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No more tears engine clean | |
by Peter Scott
I like a clean shiny engine. It makes me feel
good. Getting water in the plugs, getting a misfire, removing all the plugs etc is no fun
at all. It's very easy to break a plug lead
removing the plugs too :(
This is how I clean my engine in around 15 minutes and get no water in the plugs.
This type of degreaser is far too harsh for black plastic around the engine bay. It attacks the plastic leaving it old, yellowish looking or covered in a chalky white film. Anything with a "corrosive warning 8" on it is bad news. Kerosene or WD-40 is all I use.
WD-40 cleans and protects as I spray! CRC, RP-7 whatever, water dispersant in a can works a treat. I find the cheap cans of degreaser dry out the engine surfaces too much and I don't use them either.
The Lanoguard 3000 was new for me. Lanolin or sheep wool based product has terrific protective properties. But I didn't like it - it left everything sticky and gooey. I prefer to finish with a Silicon based spray to give the engine a nice shine right at the finish. CRC Silicon spray is my favourite. The lemon scented silicon spray I tried wasn't as good.
Looks great already! Tempting to just leave it like it is. For stubborn areas I scrub with a paint brush or wipe with a rag. Once I have applied the WD-40 I spray it off with the hose - making sure the runoff doesn't get into the stormwater drains.
I couldn't get tape to stick, plastic bags kept blowing away - so I ended up using some old towels to keep the water out. I adjusted the hose nozzle for a fine mist at high pressure to clean away the dirt. I have also cut a notch into the concrete driveway so that all runoff stays on site and soaks away rather than down the road gutter to the local creek. After the wash I like to quickly dry with an air compressor.
I got this small cheap compressor for $80 from SupaCheap. Terrific for lots of things including blowing the engine dry in minutes. Makes the job a pleasure. Once dry I spray Silicon spray everywhere - it makes everything look like new and makes the next clean nice and easy.
Underneath the covers for the spark plugs are strips of rubber designed to keep water out. I guess new spark plug leads would also keep water out. Perhaps with age the rubber lets water in. I like to remove the "V8 FOUR CAM 32" cover and give it a good clean separately to make the writing nice and white. Tire shine works a treat on rubber and plastic as well.
Braided cables available from Maltech.com.au
Does the symmetry of the 1JZGTE lend itself to painting better than the 1UZ-FE?
