By that, I mean - is it clean enough that you can read MOWOG on the parts that say MOWOG, that you can read 1800 on your engine block (assuming that's the engine you have), that you can change the spark plugs without getting piles-o-gunk under your fingernails???
I'm asking because whoever owned the GT before it was rescued from the impound lot should be strung up and allowed to die a slow, painful, crudded-up death.
Oh.My.Gawd. That engine and engine bay were the NASTIEST I have EVER seen. EVER. I spent six hours with Awesome cleaner & scrub brushes, cleaning up the peripherals & some internal parts; alcohol and another degreaser for other parts, and helping (before the cleaning) to remove the engine from the car. I wore out two wire brushes, went through a gallon of cleaner, half a gallon of alcohol...
If your engine bay isn't clean (I don't mean show-quality spotless, I mean FUNCTIONALLY clean), GO CLEAN IT NOW. You don't want ANYONE to come along behind you and call you everything I called the GT's DPO. (His name is now "Mr. Disgusting T. Gunkmeister," and I can only imagine how his house looked if he let the car get to that point.)
Seriously. You'll be doing yourself (and whoever takes over your car when you're done with it - however that may be) a huge favor. You'll at least be able to do your maintenance without having to bathe in gasoline afterwards.
urg
/rant
MGB: Is your engine/engine bay clean?
Dang.
I thought Dan had returned there for a minute.
;)
All kidding aside, clean engine bays, etc, are a LOT niser to work on.
Got any pics, Steph?
Even my everday vehicles get a car wash spray down then and again. It's amazing to me when I work on late model cars how even though they look well maintained on the outside, when you open the hood it's like OMG!!
Maybe he was sick that day. or he didn't have time to clean it.
I know that it's hard to believe, and believe me, I've had a had time understanding this myself. . . . . . . .
Some people just use their cars to go places! They just drive them! That's it! If they could get away with not having to put gas in them - THEY WOULD!
There has to be a good analogy here somewhere.
Oh yeah. We have pics.
Hope you're not eating when you see them.
Photos of the gunk, this is the engine bay during cleaning.
A couple of the engine
Two more of the engine, at least it is now all clean for going back together.
Think you had an oil leak.
dhartlein Wrote:
Think you had an oil leak.
"
For about 20 years looking at the state of everything!
dhartlein Wrote:
Think you had an oil leak.
"
I see nothing wrong with those pictures!
It's just one guy's way of preventing rust. lol
i sometimes wonder why i clean off oil and grease and then apply rustproofing...could just leave it like your pics....NOT.
Awe Saf, that looks just like mine, except yours is probably cleaner than mine still since I haven't got in to clean the heater shelf yet. Mine had 30 years of dirt and grime on it and an oil leak :D. The crossmember looked just like that, NASTY!
...........a yellow engine?....leave it greasy..
That looks really familiar - just like mine - must have been the automatic chassis lube option. Bet your tranny crossmember is full of gunk too.
No, not yellow. Gold.
It's a gold seal engine.
gold seals? well that explains all the oil!
Yep, looked just like the engine/bay when I got my MGB; all 5 of them!
Eeew . . . I imagine the hood was never opened by the owner. What must it have been like for his mechanic to work on that thing? I always wash off our car engines so the mechanic working on it wants to work on it. If he has to put up with a mess, would he work as carefully? I doubt it.
Bah, that's nothing. I'll try to attach pictures of how mine looked when I picked it up. I'll also give a shot of what part of it looks like after about 2 hours of hand cleaning. If I use the hose to it my neighbors will be up in arms. Above the heater in the before picture is what the entire engine bay looked like. I'd already started scraping the grease off in preparation of removing the heater.
Drew, after looking at the state of the thing, we don't think a mechanic EVER touched it. It was so seriously neglected, it was sad to see!
Ned, did your car come from California??? Just wondering if the same idiot owned yours. LOL
Nope, mine lived in GA for about 27 years then North FL for another 8 and I just finished dragging it up to CT. My parents owned it and their parents before it. It just hasn't been worked on or cleaned since my parents got it though.
If it didn't leak oil it wouldn't look like that. I worry more about water and cleaners getting into the electrical connections than oil.
Can an MGB engine be made not to leak oil?
I suppose if you took all the oil out it wouldn't leak anymore. Does that count?
saffyres Wrote:
I wore out two wire brushes, went through a gallon of cleaner, half a gallon of alcohol..."
Whiskey, Vodka, or other?
Ha. I wish! I was thinking PGA. hehe
This bad?
I relate, only seems the DPO had a heart! He knew that the oil and gunk were great insulator for the squirrel's BAY home!
...worse
Worse?
but now.................(to answer the question)
Oh yeah. Much worse. You can see the engine color on yours. Ours, we couldn't until we had knocked crud off it.
I always loved these pics from about 5 years ago or so.
Lovely, eh?
I had a Gold Leak engine too. So much so, that look at where it ends up after 30 years!
That didn't come from the batteries!
But, like everyone said. It's AWESOME RUSTPROFFING! If I could have gotten the oil to leak over to the outsides of the floors and the sills, I'd have a perfect car!
It's all been fixed up nice now!
I keep mine liberally coated with a new, high tech, synthetic anti-corrosive agent. Amsoil 20/50, it's called.
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