ENGINE BAY DETAILING
First thing to do is cover up some of the parts that 'dislike' water. Here is the list of items that i covered up:
1. Air filter intake
2. Alternator
3. Car alarm
4. Battery
5. Cam cover
6. Diagnostic Port
7. Thingie majig (small flat black box on the passenger side, right next to the suspension strut).
These items are covered with regular aluminium foil except for the battery. I covered the battery with Glad wrap. You can remove the batter (prolly a good idea) but i cbf doing it. :P
Notes: Assuming that the car is totally cold, start the car and let it idle for 2 minutes max! This should result in the engine to be slightly warm to the touch. The degreaser works best on grease and dirt when the surface warm (not HOT).
Here are some pics of the dusty/dirty engine bay:
Spray all the engine bay with degreaser. You don't need to buy ultra
expensive degreaser....in fact, i just got two $1.99 degreaser spray
cans from autobarn.
Rinse well with a fair strong jet of water. Use a soft brush to scrub
the more stubborn areas of dirt and/or grease. Just don't drown the
car...or point a high pressure hose in one area for more than a couple
of seconds at a time.
Carefully remove the aluminum foil and glad wrap from the items that
were covered. Using a terry cloth, just get rid of some excess
water...it doesn't need to be 100% dry. Then go for drive (normal
speeds!) for around 15mins.
Open the bonnet when you return and let the car cool down for an hour
or two. When its sufficiently cool to the touch, give the major parts
another quick wipeover with a dampen cloth.
I found that after the engine bay has fully dried, the result still
isnt quite up to my expectations. What i found to be really helpful to
really bring up the gloss of the paint AND plastics AND metal
(especially around the throttle body and intake body) is to use
silicon/polymer spray. I sprayed 303 Protectant all over the engine
bay. Make SURE that the engine is completely cool and dry. Spray the
black plastics liberally and the metals sparingly. Let it soak for a
few minutes then wipe off lightly an excess spray.
The more thorough you do this step, the better the result!!
Thanks to b3dlam for this write up from Supraforums.com.au
