Engine / bay detailing without removing the engine
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 240
Likes: 58
From: Jacksonville, Florida
Engine / bay detailing without removing the engine
I am still in the process of restoring my '77 and would like to "clean" up the engine and bay a bit. I will have no problem with the valve covers, water neck, master cyl., etc. but what do I do about the intake manifold, heads, firewall, etc. What are my options if I do not want to remove the engine?
Heel & Toe
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 23
Likes: 0
From: Fl
If you unplug/unbolt every thing the wire harness is connected to, and take off all the hoses and plug wires. Then anything else thats easy like the shroud and fan, coolant bottle, windshield fluid bottle. You'll have lots more room, unless its a Big Block car
If you want to keep going, you'll have a lot of room if you take the exhaust manifolds, distributer and intake manifold off too. If you willing to basically strip it down to a long block, you'll have room to make it look like you did have the engine out.
If you want to keep going, you'll have a lot of room if you take the exhaust manifolds, distributer and intake manifold off too. If you willing to basically strip it down to a long block, you'll have room to make it look like you did have the engine out.
Last edited by ramman!; Apr 19, 2007 at 04:44 AM.
Team Owner
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 20,709
Likes: 25
From: Sorrento Italy
to have a better and cleaner looking engine bay you'd need to make space inside it, first i'd get rid of the heater plus hoses and ancillaries, tap the firewall with a custom alu sheet, the hydroboost instead of the old black 'ball' will also enhance a better appearance (and give you a much much better braking power and feeling), chrome or jethot headers will also improve the engine bay looking, paint matte black the area behind the engine (where firewall is up to the area of the wipers), clean the plug wires or change them with new colored 8mm, new valve covers is also an easy and pretty cheap way to improve the whole area...
generally speaking, an emptier area will always look cleaner and easier to keep in good 'order', same as a house, if you have pics, old bus tickets, old souvenirs and plenty of chairs, small tables and flowers pots in every corner, your place will never look clean as if you had it with only a few furnitures here and there, leaving plenty of space.
same for the engine bay..
generally speaking, an emptier area will always look cleaner and easier to keep in good 'order', same as a house, if you have pics, old bus tickets, old souvenirs and plenty of chairs, small tables and flowers pots in every corner, your place will never look clean as if you had it with only a few furnitures here and there, leaving plenty of space.
same for the engine bay..
Last edited by panic; Apr 19, 2007 at 07:12 AM.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 7,106
Likes: 38
From: Newark DE
If you unplug/unbolt every thing the wire harness is connected to, and take off all the hoses and plug wires. Then anything else thats easy like the shroud and fan, coolant bottle, windshield fluid bottle. You'll have lots more room, unless its a Big Block car If you want to keep going, you'll have a lot of room if you take the exhaust manifolds, distributer and intake manifold off too. If you willing to basically strip it down to a long block, you'll have room to make it look like you did have the engine out.
If you want to keep going, you'll have a lot of room if you take the exhaust manifolds, distributer and intake manifold off too. If you willing to basically strip it down to a long block, you'll have room to make it look like you did have the engine out.
take everything off and out except for the long block. Remove the intake, pulley's, fan, radiator, exhaust manifolds, hoses, etc.
This will give you the room to work plus you can still clean and paint the block this way. This is what I did when I did the engine bay on my '65.
My '78 on the other hand was in MUCH worst condition and on that car I had to pull the motor to get things cleaned up properly.
having done it both ways though i'll tell you this.... after stripping the engine bay of basically everything but the long block in the '65 I should have just unbolted those last six bellhousing bolts and the motor mount bolts and pulled that motor too. It would have only been another 1/2 hour or so to get the entire motor out and is makes cleaning, painting, and detailing the entire engine bay and block MUCH easier and the C2's have a LOT more working room in the bay than the C3's do. I can't imagine trying to do a good job in the engine bay in a C3 without pulling the motor out unless you are really a glutton for punishment.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 5,943
Likes: 3
From: Wildwood IL
You did say engine/bay detailing. The engine & components are the easy part. All the wireing & hoses is the difficult part. Trying to paint inner fenders & firewall with that stuff installed is VERY time consuming. Like Big Bird above said...get yourself lots of tin foil, masking tape, wire ties, or twist ties. Pull hoses & wire away from firewall/fenders and start masking. Carefull of overspray!!! Do small sections at a time. Carefully mask...wire/twist tie stuff out of the way to spray behind it.
Here's a pic of the firewall I finished with everything installed this past winter. Took me a good 4 hrs total just to mask EVERYTHING. Even the rubber carpet buttons & grommits.
Painting over hoses, brackets, grommits & wire on the firewall is crappy work ...
Do it right 
Good luck
Eddie
Here's a pic of the firewall I finished with everything installed this past winter. Took me a good 4 hrs total just to mask EVERYTHING. Even the rubber carpet buttons & grommits.
Painting over hoses, brackets, grommits & wire on the firewall is crappy work ...
Do it right Good luck
Eddie
Le Mans Master
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 8,837
Likes: 1,028
You did say engine/bay detailing. The engine & components are the easy part. All the wireing & hoses is the difficult part. Trying to paint inner fenders & firewall with that stuff installed is VERY time consuming. Like Big Bird above said...get yourself lots of tin foil, masking tape, wire ties, or twist ties. Pull hoses & wire away from firewall/fenders and start masking. Carefull of overspray!!! Do small sections at a time. Carefully mask...wire/twist tie stuff out of the way to spray behind it.
Here's a pic of the firewall I finished with everything installed this past winter. Took me a good 4 hrs total just to mask EVERYTHING. Even the rubber carpet buttons & grommits.
Painting over hoses, brackets, grommits & wire on the firewall is crappy work ... Do it right
Good luck
Eddie
Here's a pic of the firewall I finished with everything installed this past winter. Took me a good 4 hrs total just to mask EVERYTHING. Even the rubber carpet buttons & grommits.
Painting over hoses, brackets, grommits & wire on the firewall is crappy work ...
Do it right Good luck
Eddie
