1989 Ford Mustang Engine Detail

So my good buddy asked me to detail his engine and I said I'd do it for him without first seeing it. Boy what a mess it was. He said he wanted to be shined up and as clean as possible. I simply told him I'd try my best once he brought it over for me to see.

Some before notes:

• The thing had never been cleaned or if it had it had to be a solid 10 years who knows. It was crazy dirty
• he was stored in the driveway
• a daily driver
• ran through car washes quickly

Being a 1989 I first thought I'd have to cover things. But then opted not to. The only thing I was careful with was the distributor which was covered already. I took out the battery completely to make it easier and so that I could clean the housing unit.


Products Used:

Hyper Wash Car Wash soap with two bucket
Megs Body Brush
Gunk Engine Degreaser
Megs All Purpose Cleaner 10:1 and 4:1
Megs Safe D-Greaser, 10:1 and 4:1
Foam Applicator for Black Wow
Supreme Shine Microfibre
Hyper Dressing 4:1 x 2
Lots of elbow Grease

Start Time: 11:00 am
End Time: 2:30 pm

Process:


I started by first giving this engine a good rinse and letting some of the water do the work. Quickly noticed water was doing nothing to it. The grime and dirt had been built up so bad it was going to take some work.

Look how bad this engine looks. Disgusting.





And so I began.









The battery housing unit. I've never seen one this bad.



You can't even see the original colours of the hoses you has.



I first started washing with Hyper Wash and my tire/wheel mit and gently rinsed off some dirty and grease. When I noticed I would need more, then I pulled out my other products.

I sprayed Gunk on the entire engine and let it sit for a solid 10-15 minutes. In the mean time I sprayed Megs Safe D-Greaser on certain parts, and Megs APC 10:1 and 4:1 on certain parts to help in the cleaning process. After the time passed, I sprayed down the entire engine and it was finally starting to work.

But still it was not up to par.

So I took out another can of Gunk, sprayed the entire engine again and let it sit for another 15-20 minutes. This seemed to help and boy was my driveway getting dirty from this.

From here I continued on with Megs APC 4:1 and just kept going at it, until I was happy with the results.

I would spray, let it sit, agitate it, rinse, dry and then repeat.

After I got what I wanted, I topped the entire engine off with Hyper Dressing 4:1 x 2 coats and some of the black plastic was topped with Black Wow to give it a nice deep rich shine.

AFTER BUFF N STUFF!!!

You can start to see the hose colour. He was very happy with that as he paid big bucks for them.





Remember how disgusting that side was?





Battery back in after that wreck!



Full engine shot!






My buddy was extremely happy and didn't think it would turn out like it did.

Although he knows the engine needs some work to fix some rust and older parts, he was extremely pleased and happy as to how it was restored and shining nicely. Exactly what he wanted and more.


The End,

Thanks for looking,

Calogero

 

great job!

 

Great turn around on the engine - that poor thing sure did need some attention!

 

what a difference....good job:thumb:

 

WOW impressive! Great job!

 

JEEZE that engine looked impossible. Awesome work

 

WOW! What a turnaround!!! A little too much shine of course (for me, at least), but it's pretty impressive!

 

Yes it does shine a little to much, but I had just applied my final dressing right before taking the picture and haven't given it time to dry or do a quick wipe down.

Thanks guys/gals for the comments!!!!!!!

 

great turn around!

 

Great turnaround! That engine was in need of a good detailing and you did it. Great write up very informative.

 

Good job... I hate cleaning engines that old and that dirty. I have to wonder if dirt is the only thing holding things together.

 

hahaha...

Sure isn't anymore.

 

wow that was an amazing turn around. great write-up + pics. can't imagine how long it took you.

 

That is a nice turn around

 

wow.. i got scared and almost didnt want to see the rest of the engine.. GOOD JOB MY FRIEND!!!

 

Very nice turn around, I agree the before pictues were something else...great turn around though :thumb:

 

subscribed!!

Excellent thread! I normally use my pressure washer, cover up things, and spray down with degreaser (sits for 15 minutes) and aggitate heavily with terry cloth rag, and brushes!

You actually went the whole 9 nine yards on this one, and I'm saving this thread for sure! Excellent job!