As some of you might know my engine is knocking and I am going to replace it with a 5.0. Still haven't been able to buy the tbird, been busy with work and other things. So I decide to finally start taking the car apart to fix what is rusted and clean the engine bay a little. I am also hoping to hide the wires. Might as well start doing this and maybe by the time I am ready to install the motor I might have luck and find a fox to use instead. I hope that I don't find myself stuck later on the road. It would be better to remove fenders and such things to do this better right? Well here's to hopefully a cleaner, better and powerful coupe. Let you guys know how things go.

 

Here's what I accomplished today, time to take a shower and go to sleep. I got this far with the help from someone. Hopefully when he is bigger he will still want to help.

 

When we cleaned up the 66 we used aircraft remover (paint stripper) to clean up the engine compartment, this cleaned off the oil/grease and the paint in one fell swoop.

We took all of the front stuff of but left the fenders and inner fenders in place. This worked out well for us because the car was clean and had very minimal rust so it was not worth our time to remove the fenders and such. Just remember whatever you take off you will need to put back, and align.... and your car looks not too bad in the pictures..

 

IMO, there is nothing better than a newly rebuilt/painted/polished engine in a clean/freshly painted engine compartment. At a minimum, remove everything you can unbolt and clean it separately. Start with engine degreaser. If you can heat the area first, even better. Spray it on liberally and use a pressure washer to clean everything thoroughly. Use plastic sheeting to protect paint and plug up firewall openings. Once it dries, you will have a good sense on how much else is required. You may need to sand, strip, prime, etc, but you will almost certainly need to repaint and perhaps polish or replace some components. You can even rewrap wiring harnesses to freshen the look and new decals really add to the look.

 

If you are looking fro something non-toxic (with your son and all I think you prb are) try Simple Green. It works pretty well on oil, grease etc. Pressure washer helps as well.

 

i am in the process of taking my bay to bare metal via sand blasting...... what a bad idea that was.....

 

This will be my project summer 2010 if I don't get to it this year. Going to be a fun job (in the typical, twisted 'I actually enjoy busting my *** on my car' way ). My car needs this soooo badly.

See what I mean? It's like a bomb went off amongst the spark plug cables, they are everywhere.

 

http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/g...g/IMG_1404.jpg

Like I said,,, the stripper works great for folks who want to take a 2, 3, or 4 step process and roll it into one step.... Never mind degreaser, cleaning, sanding, stripping, etc.

Ok, so you still have to sand after you get the paint off, and the stuff burns like hell when it gets on your skin,,, but it is fast and relativly easy....

http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/g...g/IMG_1408.jpg
http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/g...g/IMG_1416.jpg

 

Where could I buy that, Simple Green? Sould I spray it wait a while then hit it with the pressure washer? If so I gotta go see my brother tomorrow. No time to work on the car today, will make up for it on Wednesday.

 

Thats what I am afraid of aligning the fenders back. I was thinking of making two small holes next to the bolts to use them as a reference to put things back. Mine has some what rust in there maybe I could get away with not removing the fenders but would they be necessary to hide the wires.