heyarnold69

iTrader: (1)

maybee hes just enviro friendly like me.

of course going through 5 gal of race fuel in one afternoon isnt so enviro friendly ... but we do what we can

BMonkey

Here's my method (compiled from experience and various sources).

First, before you start cleaning, take a look and figure out the condition of the bay. Is it just a little dirty? Or does it seem to have come out of a coal mine? If you mainly just have dirt in the bay, I'd recommend using Simple Green. It's easy to spray all through the bay, cuts light grease easily and won’t hurt anything. If your bay is of the greasy/oily type, Using Engine Brite will be the best solution.

Drive around a little to get some heat into the engine bay (maybe drive to pick up the engine cleaning supplies). The heat will help to loosen the grease in the bay and make your job easier. When you get back to your designated cleaning area, pop the hood and wait 20-30 minutes. It helps to be somewhere that has an airhose for the plastic part of the intake manifold (the reinforcement squares) because these things are a bitch to get the water out of.

Anyways, I like to use cling wrap on sensitive engine components. It will stick to whatever shape you attach it to (or itself!) and deflect tons of water and is decently heat resistant. I’ve never had any problems with it, but I’d definitely wait for the engine to cool some before putting it on, just to be safe. Keep in mind that OEM parts are designed to still work in damp conditions. Aftermarket parts aren't. So your 700 dollar Okada coils might go bye-bye if you wet them.

You'll probably want to cover your alternator, ignition coils, Air intake (if it's an exposed type), battery terminals, sensors ( the Mass Air is particularly exposed to overzealous garden hosing). Then spray with the appropriate cleaner across the engine bay, lay it down even and neat. Try to avoid overspray onto your fenders/nose to keep the paint safe (if you're really **** you can use a piece of cardboard around the edges to spray freely without getting any onto your paint). Let the cleaner sit about 10 minutes before you move on.Get a soft terrycloth towel (that you don’t mind getting dirty) and lightly scrub down the bay and hoses where the cleaner is present. If you do this with the Engine Brite, gloves would be a good idea but with Simple Green gloves aren’t required.

When hosing I normally don’t use any sort of nozzle on the hose, I just crack the valve a little so the flow isn’t especially heavy and run it straight out of the hose. I don’t recommend putting your thumb over the opening or using a head to create lots of water pressure, it’s just asking to get water into bad places. I normally do the edges of the bay first then clean the central part directly above the motor. Remember, you want to completely get off the cleaner/dirt/grease with the least amount of water possible. Above the motor, I like to run the hose over it once just to loosen the cleaner, then I point the hose outside the bay and use a cup to pour water over the areas where it is needed. This keeps the water passing over the engine to a bare minimum. Find a good long, soft bristle brush, (long to get into deep crevices and soft to not scratch the plastic [I found that the one for cleaning my dishes was quite well]). With one hand brush and with the other use either the hose or a cup of water to flow water over the area while you’re brushing. This works especially well on all the little boxes around the edges of the stock airbox, or up on the intake manifold squares to get out little bits of dirt.

Once you have everything hosed down to your satisfaction and there’s no more cleaner in the bay, wipe down any standing water you might see with a towel. The towel drying is good because it will keep your engine from drying with waterspots and will help to get off any dirt/grease that you missed, plus if you wipe a radiator hose and the towel comes away green you'll know. If you have an air hose, this works great to dry and blow out all the crevices. This is also a good time for inspecting hose connections and looking around the engine bay for the general state of things. Remember to take off the cling-wrap before you run the engine!

After you’ve dried to your satisfaction, you can apply a light coating of a water-based dressing around the bay on hoses and plastics. Silicone based dressings (aka Armorall) can deteriorate rubber hoses over time.

Last step is to take the car out for a drive. IF you’ve gotten water somewhere you shouldn’t have, driving will help to evaporate the water quickly before it has time to corrode anything.

Bada Bing Bada Boom, You can do this all within an hour if you’re diligent.

shodan

I'm getting AEM intake this weekend so i was thinking to do some clean up under the hood.

Can you guys make a nice red circles in mspaint what exactly i should cover?

BMonkey

I didn't highlight all the individual electrical connections to avoid as it would take alot of time but just use common sense, wires outside of a rubber/plastic jacketing+ water = bad. Also check all the caps before starting, like the oil filler cap, windshield washer fluid, brake fluid, radiator overflow tank along with the fuse box and the pcm box to make sure all are tightly shut.

altspace

iTrader: (2)

2004 RX-8
I like a low gloss shine in my engine bay. Pardon the parts that have endured 43k miles in lovely salt ridden lands of the north east. Especially in my vacinity since I'm only a few miles from the ocean. Makes it more fun to clean out all the sand.

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

spray the whole engine bay down with degreaser/cleaner and let sit for a while, then wash it down, and dry.

then spray the whole engine bay down with armorall. It will get onto the fenders and stuff, but hold off washing the car until several days later (you want to get drive/heat time on it), then wash the engine bay down with water, followed by washing the rest of the car as usual.

will look just like altspace's above ... upkeep from there is easy

Razz1

What strut bar is that?

Nopstnz8

iTrader: (6)

I believe it is a Beatrush strut bar.


Is it true that washing your engine bay causes the cleaner to run off onto the fenders which removes wax from the exterior paint? I don't want to have to rewax the car after cleaning the engine. Thanks.

altspace

iTrader: (2)

Beatrush it is. JDM ftw!

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

if you're using regular wax, you should rewax after

one of the advantages of Zaino ...

shodan

how the hell did you make it so shiny?
Mine is all rusted and looks bad in general.

That aluminum pipe on 2nd pic close to windshield... why is it shiny?
I need a sandpaper to make it like yours... seriously.