i know theres a way to clean it. its engine degresser and a lot of water. but where should i cover up the stuff that shouldnt get wet? like the battery, what else?
oh yea, the sponge like thingy on the hood is starting to peel. should i take it off or just leave it like that?
Since your engine is farely clean to start with, I usually use a bucket of soapy water (Palmolive or other dish soap works well, cuts grease) and sponge it down real well and rinse with low pressure water. As for the hood insulation, a new one can be purchased fairly enexpensively from places such as Performance Products but I don't know how hard it is to install.
Take off the air cleaner and cover with plastic bags and rubber bands, and do the same with the distributor cap, the ABS box and the diagnostic port. Depending on how clean you want to go, while the degreaser is working, use some small brushes to clean off excess oil/dirt. After all is dry, you might want to use some tire dressing on the rubber parts.
As for the hood pad, it's a real pain to strip off. Cover the engine with newspapers taped together, an old disposable bed sheet, etc., so the foam bits don't fall into it. Use a snow scraper to remove as much of the old foam as possible, you want a good surface for the new pad to adhere to. Remove the newspaper and debris, then recover the engine with more newspaper or sheet. When you get the new pad, use 3M trim adhesive spray, liberally applied on the pad and the underside of the hood. It's better with a helper, but start attaching the pad at the windshield side first. Use a paint roller with a soft pad to "burnish" the pad onto the hood, moving towards the front. At the front, you're going to tuck the excess pad material into the pocket at the front of the hood.
The pad is not only a sound insulator, but keeps excess engine bay heat from hurting the paint and supposedly acts as a flame retardant in the event of an engine fire, but I bet most of us have oil soaked pads that won't help in that department.
cover the wires, or put wd40 on the wires to make them water proof, cover the fuse box, and the entry for the cold air next to the drivers side headlight, i did mines last summer in a rush and forgot to cover those things, took bout 15 mins to restart her and when i did get it to turn over it sounded like it was misfiring for like 10mins at idle....then she dried off and ran mint....after the winter i'll do it to get the salt out and stop it from rusting the engine, this the 2nd yr. my car has seen snow(this yr it really hasnt snowed much) the car was org. from florida (usa) so i learned my lesson, now i wont rush and i'll cover the elec. wires and stuff
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