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Washed the engine again with Castrol Super-Clean - which worked a bit better than either Engine-Bright or Simple Green. Lots of brush action also, plus some work with a Scotch Bright wheel on a drill. Looks pretty good now....and for my purpose of getting things clean so no dirt can fall into the engine when I take off the cam and head - I think I'm just about there.
I also had an idea...that I should have used WD-40 on the engine first...to emulsify the grease and dirt - then use a degreaser to clean. I have a sense that degreasers alone may actually "fix" certain kinds of dirt to the aluminum. Not completely sure about this...but when I tried WD-40 followed by Super Clean on the cross member, it looks great. Then again, the cross member does not heat up like an engine, so this might not have been that great a test of this theory. Has anyone else tried this?
Finally, I'm starting to like the idea of having my engine looking good and functionally clean...but not go overboard with paints, polishes, etc. In truth, I think this engine looks great just as is, without the grime and dirt.
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