I made great progress on my engine compartment cleaning this weekend. But it came at a cost. After the third gash to my arm from sharp edged parts deep in the compartment, I decided to use the pressure washer after all. No doubt it was faster and reached places I couldn't get to. But it also blew chunks of grime and vaporized grease all over the place. Being the clean minded (shade tree) Mechanic that I am, I used the pressure washer to wash out all of the debris from the garage at least three times through the evening. i was thinking I need to get it off of my new garage floor. Well that didn't work to well. Spite my cleaning efforts, I found the floor in a nasty mess the next morning and unfortunately when I opened the garage doors, reality sat in. I had pushed all that oily, greasy grime out onto my new drive way (the house is only a year old). The sun had already done it's thing and the oils had started to seep into the concrete. I used the pressure washer on it but I found that the same little 1500 PSI pressure washer wasn't powerful enough to clean it all up. I did my best and eventually resigned myself to clean it better another day. Lesson learned! Don't pressure wash in the garage!!
None the less, I'm happy with my progress. I pressure washed all of the engine compartment as well as all of the front suspension and what I could get to of the transmission.

Today I did the refurbish on the drivers side of the engine compartment. It turned out pretty decent. Anyone have any tips on cleaning out the inside of a radiator overflow tank? It's pretty nasty in side and a new one cost way too much. I spotted one at the local salvage yard, but I was hoping I cloud clean mine.
The next task will be to tackle the engine itself.


Finally getting clean after many years of abuse and the last 4 years sitting in what I call a junk yard.

Cheers,
Cutter26

 

I thought I'd use this thread to post some updates on my Refurbish project. Here are some pics of before and after various refurbishments on the truck.
I cleaned the engine then I found the heat shield of the Intake manifold falling apart. So, I took the intake manifold out and cleaned the valley. I won't be replacing the heat shield.
I'll try to remember to post more as I go....

Rear frame refurb

RH Engine compartment

RH Engine

Alternator Refurb

Driver door repair

Gas tank Refurb

Intake Manifold Valley

LH Engine

Cheers,
Cutter26

 

Looks great. Amazing what one can do when they spend time to clean up a 17 year old truck.
To get the stains out of the garage floor and driveway, buy some oil absorbent that garages use,
not the kitty litter type.I have bags of StayDry in the garage I've used for years, but as the joy to
work on cars has decreased immensely, they've lasted a long time. I called my son who works
In a garage, but he didn't know the brand, and he'll check later.

Sprinkle the absorbent over the area and with a stiff broom, work back and forth, let sit, and you can
always use your foot and push hard and the stain(s) will be removed.
I have a garage @ 100' from the house where all the work has been done, the floor has no stains at all,
and with all the grease, oils, fluids, etc. that have been spilled, it's hard to believe.

 

I have had good success removing oil & grease from concrete by using powdered laundry soap. wet the area, sprinkle on the soap, work it over with a rough broom for a few minutes, then pressure wash the area. it's worked wonders for me!

 

Thanks, it is amazing how much a little bit of TLC and elbow grease can make an improvement. So far, I'm pretty happy with the way it's looking. Now If I can just get it to run again when I'm done. I vaguely remember using clay absorbent at one of the shops I worked at many years ago. And, yes it does work wonders on oil stains. Thanks for the reminder... I'll follow your lead once I get ready to clean up this mess. LOL
Cheers, Cutter26

Thanks for the recommendation. Once I finish up with all the dirty work, I will most likely use this technique before I apply the clay absorbent as indicated above. At the end of the day, I have to remember it's only a garage floor and it's meant to get dirty
Cheers, Cutter26

 

Curious as to what you used to clean/paint the frame.

 

A picture is worth a thousand words... I used wire brushes, bristle brush attachments with my hand drill, a scraper and a hand wire brush. Lots of shop air and hit it with the pressure washer for good measure. (I bought the pressure washer late in the game) Topped it off with Rust-Oleum Rust inhibitor and undercoating spray. I only worked on the top side and areas that were easy to get to. The underside still needs attention.


These are the cleaning tools and spray I used.

I used the drill and wire brushes to take it down to metal, removing the surface rust. Only on the top side though... I got lazy. What can I say! LOL

 

Thanks for the info, but you let the cat out of the bag as most would assume it was all done,
top and bottom, but looks great so far.

 

Maybe your username should be "corner" cutter? LOL

 

Lol...too funny! I might get back to it one day. Maybe after I get it running first.