Damien - The resurrection

[Wobbly Dave]

In the meantime I have returned to an old time haunt, cleanyourcar.co.uk, and have been buying a few valeting goodies for use in the engine bay, I have some time off next week so plan to get to work on cleaning the bay at some stage during my holiday break, amongst other things, so more on that as progress occurs, that's all for now

Carlack 68 special cleaner is really good for that - CYC have stopped stocking it sadly.

[AndysR]

What happend with myne was i got a spike in 4th gear the car had been running at 20psi for some time with no problems but for some reason i decided to floor it at about 2.5k and it pulled well to full boost then had a really bad jerk/splutter i noticed the boost gauge spiking up wards of 25psi pulled over and tap tap and didnt run it any more.

The is a little s bend and i can see some twisting in the rod its nothing major but can just be seen

Fair enough, tbh I only noticed mine when I pulled up I could hear it, but when driving with the windows up prior to pulling up it drove faultlessly...

Carlack 68 special cleaner is really good for that - CYC have stopped stocking it sadly.

Thanks for the heads up, will give that a go if I have no joy with the products I already have

[Kingsford G]

The best way of cleaning yr engine bay is take Gav with u as if for a visit and he won`t resist the temptation of cleaning the open engine bay

[AndysR]

The best way of cleaning yr engine bay is take Gav with u as if for a visit and he won`t resist the temptation of cleaning the open engine bay

That's a good one, I do however also have some small experience when it comes to cleaning cars so I'll save Gav the time and give it a crack myself.. Lol

[merc85]

charming lol

[Wobbly Dave]

Fair enough, tbh I only noticed mine when I pulled up I could hear it, but when driving with the windows up prior to pulling up it drove faultlessly...



Thanks for the heads up, will give that a go if I have no joy with the products I already have

I used it with great success on Betsy's bay & subframe prior to the refit.

[AndysR]

Yesterdays events…


So having had a lovely relaxing week away from work I decided to take a trip down to see Russ and the team @ RT Mechanics with the intention of giving the engine bay a spruce up. Luckily for me my brother’s car was now ready for collection, having been at RT’s for a service and some other bits and pieces, it was also a good excuse to jump in with him rather than drive myself…

Having spent the last few weeks amalgamating and adding to my collection of cleaning bits and for fear of needing something I had left behind I took almost everything I had. At this point it was just as well James was using RT’s 960 estate, so I was now well prepared to do battle with 17 years worth of dirt and grime. We left home at 07:00 and having done nearly 3 hours contending with the tolls, M25 road works and traffic jams we arrived, those 960’s do eat the miles well I can see why so many for sale are high milers!

Now the fun part starts! I lift the bonnet and see a large hole once occupied by an engine and gearbox to see a large and very dirty area filled with nooks and crannies… yummy! No problem I’ve got a lovely collection of degreasers and cleaners so off I go attacking the bay with confidence that this will be a breeze! This confidence lasts all of about 5 minutes when I realise that actually its going to be a nightmare and no amount of cleaning product is going to replace elbow grease! I was lied too the cheek of it….. lol
It was also at this point, having cleaned a small area, that I realised I hadn’t taken any before pictures and worse still that I had left my camera at home, so the pictures I did take were all done using my phone so aren’t brilliant, apologies in advance.

Anyway all joking aside having spent the best part of 5 hours cleaning away 17 years of heat treated grease, dirt and dust I now have an engine bay which looks slightly cleaner and more presentable, even the areas that will be hidden by the engine and gearbox.. lol
One thing I was quite surprised with was the sparse use of paint, I was well aware that the engine bay itself wasn’t lacquered but the paint level pretty much ceases from the top of the chassis rails down. Oh and no I didn’t clean the paint off the metal, I was quite careful being aware that the paint would be delicate without the protection of lacquer, caring out product tests in inconspicuous places in advance as advised.

For those interested, and despite putting Halfords to shame with my product selection, I only ended up using Autoglym Engine and Machine Degreaser, warm water, a soft paint brush and a standard kitchen moppet on the painted areas. The Autoglym to be fair to it was a brilliant product and unlike so many degreasing cleaners I’ve used in the past I still have quite a bit left. In the more difficult heavier affected areas mainly the subframe, I used a stiff brush and allowed the Autoglym to dwell for around 10-15 mins. I also used a product available from Tesco which I’ve read reviews about on Detailing World called Daisy. It’s a cheap entry level general all purpose cleaner which I diluted 1:5 and found it worked great on the inner arch liners and plastics. After that, and with help, I pushed the car outside the workshop, rinsed the painted areas and upper engine bay with a handheld pressure sprayer, then jet washed the subframe and lower engine bay areas finally damping dry afterwards with a soft microfibre cloth. Seeing the engine bay clean it was refreshing to see that no corrosion had set in despite having seen a few of the 850’s suffering with corrosion around the battery tray area, presumably due to a previous battery leakage causing any corrosion inhibitors to be stripped from the metal.

Anyway the pictures.

Before – Apologies for the low light, these were taken inside the workshop









After







Close up comparison

[AndysR]

Having cleaned the engine bay and seeing the car outside in the sunshine I quickly grew irritated by the “barn find” look the car had adopted over the last year so I had to clean it..







Using the jet wash I found most of the accumulated dirt washed off, indeed I was quite surprised to see the water beading nicely even just after a rinse before washing, proof that polishing and waxing on a regular basis is well worth the effort!



So having purely washed and dried the car I am left with the paint finish I remember, I still would have polished and waxed it but time was getting on, it now being around 17:00 and James and I needed to be getting back.







Having always wanted one of these Russ was also kind enough to source a black faced SC-805 so I popped that in as well,



So Damien was returned to his temporary home at the back of RT’s workshop awaiting the rebuilt engine to be fitted when done but at least its a lot cleaner now



That just leaves me to say a very big thank you to the team @ RT's today having allowed me to borrow various tools, ramp space, wash bay and to just generally annoy and get in your way whilst you continued to battle a busy work filled day it generally was a pleasure as always

[LiamT4]

If i ever see an 854R in your colour and that looks in as good condition, i think i will just HAVE to buy it.

[merc85]

Looks tons better, and im not one bit jellous lol, engine bays are never easy to clean, especially around the rack area on 850s

[JUDGENINJA]

Looks good..

[V70 Graham]

Very nice engine bay, time well spent.

[stevie69]

If i ever see an 854R in your colour and that looks in as good condition, i think i will just HAVE to buy it.

ill maybe beat you to it..

[T5frankie]

ill maybe beat you to it..

me too just so he cant have it lol

[LiamT4]

me too just so he cant have it lol

cheers

[T5frankie]

cheers

well stop being half arsed if you want one get one, if youre looking ill keep my eye out for you, i can't stop thing of getting an rs6 lol

[LiamT4]

well stop being half arsed if you want one get one, if youre looking ill keep my eye out for you, i can't stop thing of getting an rs6 lol

An rs6.......wow, there're on a whole new level of running costs lol

[Tomcat]

Andy it's always a pleasure reading your thread, the amount of care and hardwork you put into your car is breathtaking, I was looking at the drivers seat in my R today and think "Nope, it's not good enough, Andy wouldn't be happy with that".lol.

[T5frankie]

An rs6.......wow, there're on a whole new level of running costs lol

2003 model mapped to 500bhp lovely jubbly

[Kingsford G]

Liam,u right,if u find 1 in the same condition u must buy it but yr chances are limited tho `cos in a year and half watching volvos for sale I haven`t seen one near as good in the same colour especially.That is very clean Andy.I remember when my uncle bought a 1992 850 2.5glt that had an undershield on cos he ripped it off.Having one would keep it clean for much longer,only has to go as far as to the sump I think.Have u got all the parts sourced now for the engine?