Preparing for engine drop/exchange, Step 1 - Steam Cleaning Options

[Carlitos Way]

Well, I've decided to start preparing to drop my engine. First order of business, steam cleaning the underside. I borrowd a friend's little portale steam cleaner. It has about 130 lbs of pressure. Sometimes that's just not enough to break up the grime.

Trying out a few different types of degreasers to "uncover" the engine and tranny under the grime. Removed the left rear wheel and decided to give it a brief cleaning. I discovered I have "real" fuchs... VW stamped and 914 part number on them. I thought they were aftermarket wheels, but I guess that's what you find while you decide to do extra stuff.

Some of the grime was really caked on. Pressure washer wasn't enough. Brushed some of the grime with a generic grease remover that worked fairly well. Gunk didn't really do much. I "discovered" the orange side of my undercarriage (it was re-painted red). There are some places where the PO apparently sprayed some undercoating but the mounts look nice and solid as do the suspension mounting points.

I also confirmed that my heat shield appears to be missing... so once I get the engine in, I will probably take it to the muffler shop to have them put on another heat shield.

Tomorrow I hope to get the other side of the car. I need to get a longer hose. I ended up short about 15 feet. I might also try to get some stuff cleaned up on the top of the engine. However it seems fairly clean... might be just a brief spray. I might even do some pictures... before and after cleaning.

It's nice to look under the car and recognize some of the parts everyone has been talking about. To see the actual engine mounts, tranny mounts, and to compare my car to others out there. After the seam cleaning, I've finally been able to see the "dreaded" CV bolts. Guess I'll also go shopping for the tools to remove them tomorrow.

I guess while I'm at it... I will probably keep a running total of the expenses for the engine swap. I'm curious how much it's going to set me back. Pictures tomorrow (if I remember to take them).

[DBCooper]

QUOTE (Carlitos Way @ Sep 17 2005, 07:43 PM)

I guess while I'm at it... I will probably keep a running total of the expenses for the engine swap.  I'm curious how much it's going to set me back.

Think about that, do you REALLY want to know what this is going to end up costing? When I was teaching my kids one of the things I was emphatic about was the need to destroy all recepts as soon as possible. Receipts are evil. First they're evidence, and they WILL be used against you. Second it's just too depressing to see that number once you add it all up. Third, you're NOT doing this for any reason related to logic or economics anyway, it's for pleasures of different kinds. And knowing how much you're PAYING for it really diminishes the amount of pleasure you end up getting. And lastly it will make the selling price, when you finally decide to move on, either totally unrealistic or thoroughly depressing.

[John2kx]

I went through the same thing when trying to remove 30+ years of grime on my cars' undercarriage. Pressure washing and chemicals would only remove so much. The final cure was a wire wheel. Though this might be a bit harsh and produce less than sat results when fresh paint was applied, but I ended up really pleased.

I used this method for the entire engine bay, front/rear trunks and all fender wells. Works to remove seam sealer as well. You'll need a couple of smaller wire brushes (as compared to attach pic) to get in tight spots.

For the engine bay, I recommend waiting until drivetrain is removed to allow more room to work with.

John

[rhodyguy]

you're going to be very happy that you cleaned things up before dropping the engine. save all the receipts, including the ones from running to the hardware store for new fasteners and what not. when you're done, total it up, build a little fire, and distroy the evidence.

k

[Air_Cooled_Nut]

QUOTE (John2kx @ Sep 18 2005, 05:16 AM)

... For the engine bay, I recommend waiting until drivetrain is removed to allow more room to work with. John

Damn, John, you should've clear coated the bare metal and called it done (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/beer.gif)

[Carlitos Way]

I'm not really trying to be too anal about the whole thing... I just want it to look "better" than it does... and I don't want to end up in 4 coats of grease when i pull the engine. 1 coat is enough in my book. I still managed to look like quite the grease monkey when i was done today. I think I got A LOT of it off... There's still stuff in there... but I don't want to spend 2 days cleaning the tranny... I'm not putting this engine back in, so I'm not too concerned about it. I'll wait until I decide to rebuild it and then be on my way.

Thank god for friends... my friend Eric let me use his pressure washer. That helped keep costs down. Still, I'm down about $70 or so... Had to buy a couple of hoses too, since the one we had here was rotten beyond hope. I'll probably never use that hose again... but at least for now, i'm feeling better about the engine drop. It's nice to see the underside of the car somewhat clean.

Done for the day. Gonna go play softball tonight. Our sucky team is 0-2... last game we lost by 23 runs. I think i'll just have another beer after the game. (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/drunk.gif) (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/drunk.gif) (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/drunk.gif) (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/drunk.gif)