I have an stock 87 Vette. Does anyone have any good suggestions on how to clean the engine properly without damaging anything? Also any recommendations on products to use?

 

A lift and a commercial steam cleaner

 

A good blast of air from a compressor will remove dirt build up in the hard to get to places. Simple Green and rags or small brushes to get things clean.

 

all you need to do is powerwash it at your local car wash, and after it dries, go to autozone and buy a can of engine detailer ($10) and spray it on everything. . .hoses, chrome, alloy, etc. this is what the dealer uses under the hood of their cars to make them look new. you cant go wrong!

 

 

Be very careful with a pressure washer all the aluminum parts under heat and then a cold blast of water can crack things. My thermostat hosing cracked when i did it. Now I have a pressure washer at home and I back the vette out of the shop with the hood open and then let it sit for 10 min or so and then i hit it with the pressure washer. Now my motor and all seals are new so I should have no dirt and oil for a long time so hopefully I dont even need more than just a rinse from a garden hose.

 

Thanks for the insight, I will try a mix of all of the things yall said, because my engine is really dirty. I dont think anyone ever cleaned it in its 20 year lifetime.

 

In a few hours, your engine will look great, and you will have discovered the many ways you can climb on tires and balance yourself in your engine bay!

 

Wrong way to do thing... Don't do it this way... parts way to old

 

This was my method,,,

remove the engine, dissassemble the engine, spent big $$ on upgrades, cleaned the bay while I waited on parts, re-assemble, done

 

lol, that method worked for me, but I found that after a couple of years it needed another 'good cleaning'.

 

Hey, I got one of those too. When I picked up my 87 it was pretty bad, like it had not been cleaned since it rolled off the showroom floor.

Started to clean it slowly, but discovered racing is more fun than cleaning. It's been down hill since then.

 

 

 

I'm in the Never Been Cleaned Club too with my 92

First to anyone who reads this thread with an LT1 (92+) - for the love of god do not get your optispark wet. If you don't know what that is yet, put the hose away!

I spent some time here and there with some (diluted) Simple Green and rags. Too much time... I haven't even attacked the leaky engine yet been working my way around it. I figure I'll get what I can with rags and Simple Green, then some brushes, got a gallon+ of Castrol Superclean around here, maybe a little Gunk degreaser if needed. I want to minimize the use of running water and nasty waste on the driveway.

I've painted a few blocks before while installed, using cheap disposable foam brushes and Rustoleum black. It looks pretty damn good if you take your time. Not much room in there but I think I can do it... I'd use POR15's engine paint if I had the engine out, but I don't plan on going that far. POR15 would last a long time and prob be difficult to remove later.

Still undecided on the valve covers (omg they need it) and the intake. Might smooth them and do that Duplicolor anodized look paint. Did that once before but wasn't too thrilled with the durability of the Duplicolor clear. I used caliper paint on engine parts in another car and baked it in the oven, forgot the brand but left a uniform rough surface and looked like clean cast aluminum and was a fsckin rock. Anyhow its a draw between the anodized paint and regular engine paint for the valve covers and intake.

Looking on some insight for cleaning up dimpled aluminum! Things like the alternator, brackets, etc. Learned steel wool is not so good, looks good for a while but in the end No. I am sure as hell not going to polish them.

 

really ?.....you got the wrong guy, but since you're callin' me out:

P.S.....the 36 is out for "cleaning" as well

 

painting with the engine in the car:
I've used aluminum foil to cover parts to protect from overspray-works GREAT

 

IME spray paint is hard to use unless you have room to get it at different angles... I don't think I could get the block with a rattle can. But theres bound to be some things I will spray paint in there - going to remember the Foil

 

Lestoil and a brush works really well on built up grease.Foaming tire cleaner works well after any heavy build up is removed,and leaves a nice shine also.

 

I never thought of this and it is so logical. One of those truly useable tips. tks