Throughout this forum I’ve seen some beautiful well-kept engines and I love it. Mine is now pretty clean now but I’m interested in recommendations for a blackener for under the hood. (not a cleaner) I’ve played with back to black, and various tire blackeners and the don’t seem to cut it like the ones I’ve seen here. Anyone care to share their secret?

Thanks!

 

You must start with a clean engine first.
Various brushes, rags, Simple Green, and a little elbow grease.
Then I use plenty of paper towels (sometimes more than one roll), to get everything dry.

Once it's completely clean and dry, I use CD-2 engine detailer.


When finished, it looks like this.

 

Looks great!

 

Missed a spot! J/K

 

I use CD-2. The stuff is great. It was discontined a while back and professional detailers where buying it for over $10 a piece online. Turtle Wax bought the company and it's now back on the selves at Autozone. You can control gloss factor by how much and from how far away you spray. On the hoses I spread CD-2 around by hand for the best look. Use this as the icing on the cake on an already degreased and clean engine. It's a detailer not a cleaner/degreaser.

The best trim restorers hands down that I've ever used are from Meguiar's. They come in two lotion versions (water based and silicone based) and a spray version.

The spray version works superbly well for the large wheel well areas.

The lotion versions work for everything else like the front plastic spoilers or those LT fuel rail covers. It's best applied with a foam applicator pad. It leaves no residue. You can run your hand across it and you'll feel nothing. Amazing stuff.

This is the older version called Trim Detailer. It's silicone based and works great.




This is the newer version called Ultimate Protectant. It's water based. Also works great but the difference is this version lasts through rain without running.

 

Wow, are you sure you drive your Vette Greg?

 

Mileage reading when I pulled into drive way after returning home from Power Tour = 111,313

Over 65,000 of those I've put on myself.
So yep, not a garage queen.

The engine did not look like that after returning home from a week on the road.
But it did look close to that when I left home to start the week.

 

Well because of you, I'm not even going to look at mine

 

[/QUOTE]

Really nice job with all those miles, looks brand new.

 

I'm surprised no one has said anything about using Simple Green under the hood. I highly recommend keeping it away from your vehicle.

"It has been brought to the attention of the U.S. Army
Aviation Missile Command (AMCOM) Depot Maintenance
Engineering Team that numerous units are using the
commercial product SIMPLE GREEN as an aircraft wash.
STOP! This product has been through Department of Defense
(DOD) testing and was determined to be highly corrosive
on aircraft aluminum and also a catalyst for Hydrogen
Embrittlement in high strength aircraft alloys."

There have been posts about this on this website before.

 

We are not flying missiles or aircraft here.
That statement has been around for years, and automobiles just do not have to endure the stress and fatigue that aircraft go through.
Remember, an aircraft is subjected to some extreme conditions.
As it climbs and descends through the atmosphere, the range of pressure and temperatures on the hull is tremendous.

 

So are we to assume that the stress is less going through the "traps" at 10 seconds ?