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| Maybe you just want to spruce up your engine compartment or you would
like to do better at some local car shows and your engine compartment
is holding you back. There are no secret formulas to detailing your
engine compartment. All it takes is some time, patience, good hand
tools and quality products. The objective of this article is to show
you how you can do an excellent engine detail right at home without any
special equipment. All of the disassembly and reassembly was done using
regular hand tools. No air tools were used. All of the painting was
done using aerosol cans. No special spray equipment was used or needed.
As you follow the article you can see the excellent results that can be
accomplished by doing it this way. The article is directed toward the
average owner with normal mechanical ability and an average set of
automotive hand tools, who is doing this detail for himself or to
compete in local shows. This is not geared towards the person who wants
to compete in National NCRS or Bloomington type shows. Although some of
the procedures are the same.
With any project such as this, you need quality products so we contacted a couple companies to lend their assistance. Zip Products, Inc.,
8067 Fast Lane, Mechanicsville, VA 23111, (800) 962-9632, supplied all
of the detailing items such as: spark plug wire sets, wiring harnesses,
dust shields, heater hoses, some paint, and air cleaner assembly, to
name just a few. The Eastwood Company, 580 Lancaster Avenue, Box 296,
Malvern, PA 19355, Phone 800-345-1178, call for catalog, supplied more
painting products, such as the their Golden Cad System.
With
any project there are some helpful hints that you should keep in mind.
Make sure you have a shop manual for your year Corvette. This will help
in the disassembly and reassembly process. Use a camera to take
pictures before you start. Shoot your pictures from different angles
with the air cleaner on and off. Take pictures of the routing of
wiring, hoses and bracket positions, etc. The more pictures you have,
the better. You would be surprised how fast you forget where things
were situated when you start reassembly. Remember, film is cheap. The
more pictures, the better. Make diagrams you understand. Do not get
technical. Just make sure you understand what you wrote. The more items
you remove, the better the final job will be. You can do a good job
without removing all of the items listed in this article, but you will
have to do a good job of covering up and taping off items to get
similar results. Take your time. Be patient. This cannot be
accomplished in one weekend. Two is more like it. Three to four if it
is your first time. Since most people do not have a beadblast cabinet,
you will have to sublet this process out. Most local machine shops can
do this for you. Sandblasting is the same. This also can be found
locally if you do not have a sandblaster. Check all of the items you
remove. We found that our master cylinder was starting to go bad when
we disassembled the power brake booster. It is better to replace these
items now than when you are completed. Remember to take your time. I
cannot stress this enough. The results you achieve depend on this.
Follow along as we detail the engine compartment in our project 64
Corvette. Just remember, with a little time, patience, hand tools and
quality products, you can have the same results. Good Luck! |
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01: Start by taking pictures of your engine
compartment. A video camera is also good for this first step. This will
help you to remember how things were routed and placed. |
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02: Notice how we have taped thin plastic covering to
the fenders, windshield and front end to protect them from the engine
degreaser. After you have finished cleaning the engine, you will leave
the plastic in place to protect against paint overspray. Also, spray
something like CRC556 or WD40 into the distributor cap and electrical
connections to keep out moisture and cover the carb with a plastic bag. |
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03: Use an engine wash first. Sometimes you will have
to do this more than once. You want to remove as much of the dirt and
grime as you can. After you have completed this step, use the heavy
duty aerosol cleaner to remove any stubborn grease. You should start
and run the engine after all the above is completed. |
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04: After you have parked the car where the work is going to be done, disconnect and remove the battery.
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05: Take an awl and scribe a mark around the hood
hinge mounting plates. This will allow you to re-fit the hood in the
same place. Removing the hood just makes working on the engine
compartment that much easier. |
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06: Start by removing the belts. Notice the tag on
the belt. We put this here to show us which belt came off first and in
which groove of the pulley it sat. Put a tag on each belt. After you
have removed the belts, remove the alternator, alternator brackets,
fan, fan pulley, crankshaft pulley and all hoses. This car also had air
conditioning, but we did not remove or evacuate the system since it was
working perfectly. We removed all the brackets and set the compressor
and lines to the side. |
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07: Now you have cleared the front of the engine. You
can now remove the distributor. Remove the distributor cap and wires
and notice where the rotor is pointing. Put a piece of tape on the
point plate and draw a mark directly in line with the rotor. Then make
a diagram of a clock and mark where the vacuum advance is sitting. Here
it is at 7:00. By doing this you can then re-install the distributor in
the same place and you will only need to adjust it slightly when you
are done. Remember, do not move the car in gear or turn the crankshaft
pulley after you have removed the distributor and marked it. If you do,
the distributor drive will move and you will not be able to put the
distributor back in its original place to start with. Now is also a
good time to check and replace any worn points, condenser, rotor or cap. |
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08: Remove all of the attachments on the intake
manifold, such as vacuum lines, thermostat housing, etc. and remove the
intake. Also remove the fuel pump and lines (put a cap over the frame
fuel line end), starter, clutch cross shaft (if so equipped), master
cylinder, brake booster (if so equipped) and exhaust manifolds. |
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09: I suggest removing as much of the engine
compartment wiring in one piece as you can. This will help in the
reassembly. If you are afraid you will not remember where a connection
goes, take a picture or put a tag on the connection explaining where it
goes. You may want to do both. You should also remove the wiper motor. |
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10: Here are all of the nuts, bolts, screws, springs, etc. labeled, bagged and boxed. This makes cleaning and reassembly a snap. |
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11: Tape off the valve train, motor mounts and
accelerator bellcrank. Plug all of the holes in the block and start to
paint the block. Keep about 6 to 10 inches away and use light
overlapping strokes. Do not worry about overspray onto the firewall and
inner fenders. It will be very light and you will be using a scuff pad
on them before you start. Remember, if you want to do a thorough job,
you will want to spray the oil pan and bottom of the block. |
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12: After you have sandblasted your exhaust manifolds,
clean the sand out thoroughly. Now hang them and use a brush with
lacquer thinner to clean them. After you have cleaned them with lacquer
thinner 2 or 3 times, do not touch them. Oils from your skin can cause
the stainless steel paint not to adhere properly. Use a ½” or 1”
bristle brush and paint the Eastwood Stainless Steel paint onto the
surface. Two medium wet coats is sufficient. You can spray this paint
on by opening up the material valve in a spray gun and spray at 50 to
60 lbs. But we did not want to use any air equipment in this article so
we brushed it on. |
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13: Any item that is steel and has been sandblasted
should be primed before painting. Here we are doing the fan, but this
would also be done to steel painted valve covers. |
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14: We beadblasted the aluminum intake and valve
covers. We also did all of the nuts, bolts, springs, small brackets and
brake booster. |
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15: A scuff pad (3M #7448) and Detail Gray will make the alternator look new. |
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16: Aluma Blast will give the bolts a cadmium look.
Notice how we used a box with holes punched in it to make the bolts
easier to paint. |
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17: After the engine is painted and dry, take paper
and totally cover it up. We also moved the A/C compressor onto the top
of the motor and covered it up. Notice how the firewall harness
electrical plug and firewall hose are covered. Now take a scuff pad and
scuff all of the inner fenders and firewall. After this is done, use
the underhood black to refinish the engine compartment. Use light
overlapping strokes from a distance of 8 to 12 inches. This will give
it a nice uniform look when dry. After each coat dries, look for light
spots and then touch them up before you continue. Do not forget the
underside of the hood. It is a good idea to paper and tape the top side
completely. This eliminates any chance of overspray. |
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18: For a little added detail we papered off the steering box and sprayed it with Spray Gray. |
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19: After everything is thoroughly dry, start to
reassemble. We started by installing our new inner fender splash
guards. We wanted it to look original so we installed staples. Line up
the splash guards on the inner fender. Use a staple to mark the rubber
and take a 3/32 drill bit and drill two holes to line up each staple.
Use common 3/8” staples. Push the legs through the holes you drilled,
bend over the legs and there you have it. Splash guards installed with
staples. |
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20: Now re-install your engine
compartment wiring harnesses. Zip Products supplied us with a new
wiring harness since ours had been badly spliced. But if yours are in
good shape, you can freshen them up by first applying paint stripper to
the entire harness. This will remove any paint or grease and will not
harm the wiring. Then thoroughly wash the harness and let it dry. Clean
all of the contacts. Re-tape as necessary and you are ready to install. |
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21: Now uncover the motor but keep the valve train
covered. Re-install the starter, fuel pump (use new rubber fuel hoses),
exhaust manifolds, clutch cross shaft, battery, wiper motor, brake
booster (if so equipped), and any other item that mounts to the
firewall or lower portion of the motor. Do not install any pulleys. Put
the intake manifold gaskets in place as per installation instructions
and install the intake manifold and torque to specs. Before you
installed the intake, you did clean out any remaining glass bead,
didn’t you? Install all of the items that attach to the intake, such as
vacuum fittings, fuel filters, thermostat housing, heater hose
fittings, etc. Do not install the carb yet. Now take out your
distributor diagram. Put a new gasket on the distributor and line up
the rotor to your mark. Install it as per your diagram. |
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22: After your distributor is installed, finish the
motor by installing all of your front pulleys, brackets, alternator,
fan, belts, hoses, carburetor, coil, fuel lines and vacuum lines. |
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23: Install and bleed your master cylinder. It is also a good idea to bleed your entire brake system. |
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24: After everything is installed, time the engine to specs. Set the dwell and check for any leaks. |
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25: I always use K&N Filters on all of the
Corvettes I drive, like this one. The reason is that this is the last
air cleaner element you will every buy. When it gets dirty, you just
use the recharger kit to clean and re-oil it. Then you are set to go
again. K&N Air Cleaners are re-usable. |
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Golden Cad Paint System |
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A: Before we started we cleaned and beadblasted the
entire brake booster. Make sure you thoroughly cover all of the vacuum
ports and holes. It was then sprayed with a good primer. Now cover the
entire booster with the #1 Base Coat and let it dry thoroughly. |
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B: Spray the entire booster with a light mist coat of
#2 Gold Tint. Vary the spray making some areas darker than others.
While it is still wet, go to #3 Orange Tint. Spray some areas with the
Orange Tint. Do not cover the entire unit. Just add some highlights. Do
not spray over the heavy gold tinted areas. |
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C: Now go to #4 Green Tint while the unit is still
wet. What you want is a few greenish/yellow highlights. Do not cover
the entire unit. Also avoid spraying the green over the Orange Tint.
While it still is wet, spray a very light mist of the Base Coat #1 over
any area that you want to soften the tinting down. Allow the work to
dry completely before you touch it. |
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Sandblasting vs. Beadblasting |
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There is a big difference between sandblasting and beadblasting.
Sandblasting uses sand with air pressure to remove rust, paint and
scale. Sandblasting should be done on cast iron or steel items, such
as, exhaust or intake manifolds. Under no circumstances should you
sandblast aluminum. Sandblasting leaves a course finish and in some
cases, the item blasted, such as steel valve covers, will have to be
primed and sanded before painting. Sandblast sand can usually be
purchased locally, normally at places where cement or brick products
are sold. Sandblasting sand is usually referred to as silica sand and a
30-65 or fine gauge should normally be used.
Beadblasting uses a
fine abrasive bead and air pressure, just as the name implies. The most
common type of beadblast abrasive is glass beads. This is actually a
very fine grade of ground glass. Glass beads will give a factory finish
to aluminum, such as intakes and valve covers. It can be used on most
soft metals. You do not want to beadblast cast iron parts with glass
beads. The reason being, it will take much longer to remove paint and
scale and it will make the finish too smooth for paint to adhere
properly, especially on exhaust manifolds. There are also other types
of beadblast abrasives, such as walnut shells, silicon carbide,
aluminum oxide, steel grit and plastic media to name a few. The best
source to have items glass beaded is your local machine shop. |
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ENGINE DETAILING:
63-67 ENGINE COMPARTMENT DETAILING FOR THE AVERAGE CORVETTE OWNER
By: Greg Donahue
Photos by: Author
SOURCE:
Zip Products, Inc.
8067 Fast Lane
Mechanicsville, VA 23111
(800) 962-9632
PARTS LIST:
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