cleaning the engine bay
Team Owner
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 34,988
Likes: 515
From: Riverside County Southern California
Co-winner 2020 C4 of the Year - Modified
2018 Corvette of Year Finalist
2017 C4 of Year
2016 C7 of Year Finalist
St. Jude Donor '09 thru '20
I cleaned mine on Friday. I used a hose, simple green and a leaf blower. 
Team Owner
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 34,988
Likes: 515
From: Riverside County Southern California
Co-winner 2020 C4 of the Year - Modified
2018 Corvette of Year Finalist
2017 C4 of Year
2016 C7 of Year Finalist
St. Jude Donor '09 thru '20
Safety Car
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 3,616
Likes: 5
From: Sandhills of North Carolina
You can soak a rag in kerosene and cram it around the opti and it will keep the majority of water away from it. It's still best to not spray it directly though.
I have used Armor-all Foaming tire cleaner as a quickie clean. It makes a world of difference especially if the bay hasn't been cleaned in a while. Spray it on and leave it on, don't rinse it off. If the area is slightly warm it helps.
I have used Armor-all Foaming tire cleaner as a quickie clean. It makes a world of difference especially if the bay hasn't been cleaned in a while. Spray it on and leave it on, don't rinse it off. If the area is slightly warm it helps.
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Le Mans Master
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 5,060
Likes: 1
From: Tabernacle NJ
St. Jude Donor '10-'11-'12-'13
Take you time and do it slowly part by part.Spend time in your man-cave and enjoy.I wax everything in the wheel well ,shocks ,upper n lower control arms etc for ez clean-up later on.
Drifting
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 1,614
Likes: 163
From: Davis CA
This is my Simple Green story. I was doing some work on my son's Volvo and there is quite a bit of oil around. I sprayed Simple Green over the engine, waited a few minutes and hosed it off. I found myself looking at bare wires where the wiring harness used to be. I'm not saying that the harness wasn't old and that it shouldn't have been replaced at some time, but that "cleaning" meant that the car was off the road until the repair could be done. I wonder how long it would have lasted without the Simple Green.
Le Mans Master
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 9,226
Likes: 9
From: Irvine Ca
^^Didn't Bogus discover that the simple green had eaten some of his Bell housing where it was allowed to pool and sit for extended period of times?
Yup Here it is......
Yup Here it is......
bogus wrote:
Another update!
Learned something very interesting... Simple Green eats magnesium!!! Yup. Chews it right up. I will post pics later. However, I left my magnesium bell housing in my parts cleaner... just laying in a 1/2" deep puddle of simple green. Pulled it out after about 4 days and the damned stuff ate it!!!
Another update!
Learned something very interesting... Simple Green eats magnesium!!! Yup. Chews it right up. I will post pics later. However, I left my magnesium bell housing in my parts cleaner... just laying in a 1/2" deep puddle of simple green. Pulled it out after about 4 days and the damned stuff ate it!!!
Last edited by jhammons01; Aug 13, 2009 at 11:22 PM.
Instructor
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 204
Likes: 0
From: Pinellas Park Florida
This is my Simple Green story. I was doing some work on my son's Volvo and there is quite a bit of oil around. I sprayed Simple Green over the engine, waited a few minutes and hosed it off. I found myself looking at bare wires where the wiring harness used to be. I'm not saying that the harness wasn't old and that it shouldn't have been replaced at some time, but that "cleaning" meant that the car was off the road until the repair could be done. I wonder how long it would have lasted without the Simple Green.
I have had Simple Green eat away some types of rubber gaskets
Team Owner
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 34,988
Likes: 515
From: Riverside County Southern California
Co-winner 2020 C4 of the Year - Modified
2018 Corvette of Year Finalist
2017 C4 of Year
2016 C7 of Year Finalist
St. Jude Donor '09 thru '20
Safety Car
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 4,971
Likes: 9
From: The reason time exists is so everything doesn't happen at once
Team Owner
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 73,568
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From: Somewhere in Mo
St. Jude Donor '09-'10, '14
