Polishing a "TuRD"

01 Engine compartment

 

lol..Dave your '01 is cleaner than your '17. Very nice '01. That's what I don't like about the new vehicles.....plastic intakes. Looking at your '17 there doesn't appear to be a lot to polish!

 

It's not bad.....last time or two out on the trails with the 17 were wet and muddy. I guess the fan blades kicked up most of the mess going through some deeper puddles.

 

Jammer, my engine is worse with all the 1000 miles of dusty trails i've been cruising lately
is there a trick to keeping the compartment free of dusty other than hand wiping one too many times
should i just take the water hose to it or is that a bad idea?

+ with the black paint the dirty is enhanced

 

Spraying the engine with water has always scared me. I've seen guys do it, and I've read that generally it's safe but it still raises the hair on my arms.

 

@jammer, i may have found an elixir for that windshield cowl
first impressions are satisfying anywhohow
seems to have held up to the rain so far

 

Dang J A Y. I'm not the smartest peanut in the turd. I had to look that word up! Please share what magical potion you found

 

Yeah, I understand. Especially was a concern back when I had my 1980 Celica 20R with a distributor.
I see people doing it with a pressure washer at the coin car wash bays, and I'm thinking to myself.."I wouldn't do that".
I think you would be fine using low pressure and not going crazy around the electronics.

 

J A Y, I wish there was a way because I would be doing it. Drives me crazy come spring time with the yellow pollen.
I've got a separate shammy or sham wow towel that I use to wipe down the motor after I wash my truck. I don't spray the motor down, I just use the wetness of the towel to get the dust off.

I'm not a fan of all the new technology on cars, but one thing I wish the first gen had was a cabin filter.

 

oh! my 2nd used car was an orange 78 celica liftback with a 5speed MT and funky speedometer, it rotted out by 1995 lol
was your 80 a manual or automatic?

 

J A Y, your stock just sky rocketed!!
Red 1980 Celica ST 5 Speed Manual

Pictured below is about as close to one I could find of what it looked like.

 

its a Canadian potion i was using to corrosion spray inside the doors and rockers, excess product dripped and pooled out all over the driveway, the bottle said it can restore sun-beaten plastic so I used the excess to smother the cowl
repels water

before


after


the elixir (so far) ... need more rain + a hand wash + time elapsed to see if how it still adheres

 

close to mine except i had a fancy black metal sunshade on the rear window that rattled a lot but maybe that was the subwoofer box i had in the back lol

 

Probably better that you didn't have the black louver on the back. Mine had it, and there was rust on the mounting hardware that had to be treated........and I was living in Georgia at the time.

 

Update to exhaust shields.
New stainless flange bolts/nuts should be arriving tomorrow. Below are some pics of all but two of the heat shields cleaned up.
Did not remove the down stream O2 sensor shield or the rear shield that's mounted above the main muffler.
While they are off, I painted the exhaust where some rust was coming through. Did not paint the center exhaust or cat.
I'll post a final picture once it's all back installed.


Back side of down stream O2 sensor shield

 

Working on it, 264k when I go it. It was in baddddd shape. Lots of faults to include:
trans unlocking the converter when you use the turn signal or hazards. Bad miss in #3 and 6, gaskets head up, MAF sensor that kept it from exceeding 1900rpm(part should be here today) a laundry list of Fckery from previous owners “fixes”, frame repair about 6 feet total, then the cosmetics.... that’s why the wheels were in that pic, the one in the picture was the worse, I had to grind out claw hammer marks, etc then down to bare metal on most of it, grinding out the corrosion, the wheels were white with salt and pepper from it.
Absolutely 100% crazy thing is, the amount of $$ I’ve spent fixing it...STILL has me in the black if I sell it.

 

For as much as you describe it looks like you have done lots to clean the engine bay / wheels up. Very nice progress!

 

Since I had a small amount of the Eastwood Diamond Clear left, I decided to try it on the shield that's located above the No. 1 Exhaust Pipe. Only had enough to put 4 good coats on the side facing down.
Turned out really nice. I just wonder how it will hold up?? I did go ahead and order more the clear coat so I can do the longer shield.

 

New stainless flange bolts/nuts arrived!
Also below is an update on the bolts that I put in the Evapo-Rust. They turned out better than expected.



Rust removal from start to finish


Anyone know a trick to removing that broken nut from my socket??
Carnage from removing the bolts that attach the shield right after the 1st O2 sensor

 

other than using a vice, and some pliers to pry it straight out, or grabbing them and twisting in the "loosening" direction (or opposite the direction you twisted it to get it stuck), my only solutions would be to either PB Blast it and try it again, or heat up the socket with a torch while its in the vice and keep tension on the bolt head until the socket heats up enough to expand, being careful to heat it slowly.