John S's Journal

I’ve been finding excuses to start in on this job because I knew if was going to be a pig of a job. Not so much the engine bay as it isn’t horrible but the tunnel and fixed crossmember areas are coated from a rear main leak. Not a lot of history on the car as the gentleman that owned the car had taken it off the road in 1986 and was in bad health so I didn’t get a chance to pick his brain but it was put away with a disintegrated release bearing and a bad leak at the rear oil seal. Maybe the oil leak contributed to the clutch issues? Regardless, the failed clutch was obviously the reason the car was parked and left for so long but the oil leak had been going on for awhile so now it’s time to clean it up as best I can.

Started in with a putty knife to scrape away as much of the gunk as possible and also a wire brush in hopes that I can spray it down with some product to soften the grease and then hit it with a pressure washer.
I might try some Dawn dish soap as that seems to cut the grease off my hands and won’t harm the paint in the engine bay. Tedious job so lots of water breaks and forums perusing.

I’m still debating how deep of a dive that I do in the engine bay. With the engine and gearbox out, it’s prime time for doing this stuff but this project is taking longer than I’d hoped due to unforeseen issues. I’ve got the spray cans of paint to do the whole engine bay but where do you stop? Do I yard out the heater while I have the access as opposed to masking things off and spraying the heater box in situ? Looking around the engine bay and trying to decide whether to remove all of the bits and bobs to have an easy go of masking and painting is something I’ve wrestled with since the engine and gearbox removal for the clutchectomy. It’s a slippery slope as one thing leads to another. Water break is over for now. Back at it again…