47-55.1 Engine compartment cleanup

[Matt_50]

1950 3100. 350 engine, edelbrock 1403 carb. Stock engine.



Instead of a bunch of threads with under the hood questions I thought I'd try to make just one overall thread.

Ok so my truck has mostly sat for last 3 years. The goal 3 years ago was to just get it to run under it's own power before our son was born and we moved across the state. I just got it into the garage and I have a long list of things still to do to it.

Things look rough under the hood. Wires hanging and zip ties everywhere, rusty exhaust manifolds, fuel line is cobbled together and so on. I'm looking for advice and ideas to make it all look nice and neat.


I already have new fuel line setup planned out.

I bought new valve cover gaskets because of a little leaking. I plan to try and clean up the covers. See what the look like.

I have wire loom but how to make it look nice? This is a big one.

I need a air filter cover, cleaned off rust just recently on this one.

Hood latch panel needs painting.

I want to clean up and paint existing exhaust manifolds. How should I go about doing this one?

Any other suggestions?

[Matt_50]

Additional pictures.

[mr48chev]

Well you go about it one step at a time in small steps.

First step is to buy a can of your favorite engine degreaser, a can of WD-40 and a roll of blue shop paper towels and make sure that you have a screw driver that fits the cap on the distributor in case you get a bunch of moisture in the distributor cap and head off to the quarter spray wand car wash with the best pressure and spray the degreaser on everything you can reach on the engine and trans and give it a good bath.

Then you can pull the brackets off the top of the engine and clean them up and paint them, change the valve coversand paint the intake, heads and block and generally do a good spiff up job.

Then you do the wiring an area at a time. You can buy plastic wire loom pretty reasonable that you can tuck the wires in and make it look neater or you can just reroute your wiring into more orderly routes with some claps like Adel clamps spaced out where you have the wires in tidy lines and use more zip ties and clip the tails off all the zip ties.

Not to pick on you in the least but that is the poster truck for why I do not like the master cylinder-booster on the firewall nor want the battery under the hood on an AD truck. Way too much ugly and clutter that ruins the view the engine it's self.

I'm assuming that is a battery cut off switch above the solenoid with the handle inside. Unless you have the truck rigged with a hood lock that is way too easy to bypass or figure out.

Go one step at a time and don't get caught up in trying to do too much at once. Start with the engine paint and cleanup and stand back and look and figure out what the next step is going to be. Figure out your plan and handle that step, stand back and look and do the next step. The only time the truck shold be "down" is when you are changing the gaskets and painting the engine and brackets. The wiring is mostly figuring out how to neatly route the wires you have and get them tidied up.

[Matt_50]

Just any high temp paint from auto parts store will work? I have loom. Isn't there a special kind of tape for the ends? I used the loom before and it looked kinda bad. I'm hoping it will look better on this truck.

Not going for the show quality look. Just want clean, organized, functional, and easy to get to engine compartment.

I completely understand your view on MC and battery. MC takes up a lot of space and I kinda wish I had gone a different route but it works well and I won't be popping the hood at any shows lol.

Hood lock is on the list before its out on the road. Along with a different door lock setup.

[mr48chev]

Just top quality tape on the ends of the loom.

I can't argue with the convenience and function of the battery and master cylinder being under the hood. Try crawling through the back seat lean down in a BMW 528! that has no reachable under the hood 12 V electrical connection to reach the battery that is in the right rear corner of the trunk so you can hook the battry charger to the battery after you move trunk stuff and the cover off the battery area. Then being 76 years old and too overweight to boot.

[lv2tri2]

Pretty nice fire wall, I think there is some possibility.

[dsraven]

castrol super clean is my go to degreaser but don't let it sit on a painted or bare aluminum surface for very long or it will discolor. it's a hand pumped sprayer with spray or stream settings so i usually spray it on, let it sit for a minute and then let er rip with the pressure washer wand. start at the top and work down. hot water works best of course. safety glasses and rubber gloves is always best with any degreaser. a ot of degreasers are diesel based, basically, so a car wash owner will not be happy with you when he smells it and sees it going into the sewer system
https://superclean.com/
after it's clean, if it were me, i would start with the valve cover gaskets as sometimes the wiring gets attached or runs next to the covers so it would need to be moved for access. if the covers are stamped steel, like they look to be, get yourself some of those long narrow metal weight spreaders so the valve covers don't bend when you do the fasteners up tight. personally i am not a fan of the cork based gaskets, I would rather use the synthetic rubber or perimeter silicone sytle formed gaskets
https://www.motortrend.com/how-to/17...overs-gaskets/

https://www.speedwaymotors.com/Valve...4aAj4CEALw_wcB
after that is done, start looking at where the wires go and eliminate anything that dead ends with no connection to anything. then look at the connections and crimped on connectors to ensure they are all good and tight and water sealed with shrink tube. repair as required and also group the wires together so they make their shortest most sensible run. as you group them you can also give them a wrap with tape every so often to keep them stuck together and not making a new mess for you. this ensures they don't fool you into thinking you have too much wire in a circuit and also makes it handy to slip some loom over the bunch when the time comes. tape any T intersections as well so they stay as you want them. shorten or lengthen wires as required to get that job done. next ensure any grounds are also connected to a good clean metal surface with a star washer and then protect that connection with some brush on electrical tape, or whatever you normally use for that. a zinc based paint can also do wonders, like weld through primer or cold galvanising spray. apply that when you have all the grounds done, including the battery to engine, body and frame. when you have all the connections done and are happy with how it is all laid out then apply the wire loom. if using the corrugated loom there are many fittings available for them as well as clamps to hold the loom to the firewall, frame or whatever. I am with mr48 on the battery disconnect. if it is for anti theft then it would be easy to hot wire it. if it is for battery disconnect to eliminate parasitic loads, like radio memory or clocks etc, then i guess that is up to you to say if you like it where it is. either way I advise to insulate the terminals on the cable connections.
I would assume that you will want to do a little "high heat rebuild" while everything is clean so before you attach the loom to keep it in place it would be good to pull the wiring back out of the way (detach, unplug etc if needed but label the wires as to where they go with every wire or plug removal so you don't forget. a pic is also a good idea) and then use some brake cleaner to spray down the engine and remove any oily fingerprints so the paint will stick well. let this dry thoroughly and be advised that it is quite flammable so no smoking or open flame etc. be aware that some high heat paint is fussy about recoat times and if lefft past the recoat window it will bubble and wrinkle badly. painting the valve covers prior to installing can be good but this can also be tied into that recoat window so check the paint can label before you make any descisions. recoat by this many minutes and then no recoat for at least this many days usually. for exhaust manifolds I usually just use a BBQ paint, it probably isn't gonna last long anyway unless you spend some serious money on ceramic coating etc etc. I have seen some header paint that lasted pretty well. for the underhood metal work I usually advise that whatever you use it will only look as good as the prep work so spend the time there or leave it as it is. as far as the look under the hood with the battery and brake booster in plain sight, well, that is a personal preference thing and it's the way the truck currently is. there are things that can be done to make it pretier or a smaller package (like a hydroboost that is smaller than the vacuum booster) but that also takes time and money so I would say drive it like it is, after ensuring it's all safe for you and everybody else on the road with you.

[dsraven]

there is nothing wrong with a painted air filter cover, till you win the lottery of course, lol.

[Matt_50]

Hows this for the wires?

https://www.amazon.com/Rolls-Tesas-A...2218652&sr=8-3


The disconnect switch is mostly for convenience and wanting to disconnect battery when not driving the truck. Had a friend who had a vehicle go up in flames once due to something in the writing. I know, probably being paranoid but it was easy to add in. It will not be a daily driver and will sit for days at a time too.

[Matt_50]

I ran across this on a couple of sites for the exhaust manifolds.

https://streettechmag.com/2015/05/04...aust-manifold/

[nvrdone]

lots of great info here. Here's a couple of additional thoughts. Wrap the carb and distributor with a good heavy plastic bag to keep the pressure wash water out. Before you try to restart the engine, remove the plugs and crank the engine over to blow out any water that may have gotten into the cylinders. dont want to bend a rod.

[leegreen]

Start with a good cleaning.

Tidy the wires up, get yourself three sizes of the split loom stuff and assorted clamp fasteners to attach to firewall and fenders. Make a harness of all the loose wires. Aim for straight runs and 90 degree corners. Use smaller loom as the wire bundle gets smaller. Where a subset of wires branch off cut a notch out of the main loom and stuff the branch loom inside it. Tape the T together, I use black hockey tape. Put a clamp every 6 inches or so, either self tappers or nut inserts. Your probably going to have to lengthen some of the wires to get a neat job: solder and heat shrink then hide it in the loom.
Don't tape the entire loom, Add some tape every few inches if you need to keep the wires in. If you leave gaps you can work a new wire in later when you add something.

Move the relays from inner fender to radiator shroud or make a bracket to mount them on alongside radiator.

Take booster and bracket off to paint. Bracket dark green and booster black.

For the engine, once it was cleaned and degreased paint it in place with a brush and a can of tremclad/rustoleum whatever color you want. My opinion you will get a far better and longer lasting paint job than with expensive spray bombs of 'engine paint' and you don't need high temp for block and tins. The brushing action will work the paint in better and mix it with any leftover oily residue. For the exhaust brush on flat black BBQ paint, it will stink and smoke for the first drive but look as good as anything inexpensive.

It looks like you can leave the firewall and inner fenders alone once they are clean.

The rad tank: 3m red scuff pad and scuff by hand with straight strokes then spray with a mat finish clear spray bomb.

New plug wires and maybe some '350' or bowtie stickers for valve covers. I'd paint the air cleaner rather than shell out for chrome and probably see it rust in a year.

This is a couple days work and will get it looking nice and neat. If you want to get fancier than that you probably need to pull the engine and strip it down to long block. Maybe if it needs a rebuild down the road.

[Rickysnickers]

Originally Posted by Matt_50

Hows this for the wires?

https://www.amazon.com/Rolls-Tesas-A...2218652&sr=8-3


The disconnect switch is mostly for convenience and wanting to disconnect battery when not driving the truck. Had a friend who had a vehicle go up in flames once due to something in the writing. I know, probably being paranoid but it was easy to add in. It will not be a daily driver and will sit for days at a time too.

Yes, TESA tape works very well and doesn't get gooey. I'm not advising you to buy this brand, but for covering the wiring, I prefer this type of split loom wiring cover. https://www.amazon.com/Alex-Tech-25f...NsaWNrPXRydWU=

[Matt_50]

Just plain rustoleum/ tractor paint under the hood? The block doesn't get too hot for that paint?

I think I would like to move the relays. Does anyone make a nice little box they can go in?

[dsraven]

if you cruise through a pick n pull yard you will likely find some older chevy cars that had a relay strip under the hood. it is a plastic affair but holds several relays. otherwise there is always the "fuse panel" look ones where the relay plugs into a strip that has the connectors pushed in from the back side and held like a fuse panel would hold wires. personally not that keen on those under the hood where they probably need to be as waterproof as possible to keep corrosion at bay
these guys have some relay boxes that are waterproof and include a fuse-which should be in the system somewhere anyway. you could likley find something else online that functions the same or take a trip to pickn pull
https://www.chinadaier.com/category/...e-parts/relay/

[dsraven]

in general, the engine block will get to around the 200 F degree mark, thats what the thermostat does. otherwise the coolant boils. areas near the exhaust manifolds may get some radiant heat thrown at them so possibly discolor a little over time.
if you have the valve covers off I would say spray them because they are flat smooth panels and may show brush marks. otherwise brushing is gonna get the job done and the block etc is a textured finish anyway. it would also get the job done on the valve covers too, depending on how hot the day is and how fast the paint dries-maybe too fast drying doesn't let the paint flatten out the brush marks before it dries or skins over the outside layer. in that case you could thin the paint a bit or do it in a cooler area.

[dsraven]

some of the wiring could possibly benefit from a relocation so it isn't the first thing you see when you look under the hood. it could possibly be run a little lower on the firewall, or attached accross the bellhousing like some newer vehicles had, and that would get it secured but not the first thing the eye notices. yes, it would be hanging if the engine were to be removed, but how often will you be doing that?

[leegreen]

Rustoleum oil based enamel brush on paint will stand up well on an engine. google it for more opinions.
Start with a good clean degreased block. Work it in with a brush, the brushing action will blend any oily residue from solvents with the paint. 2 coats, put them on heavy enough so there is enough paint for surface tension to pull the brush strokes out but not so much that it runs. Let it dry at least a couple days before running engine.

My opinion is this will work out far better than any spray bomb paint on an in frame engine paint job like you are doing. Spray the valve covers if you like. but if you have a decent quality brush you can get a good look with brush as long as the paint does not dry too fast.
For the block I'd just use a cheap 1 or 1 1/2" brush and the brushing action is the same sort of brush, poke, grind, brush action you'd use to clean the block with a brush & solvent.

1st and 2nd gen S10s have a 3 spot relay strip on the outside of firewall.
I found the type of loom dsraven linked harder to work with than the corrugated plastic stuff with a split up one side.
The tape linked above looks fine, maybe better quality than hockey tape.

The graphite spray for manifolds is also interesting. similar to that I've been experimenting with spray bombs of 'galvanized' paint on exhaust pipes with Ok results. When they get hot you get the usual stink and smoke as the paint burns off, but it leaves the solids behind and it seems to be stuck there well. YMMV

[Matt_50]

I like the idea of a box or something for my relays. Does it matter what box I get? Will these work for a new box if they don't come with relays?

I have a terminal block and a circuit breaker next to these relays. I was looking at my old wiring thread and I think, dsraven, you suggested the breaker and other wiring advice then too lol. Thank you for continuing to help me out.

To add to my question. The circuit breaker and terminal block. Should I just move those near where I put the new box or is there a box that incorporates all three into one? Relays, circuit breaker, block.

[dsraven]

it's kinda good to have any new additions or modifications to the relay family be placed near the battery. that way the run of unfused supply wire is shorter. you can get a mega fuse holder that could be mounted close to the battery to supply fused power to several relays at a fused amperage large enough to not blow if all the relays are being used. you would need to know the amp draw for each circuit and add them all together and don't forget to check if anything thew relays supply has a higher "start up" amperage than "run" amperage, so you can account for that.

[dsraven]

not calling down anybody else's work, but it looks like there are a couple of power points fairly close together, so one supplies the other. the circuit breakers are also mounted out in the open with no coverings in case somebody happens to drop something that would arc on the power and ground. I know it is easy to do it with the parts out in the open but that way they are also out in the open, vulnerable to mechanical and elemental damage. if you were thinking of doing a relay box maybe a relay and fuse box could be installed to eliminate some of those potential issues. mounted near the battery so a short unfused power supply to the relay box. on some newer chevy's the relay/fuse box under the hood has a metal mega fuse strip where the power enters as protection for the box and it is close to the battery. dunno what your current relays supply but likely headlights, horn, something else that draws a lot of power?

[dsraven]

forgot to mentio that those electrical parts would need to be covered, well, before power washing.

[dsraven]

to keep costs down, and wifey happier, some of those relay/fuse boxes could be sourced at a local pick n pull.

[Matt_50]

This might be over kill, but could power points and circuit breaker be put in something similar to this?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/39443566361...mis&media=COPY

[Matt_50]

And something like this for relays.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/35255996293...mis&media=COPY