Engine detailing - how long?

[BlueZ71]

Does anyone have a good process for detailing an engine? How long does it usually take?



I`m trying to make plans for this weekend.



Thanks,



Blue

[Jngrbrdman]

It really depends on how much time you want to spend on it and what products you are using. I did this engine in less than an hour.



Before:





After:





The important thing is to not just go in with a hose blasting everything. Degrease the areas that need it and avoid spraying water on electrical parts or near areas where the water could get on the distributer or down the spark plug holes. I use the CD2 engine detail kit. Its basicly just a degreaser and another can of engine shine stuff. It does a great job for me. You can`t expect it all to come out of a can, though. A lot of what I end up doing is done with brushes and towels. I try to use as little hose water as possible. I put soapy water in a spray bottle and use it where needed. Soapy water, Simple Green, CD2, brushes, lots of paper towels, and a couple hours is really all you need. It just depends on how clean you want it to be and how dirty it started out.

[BlueZ71]

Thanks bread - that engine shows vast improvement - mine is not that bad at the moment. Which would you use if you had 303 cleaner, Grease lightning, or Simple green? Are you saying not to spray the whole engine with one of these than wipe off?

[togwt]

Quote: Engine detailing - how long?



~One man’s opinion, observation~



All I would add to what Jngrbrdman has said is get an angled painters brush and either Saran Wrap or Aluminium Foil (my preference) to wrap any electrical parts or anything you don’t want to come in contact with your de-greaser of choice











~Hope this helps~





Experience unshared; is knowledge wasted…/



justadumbarchitect * so i question everything*

[Quickstrike]

About the citrus degreasers..



Which is more effective.. Simple Green or Orange Blast?



it seems like everyone is making the move to Orange Blast.. is it just because of availability in ones area or is it actually more powerful/effective then the simple green line of products?



or is it another one of those "Scottwax uses it, so it must be good" kind of products?

[Accumulator]

The thing that makes ME leery of Simple Green is the way it can sometimes (permanently) stain certain surfaces, especially metal ones. I stick with the citrus degreasers (usually P21S TAW) and solvents like CleansAll, PrepSol, etc. Brake cleaner can work wonders but you gotta be VERY careful with it.



Plenty of people have used Simple Green without ANY problems at all, but I don`t want MY car to be the one where there IS a problem.

[Jngrbrdman]

I`m not a big fan of Simple Green because it stains plastics too. I just use it to loosen dirt and crud in certian areas. I use it very directed. I just use the foaming engine degreasers usually. Something that I love to ues when I have it is Advanage. That stuff mixes into the best damn degreaser I`ve ever used. I really liked Autoint`s degreaser concentrate too.

[endus]

Full strength Simple green will def stain the crap out of your hoses and plastics. I bought a jug of Meguiar`s citri-gel multi cleaner and apply it with a spray bottle full strength. Works great. The gel sticks to things, and you don`t catch whiffs of a wierd simple-green-like smell through your HVAC the next couple of days. Highly recommended.

[BlueZ71]

I have grease lightning orange blast - would that work OK? Do I use it in full strength? Should I spray everything and let soak then respray and wipe off?



thanks,



B

[chris0626]

I discovered Orange Blast before I heard Father Scottwax speak on this subject. I like it because (1) I HATE the stench of Simple Green and (2) Orange Blast seems to do a better job of degreasing than SG, IMHO.



Like others have said, I don`t just spray and hose. I spray a specific area with a cleaner, work it with brushes/rags/Q-tips, wipe it with a shop rag, then maybe rinse it by using a water-soaked shop rag. Having suffered some problems with spray-and-soak approaches in my first couple of attempts, I`m very leery of using lots of water.

[Quickstrike]

I just noticed that there are various versions of this orange blast product..



which is the most powerful: orange blast super strength or high performance auto? (by the names I am guessing those are the 2 best..)

[White95Max]

Simple Green horribly stained my Injen CAI. I had to polish it with Mothers Mag/alum polish to get the stain off.

I just use a degreaser on a rag and apply it by hand rather than spraying it all over.

Mthers Mag/alum polish can shine up any metal areas in the engine bay very well.

[chris0626]

Originally posted by Quickstrike

I just noticed that there are various versions of this orange blast product..



which is the most powerful: orange blast super strength or high performance auto? (by the names I am guessing those are the 2 best..)

I never even realized there were different labels/formulations. But your question made me double-check the label. The one I`ve used so successfully is labelled Super-Strength -- but it`s just what I grabbed at WalMart.

[Mantic6t9]

I use simple green on my engines and havn`t had any problems. As long as your rinse all the product off you shoudn`t have any staining but i guess anything is possible. If you read the lable of almost any degreaser is says Do NOT allow product to DRY on surface.



With that said i love simple green but am willing to try something new. If you don`t try new things you never know what you`re missing.

[chris0626]

Mantic6t9, I (almost) agree -- I found SG nearly as effective as Orange Blast. For me, the deciding factor was the stench of SG. I LOATHE the smell of licorice, and that`s what SG reminded me of, which is why I tried Orange Blast. I never had any damage from SG -- except to my olfactory senses.