conaero
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For those that have not done it and where thinking about it, heres my take on how to go about it.
To be honest, I have never cleaned the engine bay in the 18 months I have had the car, and the undertrays do an excellent job of keeping the muck out, but here is what I did:
First, you will want to remove all the engine guards, simple, just screws and quick release fixings, but you do need to detach the bottom of the gas struts, one at a time. This is done with a small flat blade screwdriver, and you have to use it to slid off the spring clip at the bottom of the gas strut, making sure you dont damage the paint work....they just ping off. Like I said, do one side at a time or the bonnet will collapse on your head!
Now, its never a good idea to take a jet wash to your engine bay, so the best way to go about the clean is with brushes, rages, cotton buds and as little water as possible. I mixed up some alloy wheel cleaner, sprayed it on, left for a while then agitated with several small brushes.
Now, at this point I realised the engine came up a treat, but the rocker covers and plenum had got worse, it looked like the paint had started to flake off, but turned out to be just dirt pushed into the cracks. The best way to treat these is with brake and clutch cleaner, it just makes the oil and dirt disappear and well worth the £3 for a can. Thanks to Banana to pointing this out to me at the last Ace Cafe meet.
Then I took an air line to the bay and dried it all off, but this can be done with a length of pipe and your own puff, then some kitchen roll pushed into some areas to soak it up.
Next, a liberal spray of back to black, making sure to clean the underside of the bonnet, and scuttle and slam panel.
Refit all the cover, jobs a good'en, took less than an hours and looks like it just left the factory.
At this point, do not start the engine or have it running whilst using water, chemical cleaners or especially the brake and clutch cleaner, its highly flammable and you want to leave it a few hours to evaporate.
The pics:
To be honest, I have never cleaned the engine bay in the 18 months I have had the car, and the undertrays do an excellent job of keeping the muck out, but here is what I did:
First, you will want to remove all the engine guards, simple, just screws and quick release fixings, but you do need to detach the bottom of the gas struts, one at a time. This is done with a small flat blade screwdriver, and you have to use it to slid off the spring clip at the bottom of the gas strut, making sure you dont damage the paint work....they just ping off. Like I said, do one side at a time or the bonnet will collapse on your head!
Now, its never a good idea to take a jet wash to your engine bay, so the best way to go about the clean is with brushes, rages, cotton buds and as little water as possible. I mixed up some alloy wheel cleaner, sprayed it on, left for a while then agitated with several small brushes.
Now, at this point I realised the engine came up a treat, but the rocker covers and plenum had got worse, it looked like the paint had started to flake off, but turned out to be just dirt pushed into the cracks. The best way to treat these is with brake and clutch cleaner, it just makes the oil and dirt disappear and well worth the £3 for a can. Thanks to Banana to pointing this out to me at the last Ace Cafe meet.
Then I took an air line to the bay and dried it all off, but this can be done with a length of pipe and your own puff, then some kitchen roll pushed into some areas to soak it up.
Next, a liberal spray of back to black, making sure to clean the underside of the bonnet, and scuttle and slam panel.
Refit all the cover, jobs a good'en, took less than an hours and looks like it just left the factory.
At this point, do not start the engine or have it running whilst using water, chemical cleaners or especially the brake and clutch cleaner, its highly flammable and you want to leave it a few hours to evaporate.
The pics:
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