Dinner was good...went to a mexican place right around the corner.
Now where was I...
I am missing so many pictures
It's sad. It may not look like I've done alot on the car, but I spend 3 months working on it under a carport this summer.
Here is another shot of the engine bay after I cleaned it up a bit.
What did I do to get it clean? Well it was a multistage process. The grime all over was GROSS. First I tried simple green and a garden hose...did not work so well. I upgraded to a heavy duty desgreaser (Purple power, then an orange cleaner, then some other brand) and it cut the top layer, but didnt touch the stuff underneath. I bought some brake cleaner and tried that, it kinda worked - definitely better than anything so far, but it was very expensive, smelled horrible, was rough on the hands (I bought some nice chemical gloves after this) and not to mention bad for the environment.
My next step, which was equally frustrating, was a pressure washer. Sure, we've all seen how well pressure washers work to remove gunk from wood, concrete, etc, so I thought that if I sprayed degreaser on the engine bay, scrubbed it in a bit, and powerwashed it, it would be a piece of cake...WRONG! It hardly cut into the grease at all..again it only cut away the top layer. I realized what was needed was ALOT of elbow grease. I went and bought a nice pack of different sized "pipe cleaning" brushes, a heavy duty scrub brush and 2 packages of dollar store toothbrushes. I spent the next 2 weeks scrubbing away at every crevice removing every spec of gunk I could find. I kept the hose by me and just kept spraying it after I'd scrub for awhile. After I was done, I tried the powerwasher again, and it cleaned things up nicely.
I don't have a final pic, but this was when I was close to the end. Notice the attention to detail - I removed quite a bit in preparation to paint the entire front end.
My next step was to use a nice rust inhibitor. I got the metal ready stuff by POR-15.
It's great stuff. Put on a few coats, taped off all the essentials, removed the wiring harness coming through the firewall and undid MOST of the rest of the wires (so I had less to tape off). I quickly taped off the rest of the car, but I wasn't too concerned because I was planning on spraying the rest of the car at some time in the future.
I went to my local harbor freight and bought myself a cheap spray gun.
It was kind of a pain in the a55 to use, but I couldn't expect much for $20. I had no experience with spraying before. I then went to my local NAPA and approached the paint professional...
"Hi! How can I help you today?"
"Um...where to start. I want to paint the engine bay of my car outside under a carport with a cheap spray gun. I have no experience with this but want to get the best I can for my money. I guess I don't care if the paint isn't the shiniest paint in the world, but I want it to hold up well enough to all sorts of conditions. I guess I will need a primer for this too...oh and what kind of prep work do I need to do?"
Needless to say the guy laughed at me a bit because I had no idea where to start. Truth is, I had done some research, but I was still very undecided. I wanted the best rust inhibiting primer and paint combo I could afford. After talking to him for a good 45 minutes, I rejected any sort of single or double stage professional paint that they would mix up for me there...and wait straight to POR-15.
The beauty of this product was that I didn't need to do ANY prep work, I didn't need to use a primer and it was the TOUGHEST paint the guy knew of. The paint is advertised like this:
"POR-15® is a high-tech, high performance rust-preventive coating designed for application directly on rusted or seasoned metal surfaces. It dries to an incredible rock-hard, non-porous finish that won't chip, crack, or peel, and it prevents rust from recurring by protecting metal from further exposure to moisture.
Use it to coat rusty frames, floor pans, farm equipment, marine equipment, or even a heavily corroded battery tray.
POR-15® is sensitive to UV light (sun) and must be topcoated for prolonged exposure to sunlight.
Topcoating is not required for areas not exposed to sunlight."
There is also a warning on the label that says to use gloves because "once the paint dries to your skin the only way it will come off is with time. Expect at least 2 weeks"
True enough, I had splotchy black hands for the next 2.5 weeks!
I had to call the manufacturer to find out how much to thin the paint. Turns out they require their own special "solvent". From what I remember, it doesnt need much thinner to spray it. I sprayed my engine bay in 3 coats of the POR 15, including the front frame and insides of my fenders (also the part where leaves tend to collect by the doors)
I dont have a picture of the completed engine bay at the moment (I might be able to find some when I go home tomorrow) Right now, this is what I took a few hours ago in the fading sunlight.
Yeah, my engine bay still needs alot of work...all in due time over Christmas break!
Time for another pause in the worklog - girlfriend wants me to clean the kitchen! I wish I hadn't lost my pictures!
since I was impatient. I went w/ the ZX2 struts and Ground Controls, but I went with the MX3 strut mounts and bearings...which means I had to drill them out to fit! 
I could have spent the same amount of money and gotten the ZX2 mounts which come w/ the bearings!
