Engine compartment clean-up - 78 450SEL

[oversize]

I don't think I'd paint the V unless you're worried about rust.  You won't see it with the manifold on...  Focus on the things you CAN see!  BTW I hope you didn't get any of that crap in the ports!!!

[jbrasile]

Don't have a rat problem, hehehe...

And no...  the "crappy" stuff did not get into the ports, they were covered when I scooped it up.

Tks for your your input everyone, I may not resist and paint the V just for fun. Looks like removing the old gaskets is going to be quite a challenge, they were glued at the factory and are REALLY stuck, today I am buying a new gasket scrapper to try and make the job a little easier.

Tks,

Joe

[Big_Richard]

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[Tony66_au]

Being in a rural area Rats are par for the course, Joe?  Paint the Vee mate. Id go gold in colour so you catch hints of it behind everything else especially when you hit it with halogen light.

Back to the Rats (And Mice).......

As i said they are part of the environment and I've always believed in knowing my enemy and find there are 2 species of Rat here.

Rattus rattus or the common European Rat which was introduced with the convicts in the 1700's and the cuter, cleaner Aussie bush rat which is a nicer looking stumpy tailed Rat not responsible for killing hundreds of thousands spreading disease.

The likely culprit for destruction and mayhem on cars is the Euro rat which scavenge crap and rotten foodstuff where as the Australian bush rat lives on seeds from grass, berries and fruits.

Both however die with the baiting program I run year round.

[marku]

I have painted the V in mine and it looks fine after a hose leak had rusted it. Unfortunately the rest has got completely out of hand being replated, polished, sand blasted etc. I swore I would not do it when I started to replace a head gasket but all the parts look really good. All I have to do now is put it back together.

[jbrasile]

marku,

I am sure it must look superb! I will paint the V and clean everything the best I can. If I go full bore, the water pump needs to come out, all hose terminals will need plating or replacement, front engine cover will have to be sandblasted, well you know what I mean...

Last night I scrapped the driver's side gasket, took about 2 hours... will attack the other side over the weekend and try to have the manifold cleaned. Platters promised to have all the hardware done by next Monday and all the replacement parts arrive from the Classic Center next week so another week to 10 days and the project should be completed.

This car is a driver (used be my daily driver actually) so my goal is to make it look like a very well kept 34 year old 116.

Tks,

Joe

[marku]

Hi Joe

It looks pretty good without the work you propose which very probably will put it in concourse condition! Mine had so much muck on it when I got it even though it had been off the road for five years. It took days to scrape it all off. It looked as though it had not had an oil change in decades. Currently it is down to the block with everything in boxes. Every time I think I can start to reassemble something else comes up. Any way good luck with the clean up mine is becoming a way of life!

Mark

[jbrasile]

Project continues...

Intake gasket from passenger side removed yesterday, another 2 hours.

Today I had a go at the upper and lower portions of the intake manifold, tough job... Lot's of gunk, oil, etc... upper portion with its intricate tubing took about 4 hours of scrubbing with gasoline, paint thinner, paint brushes and steel wool. I did not want to have the manifold bead blasted to avoid having beads trapped inside the internal passages. Yes there are some stains left on the castings that will not come off, but that is expected when you do just a chemical cleaning.


Upper before:



After:





Lower before:





After:





The lower portion had a lot of engine oil and dirt inside its tub. Used  gasoline and paint thinner to fill the tub, let it sit while I cleaned the top and then after shaking a little it all came out. Repeated the process several times until the liquid was clean.

I have also started to clean the mixture control housing. Tomorrow I am buying some 3M abrasive pads to try and improve the look of the aluminum parts without making them look bright, let's see how it goes.

Tks,

Joe

[gf]

wow! what an improvement! that must have been messy work! Got your GAHH sample in the mail today Joe
Thanks!

[gavin116]

Hi Joe

Haven't been looking on the forum for a while. Your engine bay thread looks great. Takes a great deal of time though. Did you consider having the inlet manifolds cleaned ultrasonically? That may get rid of any of your residual staining.  It's quite amazing where all the dirt and grime comes from. Do you intend to coat the ally parts with some sort of protectorant to avoid oxidising and enable easier cleaning in the future?  It's going to look great when its all back together again especially with the plated parts.

Regards

Gavin

[oversize]

WOW do they look great!  Almost a shame to put it all back together!!!   

[jbrasile]

Hi Gavin,

I thought about taking the manifold and valve covers and have them cleaned at an engine shop, they probably do it ultrasonically the same way blocks and heads are done, however all reputable shops are on the other side of town and very busy at the moment so in the interest of time I decided to tackle the work myself. Besides, if I make the manifold look too perfect other ancillary parts are going to start looking bad and we will end up with an endless project, so I am happy with the results so far. Also, we have been having a lot of problems with labor quality at third party shops so I didn't want to risk having any of the parts damaged or lost. I am not sure what to use to protect the parts and keep them looking good longer, any type of clear coat will probably become yellow or bubble because of the heat, so I was just going to leave it all bare.

ovesize... hehehe.... it's almost tempting to leave the air cleaner off just to look at everything... it will hide most of the work

Tks,

Joe

[jbrasile]

Tried everything to clean the alternator and leave it without a shiny housing, impossible.... solution:

Take it apart and send the housing for bead blasting, actually not hard to do at all! That is the problem with all of those aluminum engine parts,once they get dirty you can never clean them without making the metal shine. I did a ton of research on the internet about this and the only way to get it to look natural is bead blasting.

Tks

Joe

[oversize]

Gosh how simple is that!!!!  I don't think I could resist running that over the polisher!!!  Then I'd have to clear coat it, followed by the rest of the engine!     What really drives me nuts is the fan blades.....

[s class]

Ive got a R107 280SL with me at the moment that has had new OEM fan blades fitted (still got the MB sticker on), and I was surprised to see that they really are not very impressive looking.  Quite yellowish and grotty looking.  It seems they may have some sort of yellowed clear coating on.