iSP33D-for-J3SUS

What do you recommend I use to clean my engine? I want it to look "showroom clean" will soap and water do that? Windex? Armor All?

This RX-7 is my first car (I'm 17) and I want to take good care of it! I looked all over for my first car and I fell in love with this thing, I bought it for $3,000 and the guy gave me all the paperwork, he put about $16,000 into the car with new tires (well new in 2002) nice Konig rims, a new Rotary engine (Only 28,000 miles on the engine!) along with a nice stereo system (which got stolen) and a nice Racing Beat exhaust (which got jacked up because the guys wife ran it over a curb, now it hangs low and sounds like a tank all the time!) I think this car was cursed and he was trying to get rid of it, lol.

Well, here's a pic of the engine. (Sorry pic is over exposed) gah!



And here's some pics of the car, taken a few weeks ago...











Exhaust hangin' low, lol.

Any other RX-7-specific tips would be great, I need to know how to care for my baby, what are your suggestions on oil? Stuff like that. Thanks,

i-SP33D-for-J3SUS

Parastie

The cheapest can of engine degreaser you can find.

iSP33D-for-J3SUS

Any suggestions on oil?

i-SP33D-for-J3SUS

Parastie

In your area, 20W-50 anything that's not synthetic.

BlueSteel

to clean my engine i use power purple. its extremely toxic and it will chew through pretty much anything so be careful. just spray it on, rub it, wait like half a min., then spray lightly w/ water and make sure all the purple stuff is gone.

Madrx7racer

very nice car....I like the body color S4 sport wing......take good care of it and do not drive beyond your ability or you might end up losing it...*knock on wood* here is a pic so you know not to **** around.

Before:


After:


in my case I was not ******* around but you don't know how fast you can lose your car and your life.....be careful, take care of it and welcome to the club.........and WTF is up with your name?

BlueSteel

o yes good advice. i lost my first car in a horrible accident after owning for only 2 months. this car will be good to you if your good to it. : )

xtremeskier97

I lost my first 7 while it was parked on the road in front of my house. A 17 yr. old kid (lol..funny...you are 17) ran over it with his Ford Bronco and flipped his truck. Needless to say I got screwed on the whole deal. Still pisses me off to this day.

I lost my second one being stupid..and driving while drunk and tired after working all night. Thank God no one was hurt. Infact...my car ended up looking just like MadRX7Racer's...same damage. Hit headon..well...corner on..with an oncoming ford taurus on a 2 lane road. Those were my stupid days. I learned my lesson.

Just be good to it, as it looks like you are learning how to, and dont be stupid when it comes to driving it.

Oh..and I like the name...though Jesus said to obey the law...and if you are speeding...you are breaking the law, and therefore you are sinning

Madrx7racer

COVER THE ALTERNATOR!!!! i found out (the hard way) what happenes when you turn on a car with a slightly wet alternator.......needless to say it fried the alt. and it scared the **** out of me when my safc/avcr and the whole power went nuts as it lost the batt. power.

xtremeskier97

Ive never had a problem with this, though I always leave the car running when I am spraying out the engine bay, and I never spray directly on the alternator or any other electrical contacts.

unW7WZ

Love the name dewd.....LOL

RussTypeS

iTrader: (3)

simple green is pretty good at degreasing stuff, it's a little more mild and won't dry out the rubber hoses and stuff like some of the harsher cleaners can...

Jodoolin

I will assume you have about $25.00 you are willing to part with in order to save 3 - 4 hours of manual labor and a dirty/oily/ cruddy driveway.

Use the yellow pages and find auto detailers. Ask for a quote on engine cleaning. Most use a simply pressure controlled water system. You may be lucky and find someone actually using steam (very few do these days). I had my last two 7's pressure cleaned with absolutely none of the folk lore problemes because a) I made sure the ignitors were sealed with plastic as was the alternator. and b) intake should be stuffed with sumfin to prevent you from aspirating water when she starts up. They will then blow dry and hand dry what is visable.

Plan on $25 - 30 for a reasonably good job. May take them 35 - 60 minutes to do it right. Do not get the super duper job. Once they get the bulk of the crap off, you can bring it home and do the detail cleaning/polishing with Simple Green or some equivalent, polish the UIM, and Armorall the rubber/plastic. With time and patience it will astound you.

Stanello

iTrader: (1)

I'd go with that Gunk foam aerosol can stuff(orange lid). I've got the same CD player as you, and I'm 17 too

chano

dont use gunk, that $hit smells bad . i just washed my engine a month ago, i only used simple green but that didnt get all the grease out so i used a pressure washer , made the job a lot easier ( of course, i covered all the electrical things before)

eViLRotor

iTrader: (2)

-Castrol Superclean. Best **** there is!

I usually mix it with water. For tough stuff, use pure Superclean, but make sure you wipe it away pretty quick, it will eat your paint.

-Lots of scrubbing.

-Then wax your engine bay

mcnannay

wow, nice, very nice ^

and ya beat me to the castrol superclean, that **** rocks

but my engine bay still doesn't look that good

Mint87RX7

I used GUNK Foamy Engine cleaner, it works awsome. I wish i would have taken a before shot because it was nasty before i cleaned it. it comes out like foam so it sticks instead of just running off, just spray the entire engine bay. get the wheel wells and firewall and make sure to get the side off the block along with the top manifolds and such. wait 10 minutes and spray it off and watch the dirt, grease, and oil rinse off with the foam.

has anyone used stuff called engine detailer, i dont have it on there now but it is great. kinda clear coats everything so it always looks wet and shiny.

RexRyder

iTrader: (10)

1. drive car to car wash
2. wash your car (not that it looks dirty or nething, u just might need one)
3. open hood
4. disconnect battery
5. rinse engine bay
6. spray down with soap
7. use brush to clean engine bay
8. rinse engine bay
9. spray with wax if you want everything shiny
10. close hood
11. push your car out of the way somewhere
12. go eat somewhere
13. come back like 40 mins later
14. open hood
15. make sure everything is dry
16. close hood
17. drive home
18. have sex with your girl or wife
19. get something to eat
20. go back to sleep after having sex with your girl or wife.

TitosToy

does it have to be in THAT particular order?? i figured it'd be more fun to start with 18 and 19 a few times before going to #1.

Aaron Cake

iTrader: (1)

We've covered this MANY, MANY times before. A search for "engine clean" should turn up all the info.

But the basics are:

-pressure washers are evil. They force water in places it should not go
-I like Castrol Super Clean. Spray on engine, use brush on stubborn deposits, rinse with hose

xtremeskier97

Be nice and use your own brush and not the one at the car wash. How would you like to go and wash your car and have had some moron use the brush to wash his engine bay and have all kinds of grease and crap on the brush that is now getting all over your car, and more than likely scratching your paint to hell and back?

And as for pressure washers being "evil"...dont spray where you shouldnt and it will be fine. And if you wash your engine bay while your car is off, do as RexRyder said and dont start it for a while. Let it all dry out first and you will be fine.


Good luck.

**EDIT** Oh, and the waxing the engine bay...that is a good idea. I think I may hand wax mine completely when I do my project. Remove everything from the bay, scrub everything down good. Paint if necessary, and then wax it good. Will make cleaning a lot easier in the future.

RexRyder

iTrader: (10)

thats why you should clean the brush everytime it touches your car paint. and thats why you use a different car wash booth.

RexRyder

iTrader: (10)

well actually for me I just do 18 and 20, then 1, then 18 again.

The Spyder

iTrader: (8)

Before:

After:


Simple green+ rags +scrub brush for bad stuff + pressure washer.