now that me block is pulled, and everything out of the bay, minus the intake, what would yal recommend to clean all the parts and such....17 years of grime build-up is alittle tougher than expected....its mighty cold here in NC so i wanna try and stay out from the weather, and not using the waterhose as much as possible. plus the vehicle is in a garage, ( i wanna clean the firewall, fenderwells, ALL that good stuff) so i cant use that engine cleaner spray that requires hosing off. any suggestions?

 

I don't think that you have any way around using the hose. Any degreaser that you use will need to be rinsed off.

 

allright..and if i WERE able to use a hose....any suggestions?

 

Here's a few tricks I learned when I did an overhaul on an old Ford truck I use to have. First question, are the tires till on your truck? This will make it easier.

What I did was get large piece of relatively thick plastic, about 3 to 5 mil. and about 10 feet wide and 20 feet long. Lay the plastic out on the drive way, and then roll your truck out so that the engin bay is over the first 10 ft by 10 ft half of the sheet. Get a putty knife and go nuts scraping off as much as you can. Onced you are satisfied with that, roll your truck back onto the second half of the plastic. roll up the first half of the plastic towards the front of the truck and contain all of the scrapings, so you don't step in them or let them get scattered.

If you have some scrap pieces of lumber, you can box in the second half of the plastic and form a little trough. You can now use a solvent or degrease and spray everything down really good and let it soak in. Rather than hose it all off, get a few thick rags and some plastic bristled scrub brushes and clean everything you soaked. Don't be afraid to spray again and scrub.

Now, get another heavy rag (half of an old bath towel works perfect) and a bucket of warm water and rinse down everything. This should get the fenders and firewalls pretty damn clean without using alot of water. Then you can roll the truck back into the garage and roll up the rest of the plastic up and throw it away with the other garbage. You will spill alittle on the driveway, but it won't be too bad. Once the truck is back inside the garage, you can use simple green or a similar product to clean all of the surfaces one more time.

This sounds a little tedious, but it really does work. As far as the cold, well, just try and dress for it. When I did mine, it was December in the mountains of northern New Mexico, so it was right at freezing the whole time, but, I like working outside in the cold. It took me one whole day to do the entire engine bay of that full size ford. The next day, I sanded, cleaned, and repainted.

So, it can be done in the cold with minmal water. If you are not concerned with the cold, using water, or making a mess on the ground, go rent or borrow a pressure washer, cover and tape things up on the firewall and just be done with it right away.

Hope this helps...

 

If you want to stay out of the weather, I would suggest Meguiars Extra All Surface Cleaner and some elbow grease. It's safe to use indoors and no need to hose it off. This is what their website says about it.

"Meguiar's EXTRA is a powerful, fast acting, deep cleaning cleaner and degreaser and stain remover that saves you time and is EXTRA SAFE to use on almost any surface in your car, home, boat or RV. There's no need to dilute this amazing formula since it contains no ingredients that could cause corrosion or discoloration. It's non-toxic, biodegradable and EXTRA potent! Just spray it on and watch grease, grime and stains disappear. EXTRA is perfect for cleaning 100's of the toughest cleaning jobs... degreases everything from engines to BBQ grills; cleans rubber, vinyl, metal, tile and plastic; removes tough stains from upholstery and carpets."