Good morning, I've got my engine pretty far apart and want to give it a bath. I usually just go nuts with Brakcleen (brake parts cleaner) because it works and there is no risk of water getting into anything, but not sure I can get that stuff here in California. Thanks! Mike Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
There is a simple green for aviation that is safe on aluminum castings that works well with combination of tooth brushes and 3M scouring pad. Vapor blasting seems to work really well but $$$’s. The diff casting I found especially difficult to get clean due to the rough surface. Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat
If it were me, I'd start with a hand-held steam cleaner, which would probably get it 90% clean. Then follow up with a solvent of some type if desired. There are lots of good Youtube videos about steam cleaning an engine.
Like it or not steam gets into everything. CV joints, sealed bearings, electrical components etc. If a good job is done sealing, plugging, bagging everything you do not want water or detergent in I really prefer a siphon type spray gun. It requires compressed air.Use with a strong mixture of water/degreaser and a brush to scrub stubborn grime.
A soak with Scrubbing Bubbles foaming spray works surprisingly well on the aluminum block, and is a lot less toxic that some other cleaners. Easy-Off works well on the cam covers, diff housing cover, and bell housing, with their rough mottled surfaces. If you’re hand-wiping with a rag and using some elbow grease, then penetrating oil can loosen heavy grime with a fraction less nastiness than Brake Cleaner.
I found a toothbrush sized brash bristle brush worked well on the rough castings like bell housing and diff cover. Used a plastic bristle brush on the smoother castings. Also bought a mondo bag of q-tips on a wooden stick (Amazon) which was really handy for the many nooks and crevices.
Steam clean without a doubt. I had my 328 s motor steam cleaned quite a lot over the last 24 years and never had an issue. Any local car detail person with whatever detergent they use will work . Its really that simple. Big G
Today they use dry ice cleaning instead of steam. No water so it won't get into electrical stuff. It just evaporates.
ZEP aluminum cleaner and toothbrush This is a terrible situation, when you start cleaning one portion the rest look worse. Where will this end? OK, the housing is perfect clean, now the rest is contrast?
A note about modern brake cleaners. Most old and some current use nasty solvents that are really bad for you but the new and improved types mostly use alcohol. Does not work as good but they are very dangerous. The alcohol does not evaporate as well or as quickly and it, unlike the old formula is flammable. It can collect in soft material like insulation as in header insulation and you can have a nasty fire when you fire it back up and it gets hot.
It really depends what level of clean that you want. Steam cleaning is a good solution and easy to do but it won't do much for stains in the aluminum. Dry Ice cleaning does a beautiful job but the process is line of site so if you can't get a good angle on it the process won't work. Vapor blasting is probably the best solution because it stops the aluminum from ending up too shiny but the vapor blaster guys that I have used need the part to fit in their cabinet.
After I sprayed it with Gunk engine degreaser I then high pressure wash I t and it always comes out spotless clean. Image Unavailable, Please Login
The problem with dry ice cleaning ..it takes more off than you want ..then old rust protection, undercoating etc Sent from my moto g power using Tapatalk
Image Unavailable, Please Login Whether you like dry ice or not you have to agree that my 26,000 mile Z8 looks new and note that the stickers all survive. Dry Ice detailing requires an intelligent operator.
Just high pressure at the local spray-wash once in a while has worked just fine for my 328 for 15 years! NO, it doesn't look like post #15!
There is no great quick way to clean things in situ. A rag and toothbrushes used with Varsol and/or Wd40, and some spritzing of Brake Cleaner for harder to reach areas will do the job, but will take a long time. Regardless of method of cleanup, with lots of caked on dirts and oil, scrape off as much as you can first with a plastic spatula. No substitute for patience. All the faster ways of cleaning noted with chemicals and washing things down can eg. cause seal damage from the chemicals/crud forced into the seal, and electrical problems from water. I am sure many cleanups done this way work out for some, but the damage potential is certainly there.
Thank you all for the input! The car does not run (engine taken apart) so I'll have to do the cleaning in-house- I think dry ice / steam is out. I can look around and see if anyone local does vapor degreasing for the components that are removed. Leaning towards a mix of: vapor degreasing (for removed components that are dirty and functionally important - things like timing covers, pulleys, intake manifold) purple cleaner, scrub brush, light water rinse (fire wall, exhaust shields, suspension, etc - items that can get wet) brake cleaner (good stuff - PCE) for engine block, heads, brakes (obviously) - areas where I dont want water I was looking into these new laser cleaners, but dont really want to spend 10K to save on some elbow grease... Thanks again!
And for level of clean, I'm not going for show-car clean, just want to be able to work on my car without getting filthy every time.
Mineral spirits in a spray bottle with a stiff brush. It will melt grease and oil and if you're careful, won't damage anything. If you catch runoff in a pan, you can put it through a coffee filter to reuse a couple times. Blow it off with an air hose when you're done.
After getting as clean as possible I ran my cam covers and timing belt covers through the dishwasher, it took any leftover cleaning fluid off.
Should work out fine when things are dismantled cleaning up is much easier. Do note the more available environmentally friendly brake cleaners are often highly flamable. The CRC is a good old fashioned "perc" non flamable one.
