Ok, I'll be attending my first real car show in June, so I'm just wanting to make sure I'm ready for the preparations.

What I'm wondering is how exactly should I go about cleaning up my engine bay and engine, while everything is still in the car? What sort of cleaning methods (pressure wash at a carwash, a steamer, simple green, something else?) and what parts I need to make sure to cover and protect from getting wet (carb and distributor, etc) before I go about cleaning things up.

There isn't much I can do to remove things to make this easier (we don't have a garage I can get the car in to work on, or many tools beyond the simple wrenches, screwdrivers and other basics) so that will probably hold things back some. As far as some of the rusty looking parts (hood hinges and air conditioning components) what can I do to make those look a bit nicer?


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Lots of masking paper and sand down the rusty stuff. You can use old newspaper. Then again a patina on an old car has its charm.

 

Yeah as cmanf says:lots of paper,some sandpaper,wire brush and some paint on the rusty stuff(hinges,etc)especially if you are limited on tools.As far as detailing the motor and Engine Compartment I would use some degreaser,elbow grease,and your localDIY carwash!!Cover all the elec stuff with plastic bags and start blasting!Good Luck!1

 

you can always just not open the hood

haha jk. lots of degreaser. if painting, do a good job masking, and be sure to move the wires to the side. Nothing worse looking that painted over wires IMO

 

Take the breather cover off, bag& duct tape the carb and distributor. Then use your favorite engine degreaser and a garden hose before you go with the big gun at the car wash if you have a place to absorb all the grease run off. That may save you some quarters as well as a lot of over sprayed grease getting everywhere.

As far as all the rusted parts...obviously the best would be to take off what parts you can. If you havea basic socket and wrench set you can deal with most everything you have there. Clean and strip then repaint as req'd. Don't be in a rush to please the car show crowds.Most will spot a cheap paint over in a NY minute. Take your time and do one thing at a time. Plus you are gonna have to deal with the rust sooner or later.

Without a garage or protected place to work in the winter you got your work cut out for you.
Good luck.

 

that engine brought back some memories. You have alot of hard work ahead of your self. +1 & +2 to the above. Honestly though if you dont have a garage, just dont open the hood. One day when you have the space, then do your engine right, dont 1/2 *** it justto get by. Surface rust is one of the ugliest things on an old engine and if its not taken car of properly if can cause more issues down the road. Good luck in the show.

 

The show I'm going to attend is the Rocky Mountain Mustang Roundup in steamboat springs colorado in june... They'll have what amounts to the general population judging the cars, the engine compartment included, that's why I was wondering. I'm not looking to completely overhaul the thing, I just mostly want to get rid of the dirt/dust so it doesn't look like it hasn't been tended to in nearly 40 years.

It's not really a big concern, I know this isn't a show quality car or even close, but I know I can keep the engine a bit more clean than it is now. When I do clean it up some it will be later in the year towards june when hopefully our snow will be nearly melted.

I guess what I'm thinking is just to take off the air cleaner, bag off the carb and distributor (and whatever else I need to, this I'm not sure of- any more I need to be sure to protect?) and just spray it down with cleaner then go over most of it with a brush to get the dirt off then rinse everything down with water again so it looks a bit better- this is a daily driver and I'm not expecting a fresh from the factory look.

 

You need to take your time. Replace as many parts as you can with new ones. You definitely need to start with engine degreaser and elbow grease. Paint as many parts as you can, but make sure you mask them off carefully because you don't want to overspray.

 

The show in Steamboat is real casual. You will see all types of cars there from the rust bucket to the trailer queen. The judging isn't a big deal unless you expect to win (you have 50K+ invested). Most of the cars there are from clubs, and those people kind of run in packs and don't socialize much outside their group. The one thing I really enjoy about it is that there are alot of cars from every year. So you can look at 10 different 67 coupes and see what different people did to fix/restore/mod/cleanup/speedup their ride. I always meet a few nice people that like to talk and it is fun to listen to their Mustang story. Go and have fun. Don't worry about judges or trophies.

 

If you search Google for these words "mustang engine compartment detailing" the first result has a great write up by John Dettori about cleaning/detailing a Mustang engine bay. (I'm not linking since the page is hosted on another forum.) I had read this write up before doing my engine bay, came out pretty nice. A garage space helps, but definitely isn't required. If you have to deal with surface rust, no big deal, just don't hide the rust under fresh paint. From the photos, you don't have much rust at all, looks old and dirty more than anything. The hinges as an example, if they are not worn out, can be bead blasted for cheap and rattle canned for $5. If you are keeping the car factory-issue, I'd only replace the various parts if they can't be restored or are reproduction on the car anyway. I have a before- and after-pic here (but the car is not stock): http://66restomod.blogspot.com/2007/...-overhaul.html