Christmas 2011 Part 2

I went back to my friend Gerry asking what I could do to the car while I was back. He suggested that I really clean out the engine compartment and repaint the engine compartment semi-gloss black. I was very interested in this idea and I asked him everything that I need to buy and know. After I did my shopping, we met at a local quarter car wash place to steam clean the engine.

Needless to say, it was incredibly dirty! Gerry introduced me to the best cleaner for automobile purposes, Simple Green. This stuff cleaned the area extremely well and it even revealed a hidden secret about my car. I discovered a handwritten note from the factory that was on the top of the inner fender. It says: 24 and beneath that 3-14. I think it means that car rolled of the assembly line on March 14 and may have been car 24 for that day. After the steam cleaning, the engine compartment looked ten times better! But I wasn't done yet.

The next day...
Accompanied with my friend, Stevie Schiesser (John's brother), we were going to finish this project. Armed with our own pressure washer, we continued to clean the car. Gerry told me the day before that to do the best job, I needed to spray the engine from the ground up. We put the car on the wheel ramps to get the best angle.

The first step was to get Simple Green all over the greasy parts and then hit it with the pressure washer.

 One more thing! We took out the radiator and fan blade so we could have more room to work. We also had to cover all openings and electrical components before really using the pressure washer.

Now it's finally time to get washing!

Stevie was not messing around that day. He was the jumpsuit and safety glasses to get it done. He did a very good job, bravo Stevie. And we made quite a mess but don't worry we cleaned it all up. After some scrubbing with a toilet brush (new toilet brush), even more grease came off. Now we wait for the car to dry before we can apply paint. Time for lunch!

I don't have too much experience with spray paint, with the exception of Eagle Scout projects (as long as you can't see the bare surface you're good). I called in reinforcements... Dad. We taped off the paint on the body and put all around the fenders and grill area.

He showed us a more efficient technique. First we primed the compartment and much to my delight I begin spotting stamps in the inner fenders and reinforcement bars. We let the primer sit for a while at which point dad gave us some other work to do. Then we finally got to spray painting and it was fun.

When it was finished the semi-gloss looked really good. We decided to leave the car overnight to make sure the paint dried and stuck.

The next day...
It looks like all the other engine compartments I've seen on other Mustangs. There was a few missed patches so we quickly resprayed those areas. It looked complete and correct.