Hi all. I am wanting to know if anyone can give me any help I am wanting to clean my engine bay up a bit and reduce some weight and eye sore Can anyone let me know what parts are not mandatory? Thanks 78 delta 88

 

Warm soapy water and a few different sizes of paint brush to scrub, scrub, scrub. If you take parts off and the engine stops running, you went too far.

 

If the parts were not mandatory they would not be there. Gummout engine degreaser works well, follow the instructions.

 

You could get rid of the Chevy motor to start

 

Simple Green works well also. X2 on the Chevy engine. 😁

 

Looks like he would save 15 pounds by swapping the SBC for an Olds 350. That would be an expensive 15 pounds.

 

If you're talking get rid of unnecessary stuff, only thing I see that can go is the extra Diesel battery at passenger side front.

Sure you can get rid of AC and cruise, but at the sacrifice of some creature comforts.

The orange ALDL connectors are tied into the car wiring and removal will create all kinds of problems unless removed with near surgical precision.

Any engine degreaser will clean off the grunge especially if you have a pressure washer. Straight blue Dawn dish soap and a scrub brush to get really heavy grease off.

 

J's car was a Diesel that got converted. I'd rather see an Olds 350 in there too but not gonna knock the Chev lump.

 

I see what youre saying, i dont recognize some of those components so im glad raider chimed in, but i would guess anything diesel that isnt needed can be removed, many times ac can be taken out and different accesory brackets are used to offera cleaner look to.

At least some of us are not familiar w that engine so it would help to id it. I know summit and jegs etc sell acessory brackets and dress up kits for chevys so that may be a good place to get ideas too.

for a good start tho i would clean up the leaves and sticks etc under the hood not only does that trap moisture and encourage corrosion it can facilitate water leaks and mold and smell. After that as metioned i would clean up all the stuff you have like the fender wells and other parts that are just dirty.

 

A clean engine is a happy engine. I just made that up. But you will be happier with a clean engine.

 

Thank you all for the help. I’m sure a few hours and some metal brushes will do.

whats the best way about pressure washing? meaning what can be covered besides the motor and watching out for electrical parts?

 

With pressure washing cover anything you think will get messed up with water. For the lower area's if super greasy use easy off oven cleaner. It will remove bad paint too. Then you can fog with black paint or any other colors you need.

 

Beat me to it...

 

Id avoid the pressure wash, the water will be forced to places you dont want it and flying grease chunks will go places too. Easy off or engine degrease works good, the more stuff you get off first will allow it to work better. The whole process can make a mess. 40 years of gunk may take a couple tries to remove.

i would do something like this:
remove all the sticks leaves etc first
put a piece of cardboard under the car scrap w a flatscrew driver and or 2” paint scraper any grease and gunk you can get too, if you remove acessories it can be easier, most gunk will be on the engine
spray easy off or engine degrease on engine, wait 10-30 minutes
if you have a nearby self serve car wash drive there and use the low pressure setting to remove all the degreaser, you can cover the engine and distrbutor with a towel or blanket or trashbag, you dont want water to soak anything electrical like wire connectors components.
no self serve wash just use a hose as above ( may leave a mess under where car is parked)
i would asess what remains at this point but probably more degreaser, wait , possible wire brush on metal components and rinse.
then i would use warm water and dawn and various nylon brushes and rags to clean everything else like the fender well etc.
if inclined the valve covers can be removed scraped and cleaned and repainted this is the first thing you see so some decent looking valve covers goes a long way, plus its likely at least some of the gunk came fromleaking valve covers so some new gaskets here will help too.

this process can take several hours. If i plan to go the carwash i try to time it so there wont be many other people there, no waiting an no one wanting to use the bay waiting for you fiddling w your engine.

 

 

Gentlemen, I must point out that a Chevy 350 was a stock option in a 78 88. LM1 engine.

My grandfather, who passed on a decade later with 2 Oldsmobiles, 2 Chevies, 2 Fords, and a DeSoto to his name, opined that people were not as upset with finding out they had a Chevy 350 under the hood of their 88, as they were in finding out it was a better engine.

Allow me to put on my jacket before you throw beer bottles, please.

On a more serious note, elbow grease and soapy water will take care of 90% of that. Hop to.

 

Didn't we fight a war about that? (OK, a class action lawsuit)

 

Through out the years I have pressure washed a pile of engines in and out of the car with out issues. If you use common since and don't go crazy on the electrics you can spray just about everything. Maybe I'm just in a hurry..... Tedd

 

Well, yeah, but the solution was to clearly explain what option was what, not stop doing it, hah.

 

If GM took a little more pride in their products and not cross breed engines in pursuit of the last penny, maybe they wouldn’t have lost market share. They didn’t respect their product, no wonder their customers lots respect for them.

 

use a good quality degreaser and soak the whole mess down. dont leave it on longer than the recommend time and hose it off with low pressure, garden hose is fine, prefferably on your neighbors lawn or just not on yours.
now take the aircleaner off and the all the plastic/ fibre/rubber covers, beside the radiator etc. remove the batteries, radiator overflow bottle, and all the rubber vacuum hoses you are comfortable with-you can mark the ends with a dot of different coloured paint to help with replacing. it looks like hundreds but there really aren't that many, plug leads etc. these are all easily replaced. and take lots of photos..
plug or cover the ends with aluminum or aloominum foil this is easy to mold around small openings. scrape off any thick crud. get your old(s) paint brushes and get to work with a few pressure pak cans of degreaser and a bucket of dish washing liquid and warm water. use your common sense where to keep water out. leave the dizzy cap ON.
crc carby cleaner works great on the aloominum and brass or copper parts and as a general degreaser but is expensive, the cheaper brands do nothing.
hose the whole mess down again with the garden hose on the neighbors lawn.
now you can use a steam cleaner, not high pressure water cleaner, and go over it again.
you can paint direct to the cleaned surfaces now, or put it all back together. clean each hose or part as you put it back on- and dont leave the job for 6 months before you put it back together or you will lose bits or forget where stuff goes or both -trust me on that..
if you choose to paint before re-assembly, aloominum foil is your friend it is easily molded around difficult shaped parts to mask them up and easily removed.
maybe take a weekend for a good clean and detail, two weekends with a paint as well.

enjoy and stay safe.