Saturday, August 11, 2012

The Engine Bay Is Empty And Prepped!

Here is what the engine bay looked like when we returned from lunch:

Passenger side:


Drive tunnel:


Driver side:


Before we could start degreasing the engine bay we needed to cover all the holes in the firewall so water could not get through. We used Jonathan's birthday Hello KITTy duct tape. Isn't KITT pretty in pink?


All the holes are taped and we put a tarp over the windshield to protect the glass. We also stuffed a plastic bag in the hole where the wiper motor goes.


We used Marine Clean to degrease the engine bay. This is Jonathan spraying the engine bay with Marine Clean.


We sprayed Marine Clean on, let it soak, and then scrubbed everything. Then we sprayed more Marine Clean, scrubbed some more, and then rinsed with hot water.



Scrubbing with Marine Clean got most of the grease. It was not able to cut through the thickest grease around the K-Member and the lower parts. Jonathan thinks we will have to tackle this grease from underneath the car.


After rinsing all the Marine Clean off with hot water we rolled the car outside. It was starting to sprinkle so we covered the top of KITT with a tarp.


Remember we had a tarp wrapped around the car while we cleaned it. Water did leak through a bit, so after we pushed the car out of the garage we cleaned the floor up. This picture is of me using the push broom. The tarp was unsalvagable and ended up in the trash.


After the floor was cleaned we put down another tarp and rolled KITT back inside the garage. KITT is dry now. Here are some pictures after degreasing the engine bay.




The next step was the POR-Strip. Here I am applying the POR-Strip with a brush. Notice I am not wearing long sleeves. I quickly realized this was not one of the most brilliant things I have ever done and went inside to change into my long sleeve shirt that is already covered in POR-15.


The POR-Strip has started to bubble the paint in this picture. Our POR-Strip method today was to brush on POR-Strip, let it sit for 15 minutes, then brush on another coat of POR-Strip. Then we scraped as much paint as possible. Then we brushed a third coat of POR-Strip on and let it sit another 15 minutes. Then we scraped again. We rinsed it all off when we were done scraping.


I really like POR-15, but I really hate the POR-Strip process. POR-Strip is so toxic and it is so much work scraping paint off.  We discovered POR-Strip eats through plastic one of the previous times we used it. Today I lost three nitrile gloves to POR-Strip. I punctured one scrubbing POR-Strip with my steel brush, and the POR-Strip ate through the other two. Jonathan was using a plastic scraper today on the wheel well and the POR-Strip started melting the plastic scraper. It turned into red goo right before our eyes. POR-Strip works well, but it is not fun to use. My best advice with POR-Strip is to make sure you stop and rinse your skin with water when you get any on you. You know immediately because it burns your skin. The worst part is when you are scrubbing hard with a steel brush and little pieces of paint and POR-Strip fly at your face... 


Here is a picture of me rinsing the engine bay with water to neutralize the POR-Strip. Please notice I am wearing my POR-15 long sleeve shirt but no gloves. We ran out of blue nitrile gloves, thanks in part to my replacing three of them throughout the POR-Strip process.


Jonathan said I do a better job of scrubbing and scraping the paint off than he does. :) 

After I rinsed the POR-Strip off, we doused everything with a really good coat of Marine Clean.




We let the Marine Clean sit for 15 minutes and then we rinsed everything with hot water. The following pictures are of the engine bay after we have thoroughly cleaned it and it has dried a bit outside. 




Our final step this afternoon was to apply the Prep and Ready. Jonathan sprayed it on and then kept the area wet with the Prep and Ready solution for 30 minutes. It rained this afternoon, and we used the rain to our advantage. After the 30 minutes were up we pushed the car outside and let the rain beat away the Prep and Ready. Jonathan rinsed it also, to make sure we got it all off.

These three pictures are of the engine bay when we were done with everything this evening. This first picture is not that great because the flash did not go off. We finished about 6:30PM.




We made a quick trip to Wal-Mart after we showered to pick up more blue nitrile gloves and another steel brush (I threw mine away - it was absolutely covered in grime and the bristles were all bent from my rigorous scrubbing). We are ready for tomorrow!

No comments:

Post a Comment