A little Sunday morning engine detail

[wjbell]

Today I cleaned the cosmoline off my intake and valve cover then painted the valve cover black in between the fins to make it stand out. I did it all on the car. It's not bead blasted or anything, but it looks better than before...

http://www.belletc.net/bmw/eng1.jpg

http://www.belletc.net/bmw/eng2.jpg

[BFEINZIMER]

what kind of degreaser spray did you use?

[wjbell]

what kind of degreaser spray did you use?

Carb cleaner and a wire toothbrush. :)

That cosmoline stuff doesn't like to come off with anything mild. It breaks up pretty good when you use carb/brake cleaner and a wire brush to loosen it up. Takes a little work though.

[indymdm]

looks really good

[wjbell]

looks really good

Thanks! The manifold came out good because it has the bumpy finish and didn't need much work besides removing the cosmoline. The valve cover is smooth and was stained/corroded so I had to sand it (with 400 grit and scotch bright pads) I didn't want it shiny so it was hard to get it clean without polishing it. But at least I got rid of the old aluminum look.

[attack eagle]

if it is raw Aluminum, you need to look into some Zoop sealant or it will look old again the next time it gets any moisture on it.

[wjbell]

if it is raw Aluminum, you need to look into some Zoop sealant or it will look old again the next time it gets any moisture on it.

Thanks. I'll check that out ASAP.

[CharlesAFerg]

hmm... so you sprayed some carb cleaner on there and then brushed it with a wire brush? Did you rinse or just wipe it with a towell? How did you get the residue out after it was loose?

Also, what did you put on all the plastic/rubber? It looks great!
The reason being I want to clean my M20 like that.

Oh, and most importantly - did you remove the intake/valve cover or just clean it as it stood?
More detailed info would be very much welcome and appreciated!
Thanks man

[wjbell]

hmm... so you sprayed some carb cleaner on there and then brushed it with a wire brush? Did you rinse or just wipe it with a towell? How did you get the residue out after it was loose?

Also, what did you put on all the plastic/rubber? It looks great!
The reason being I want to clean my M20 like that.

Oh, and most importantly - did you remove the intake/valve cover or just clean it as it stood?
More detailed info would be very much welcome and appreciated!
Thanks man

I did everything on the car and tried to cover all the plastic I could with towels. I did remove the airbox top and AFM/bracket to get them out of the way of the valve cover.

For the intake, what I did was sprayed a little carb cleaner in an area, scrubbed it with a wire toothbrush then sprayed it again to rinse it off. I kept doing this to little areas at a time. Once I got everything off then I kinda rinsed the whole thing with carb cleaner and towel dried it.

For the valve cover there was really no cosmoline on it, it was just ugly grey aluminum. That I used a combination of 400 grit sandpaper, green scotch brite pads and a little polishing compound.

I actually cleaned and repainted my airbox top, AFM cover and distributor cover with rustolium satin black. The rest of the plastic I just shot with a little armor all.

It still needs some work. I'm going to work on cleaning it up a bit more during the week..

[Macv]

Well done, looks very clean

[E34N]

Looks nice.. very clean. I'm gonna do this when I install my MAF...