detailing engine compartment - where should I start?

[RichMason]

I removed my engine last night and, while it is out, I want to improve the look and functionality of my engine compartment. However, I am a little leary of disconnecting and removing everything all at once. I need to remove the remains of the sound pad and all of the adhesive, degrease the thing and I want to paint it, maybe in Bahama Yellow to match the exterior. I guess my specific questions are as follows - should I strip out the textured coating (does it serve a purpose)?, what should I use to clean off the adhesive and grease that won't damage wiring or other parts? Can I use basic spray paint (color matched) from a can to paint this area or does it need to be more involved for longevity and appearance (base coats, sanding, clear coats, etc)? Finally, what are some basic things I can to that will really dress it up - such as new fasteners/cad plating, removing the electrical tape from the harness, painting different pieces and parts, etc.

Thanks for any and all tips.

[targa80]

If you are only wanting to clean up the engine compartment for appearance sake then DON'T try to remove the wurth body shultz (textured undercoating). The body shultz will only come off with a wire wheel on a die grinder or heat gun and paint razor blade scraper. Unless you have an issue with rust lifting the body shulz away from the metal you should not try to remove it. Granted this advice is coming from someone who is in the process of removing all of the undercoating and paint from the entire car(complete restoration). The restoration is time consuming and tedious work. You can use orange clean or evergreen to remove the grease/oil/dirt from the body shultz with out hurting it. You can paint over it with what ever color you prefer. If you do have rust areas where the texture has lifted just scrape it away and remove the rust, then metal prep it and recoat with the body shultz. Now if you are into self abuse and have a desire to tear things apart just to see if you can put it all back together. Then you need a rotisserie and a lot of spare time on your hands. An extra vehicle would be handy since the Porsche is not going anywhere soon.

[Formerly Steve Wilkinson]

Schutz. Schultz was the guy at Stalag 17.

Stephan

[deltajetfixer]

It was Stalag 13.

GEEK CHECK!!!

[targa80]

Schultz , Smultz, it is that rubber crap that is Sooooo hard to remove.

[Scott Clarke]

Rich-
Keep in mind that black is the correct color for your engine compartment. They were painted black until '73, when they were painted the same color as the exterior. I have my compartment stripped down to bare metal at the moment, and it is a lot of work. My finishes will be POR 15 followed by undercoating, and finished with paint, probably POR chassis black.

In coupes, the shelf above the sound bad is a prime place for rust. This was the case with my car, even though there isn't much anywhere else. An advantage of removing the undercoating is that you can then rest assured that nothing is/will be rusty.
-Scott

[targa80]

If the rear seat shelf is rusty underneath then you can bet your bottom dollar that it is getting it's moisture from the top side like from a leaky rear window seal. Pull the back seat cover and check for rust on the top shelf.

[BGCarrera32]

Here's mine, maybe good for ideas...

Finally getting somewhere...part 2 (project photos)

[PDACPA]

BG - Are you painting the suspension and other parts or just putting a ton of elbow grease into cleanign them?

[BGCarrera32]

Both actually. Painted the front A-arms, bead blasted rear trailing arms. Replated radius arms and all fasteners/brackets/clamps.

Here's a shot of the complete car from last weekends get together. Red Carrera in last photo.
Minnesota Pelican coffee get together 6/29

[PDACPA]

What kind of paint? just high gloss spray paint?

[BGCarrera32]

For the a-arms, I just sanded, primed and sprayed with Krylon. Pretty cheesy I know but I only had small amounts of surface rust, so those got sanded off and rust stopper dabbed on. For the engine compartment, I had laquer semi-color matched and put into a spray can. Went through 4 cans I think. If I had to do it again, I would have used a urethane in a detail gun. But, not everyone has access to that equipment, and I didn't at the time but it turned out o.k.. I just wouldn't expect the laquer to last...old tech and not very scratch/chemical/grime resistant. If you do your engine sheet metal, I would definetly powder coat that just due to the heat back there. Mine still stinks a little from solvent burning out of the paint. The exterior I did not paint, just color sanded and machine buffed in various steps.

-BG

[kstylianos]

Rich,

When my engine came out, I rolled the car out into the driveway and used about a gallon of Castrol Super Clean and a pressure washer to clean the engine compartment. The Super Clean stuff is amazing. Buy the Super Clean by the gallon and use spray bottle to apply. A generic home 1300 PSI unit is perfect (~$80 from the Home Depot).

I started by ripping out the sound pad, and if you don't want to replace it, the adhesive came off fairly easily with some 3M adhesive remover. Just spray, let it sit, and hit it with the pressure washer. Then continue with the rest of the compartment, spraying with the Super Clean, let it sit, pressure wash. You can move/remove some components as you wish but the pressure washer is pretty good at cleaning in and around stuff.

I have an 82 SC and the engine compartment is painted the same color as the exterior. I went to the local paint supplier and had them mix a quart of Rosewood. I applied it with a brush using a 'dab-dab-dab' technique. This gets the paint into the small crevices of the textured undercoating and leaves a much better finish than a 'stroke' pattern. Use a broad brush for big sections and a smaller for tight spaces.

Wish I had some pics here at work to post...If I remember later I'll post...but the outcome looks very similar to BGCarrera's.

[dd74]

Originally posted by Formerly Steve Wilkinson
Schutz. Schultz was the guy at Stalag 17.

Stephan

I thought Schultz was in "Hogan's Heroes."

Didn't Dirk Diggler play Hogan?

[PDACPA]

I won't be messing in the engine compartment, but when doing the brakes, I am planning on cleaning up the wheel wells and thought that some of the parts in there could use some paint assistance to look cleaner.

Thanks for the tips.

[Ove]

It's called body schutz ("body protection"), or Wurth SKS.

But take targa80's advise and leave it in place unless there is rust under it. There is a lot of work involved to remove it and get down to the bare metal.

http://www.dgi.net/914/maintenance/Undercoating.html

http://www.wurth.com.au/a030010.asp

[Randy Webb]

OK, here's my related question:

After I clean the engine compartment with whatever, do I need to prep the surface with anything before I paint it light blue??

[kstylianos]

Randy,

I did not prep, but made sure the surface was squeaky clean after the degreasing. After the degreasing, some soap and H20 to get the remaining degreaser out.

You can tell when paint will refuse to stick...its starts 'walking' away from the soiled area. None in this case...

Here are some recent pics. Sorry for the shaky hand.