engine bay.

Thanks! Shoot me a PM sometime and I would be happy to.

UPDATE: Well I went and picked up a gallon jug of Simple Green concentrate and mixed up a rather strong batch and went to town. About an hour and half later this is where I ended up. When I started you could not really even read the "403" on the side of the block. I had a paper towel I was wiping my scraper off on as I scraped the layers of gunk off. About half dropped to a plastic bag underneath and the stuff in the paper towel weighed almost half a pound when I was done. The freeze plug behind the dip stick tube was basically FULL of goo.

Oh and yes the exhaust ports were covered as I was working.

pull all the accessories off.. strip it down to a long block. it's the only way to get everything properly clean for paint.

then hit it with the undiluted degreaser and a wire brush and maybe a stiff paint brush... then truck it to the local coin operated car wash like i said in my last post... just stand it up in the back of the truck on the bellhousing and spin it around as needed to get everything clean.. don't worry too much about not getting water in the ports- it won't hurt it as long as you drain the water out of it and maybe shoot some WD40 into the spark plug holes and spin it over. when you are ready to paint it, just shoot it with some brake cleaner, wipe off the excess, and shoot the paint on it..

the fun part is cleaning up all the brackets and what not for the accessories.. just get a gallon or so of mineral spirits and a the stiff paint brush from before and go to town... once they are degreased, clean them with some soapy water, rinse, blow off, and shoot a nice layer of semi gloss black on them...

all of this advice comes from a guy that degreased a pair of 350 Chevy long blocks inside and out at the car wash on two different occasions... i tore the intake, oil pan, valve covers, and timing cover off both of them and took them up to the car wash and hosed them completely inside and out... then i tipped them a few different ways to get most of the water out and started putting them back together.. one of them ran for a few years that i know of after that, and i don't know if the other one ever ran again because i sold it before getting it running..

I guess you're way above my Black Magic engine cleaner? I use it on the Scion for shows and it does a pretty good job, but we're talking 7 years of normal driving and periodic (ie when I remember it) cleaning.

Back in the day before it became environmentally unsafe I used gasoline, it was used to clean everything else, including hands, so why not. A putty knife and a stiff bristle brush. never hurt the paint.

Yeah I need to pull the rest of the accessories off today. I was just kind doing it as I went along and they got in my way. When I pulled the AC compressor my engine actually lifted slightly on the stand. That thing is freaking HUGE and heavy (at least twice the size of the one on the diesel). It may not go back in.