my car has been sitting out for a while and throughout all that time its gathered a lot of dirt/dust. i was going to clean the motor/bay today with some simple green. now i know i need to to cover up some things from getting wet like carb, ignition, wires.
but, what all need to be covered before washing?

 

Try and keep the alternator, distributor, carburetor inlet and firewall harness connectors from getting soaked. A little water on these items won't hurt anything. The alternator is the main one. Put a towel over it.

Once you've cleaned the engine bay start the car to help dry everything out. If it won't start the distributor cap is probably wet and will need to be dried.