How to clean and detail your engine...

Paul Steinberg

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The first thing to do is remove as much as you want to get to the grime. In my case, I removed the radiator, water pump and water pump housing, pulleys and brackets, alternator and an assortment of other minor parts. Once I had these pieces off, I cleaned and painted them in preperation for there replacement. Then I moved the car out of the garage and into a area that will drain well. I sprayed the engine with engine degreaser, and allowed it to soak in. Then I used the power washer to remove the grime paying attention to keep from getting water into the carburator or the distributor. Finally, when I got all the grime off, I used a product called Greased Lightning to spray everything to remove any final traces of grease, and washed that off with running water. Then using air pressure, I blew as much water off the engine as possible. Since I wanted to get teh car out of the lower part of the driveway, I also had to wipe out the inside of the distributor to eliminate the moisture that accumulated under the distributor cap. See the pictures for the details.. To be continued....
 

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Went back out and started to finish up since the day is still nice. I wiped the engine block with a cloth soaked with lacquer thinner and got a lot more grease spots off. Then I sprayed the engine with brake cleaner and wiped it down with a clean white towel, looking for any more grease. Found a few more spots, and cleaned them.
Next I taped up the areas that I didn't want to paint. I use painters tape and then gently tap the edges with a light hammer to break the tape along the edges. You can see this in the pictures below. I also removed the distributor so I could get behind it....
 

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Since there was still some daylight I painted the front of the engine. One thing to do when you are cleaning is to note what is painted what color. Most of the bracket attaching bolts are painted engine color. For this reason, I left some of the bolts in the block so when I put them back, they will already be painted. I also noticed that the original distributor had some blue over-spray on it. When these were painted at the assembly plant, they were not very careful about what was painted and what wasn't. For this reason, you have a lot of "creative license" as to what you get over-spray on. The factory also had runs in the original paint, and I tried not to duplicate these, but only time will tell after I have the entire engine done. Tomorrow I will remove the carburetor and paint the rest of the intake manifold. I also will be switching the valve covers with the ones that I painted earlier.
 

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it will look good when your done. you can see just how much better it looked when you cleaned it. so even if your not going to repaint and detail just a good cleaning makes all the difference. any time you take a part off for some reason paint it before you put it back on. it's surprising how much better it looks. it also a proven fact that when going in for repairer's you'll get a better job if it's clean. I'm just change the valve cover gaskets but we have cleaned them up and painted them and the bolts and brackets before putting it back together. in my case it's not all detailed yet but just one more step closer to getting there.
 

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That's not a period correct oil filter..... :pat:

why would you want to get all that over spray on your original mo par accessory oil filter? but it is a good point. how far do you go on a car your driving. of course the answer is as far as you can. there is no excuse for having a grease blob for a engine. the least we can do is clean up under there. it's safer and they do drive better when clean.

but that was a good one Richard. got to keep everyone on there toes:clubem:
 
That's not a period correct oil filter..... :pat:

why would you want to get all that over spray on your original mo par accessory oil filter? but it is a good point. how far do you go on a car your driving. of course the answer is as far as you can. there is no excuse for having a grease blob for a engine. the least we can do is clean up under there. it's safer and they do drive better when clean.

but that was a good one Richard. got to keep everyone on there toes:clubem:

That oil filter is just there to protect the original one from overspray. Besides, it is a late 1960's vintage filter. That's my story, and I am sticking to it...
PS... There is no way that I am going to pay the outrageous price for a vintage reproduction oil filter!!!
 
Todays progress report is that I reinstalled the distributor, and removed more engine parts, namely the carburetor and distributor cap and ignition wires. I did finish painting the block, and tomorrow I will start by putting some of the parts back on the car as I also remove and replace the valve covers.
One of the tricks when removing spark plug wires is to put tape on each wire, and mark which plug it goes to. In this case, I assumed that the left bank is the odd numbered side.. 1 / 3 / 5 / 7, and the right side is 2 / 4 / 6 / 8. This way, I know that all the odd wires go to the left side of the engine, and all the even ones go to the right side of the engine. Even if they fall out of the cap, I can still put it back together, by just knowing which direction the distributor rotor turns and which tower is number 1.
 

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Painting bolt heads

One of the tricks of engine detailing is painting the bolt heads. I use a flat bladed screwdriver and make a circular hole in some corrugated cardboard. I then screw the bolts into the cardboard and paint them.
 

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A suggestion

If you are going to go to all the effort that Paul suggests and remove all the frontal accessories, check the condition of your belts and hoses and if there is ANY doubt, replace them while reinstalling everything.
 
If you are going to go to all the effort that Paul suggests and remove all the frontal accessories, check the condition of your belts and hoses and if there is ANY doubt, replace them while reinstalling everything.

I agree 100%, and as long as you are there, you might as well check the timing chain and gears. Since my car only has 23,000 miles on it, I have no fear that it is worn, but if it were a high mileage car, I would definitely have done it. It wouldn't have taken me but another half hour to do this, since everything is out of the way already. Remove the large bolt on the crankcase, and install the puller to take the harmonic balancer off. A bunch of 3/8" bolts and it it off and in your hand. I actually toyed with the idea for a while, thinking that I could replace the timing cover crankshaft seal, but since it isn't leaking, I will leave well enough alone...
 
some times it's best not to go to far. if your not having any trouble don't create any either. things like the belts and hoses that will go out with time need to be looked at. then a decision can be made. if they have been done before they have been done. but things that are hard to get to or you would have to remove most the front of the engine to change, you need to think about like by pass hoses. crank shaft seal. changing all the hoses and belts in the car will add a good 100 bucks to you 10 buck clean up and paint. but as long as your torn down, it may save you 100 bucks in getting it redone later. just another thing you have to balance when your on a budget. all I wanted to do is change the valve cover gaskets in the 72 found red oil dripping out of a vacuum hose. forced into changing the vacuum modulator for the transmission too. the point is look at what your doing and things around it, most of the things on the cars are a one time event. we don't put the mileage on these car as we do the daily driver. so we tend to not do things till latter. and 6 years is a lot later.
 
Made some progress yesterday and got the valve covers, water pump housing, water pump, alternator and crankshaft pulley installed. I didn't paint the alternator since that would require that it be disassembled, and I have never worked on a Leece Neville alternator in the past. At some time in the past, it was rebuilt, and they sprayed the entire alternator black. Originally, it was raw aluminum on both front and rear end frames, with only a small band painted in the middle. Same for the pulley.. it needs to come off to be painted. This is definately a winter project when I have the time to do the reseach on the disassembly and re assembly. The hardest part of putting everything back on the engine is remembering where everything goes. I have pictures, but try not to rely on them. Thinking keeps the memory sharp... :4_11_9: Today nothing will be done on the car... "the wife" insists that I clean the garage! :YesNo:
 

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It is finally fininshed and ready for Albany.....
 

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What a difference a decade makes.. Ten years ago, I was getting my 1963 Pinner Chrysler ready for the 2010 Albany meet. Some threads are timeless, and this is one of them. Are you getting your car prepared for the 2020 Albany meet? Have any questions, don't hesitate to ask, and we have a large community of members that will help you with the detailing and preparation of your car.
 
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