Cleaning GT500 engine bay?

[TrackMustang]

Anything involving cleaning and detailing I go direct to @DFB5.0 - dude knows his stuff and has created multiple threads with tons of detail regarding cleaning multiple different sections of your mustang.

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[StangTime]

Anything involving cleaning and detailing I go direct to @DFB5.0 - dude knows his stuff and has created multiple threads with tons of detail regarding cleaning multiple different sections of your mustang.

I agree. Anyone who details a lawnmower for fun, is definitely serious about his detailing.

 

[MCS]

Thanks for the pic under your hood. I went and dug out my factory hood and took the rubber piece off then added it to my GT500 hood. Seems to have reduced the bounce/flex/flutter by about half. The struts, to arrive this week, should add some more rigidity to it.

As for this product. Yuck, they don't sell on Amazon Canada and I can't yet find a local source for them but I'm looking!

 

[DFB5.0]

It took me a long time to become confident with introducing water to an engine bay.

Firstly though, if the engine bay is merely dusty, you probably don't need to use water, either from a hose or pressure washer. Also, modern cars up to a point really shouldn't need a degreaser. In these cases, using a water-less wash, a brush and some towels should be enough to clean it up. Using compressed air is also helpful to "drive" dust/grime out of the hard-to-reach spots.

For this engine bay, I used the above method. Once cleaned, I used 303 Protectant on the plastics and rubber hoses -

Compressed air is also helpful in distributing the dressing into the variety of grooved surfaces -

A recent event necessitated a more thorough engine bay cleaning on one of my cars. This is the first time I had ever done this sort of engine bay cleaning. Here, I have foamed the bay down with a soap, agitated with brushes and rinsed with clean water. Having a large open air filter, I covered this and the battery with a plastic bag, weighing it down with a towel also helps. The key thing is to not focus the jet of water (from hose or pressure washer) on any one spot for too long.

I then followed up with a blower to remove any pooled water and then applied some dressing.

On this Mazda, I do something similar, although instead of foam, I used an APC. With the entire engine bay and underside of the hood covered with APC, I then agitated with a brush before rinsing clean.

Now the fun and easy part; while still wet, cover the whole engine bay in Meguiar's Hyper Dressing or Koch Chemie Motorplast, paying more attention to the plastics and rubber hoses.

Then close the hood and you're done!

Because those two dressings are self-leveling, all you need to do from here is to check the next day for any high spots. Both Hyper Dressing and Motor Plast are water based, so the finish left behind is not greasy or oiling looking, just a natural, OE appearance. Also, you don't need to worry about them being on the painted or metal surfaces.

Each time I have used these two methods with water, I have not had any issues.

This video on a GT-350 puts my words into action -

(119) Dialing In My New Shelby GT350: E3 - Cleaning Engine Bay w/ Meguiar's D170 Hyper Dressing - YouTube

 

[StangTime]

So as usual I don't have access to a lot of the detailing products that everyone raves about. Free health care is great but buying stuff here sucks. I can't find Meguiar's Hyper Dressing in stores or on Amazon.ca but I can buy Chemical Guys Silk shine Protectant spray. From the description it seems to be similar but may not work well with water to dry by itself. Many reviews saying it streaks after getting wet.

 

[MCS]

I ordered me some of the DDE Spray kit since I'm bored waiting for my Phase 2 to arrive. I'll let ya'll know if it blows up or not.

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