Nothing is wrong with my 1954 original engine , but it is dirty and of need for fresh paint. I figure the best way to clean it up and get a decent looking paint job is to pull it. What am I getting myself into and what steps do you take to pull engine?
Now just hold on there babalooie. You most certainly do not have to pull the engine to get a good paint job on it. My kids and I dropped in the dirty, dusty 235 into the truck and painted it afterwards and it came out just great. Here's what you do. Put down a big, cheap plastic drop cloth and roll your truck onto it so it is under the engine bay. Make sure it is big enough to span the entire width of the vehicle and then some as it will be catching all the crud that comes off your engine. Drape more plastic drop cloths over the inner fenders to keep any flying gook off of them as well. Get a bunch a foo-foo cans of degreaser and starting fluid that has ether in it. Take everything off the engine that you don't want painted like generator, plug wires (leave the plugs in), etc. Spray it down real good and let the stuff soak in a while (better if the engine is hot, but not neccessary). Have at it with scrapers and small stiff stainless steel brush to get the gook off. When you THINK you're done, spray it all down with the starting fluid (careful-VERY flammable and MUST be well ventilated else it'll get you stoned, unconscious or dead). It will evaporate all the degreaser off and show you the greasy, oily spots that you missed cleaning. Do it all over again on the spots you missed and hit it with the ether again. Sparkly clean and ready for paint. Move truck off the drop cloth on the floor and carefully fold it up containing all of the detritus that came off the engine and discard. Time consuming and a real hassle but certainly better than pulling the engine just to paint it. You risk opening up a VERY large can of worms by doing that. Really hard to get those worms back in the can once they get out. Alternately, you can try Nate's method and find a do-it-yourself car wash like a "bubble brush" place. Get your degreaser foo-foo cans and take a nice long drive to the car wash. Park it and wait an hour for the engine to cool down a bit. Whilst waiting, spray it all down nice and good with the degreaser. After an hour roll it into the car wash and go at it with the bubble hose (I'd put a plastic bag over the distributor). Hose it all down, let it dry off and drive away if it'll start from all that water on the wires. I like the first method myself as if you get stuck at least you're home with it and it doesn't involve spraying the engine compartment with water. Andy
Oven cleaner works well also. Scrape the engine with a putty knife when the engine block is still warm, it comes off easier also....it was hot when it got there, it softens up when it is hot again. I clean off with carb cleaner from the dollar general...a little cheaper than the auto parts guys.
WAY TO GO, ANDY! And THANKS! Now, what do we do about getting weather warm enough to paint? This has been one friggin' winter!!!!
