Degreasing.

I was dreading this step, and I was debating calling it "good enough" without cleaning the bay.  With the number of people telling me I should shoot paint in the engine room, I figured I'd at least clean it up a little.

Step 1: Take pictures of stays (ie brackets) and bolts so you remember where the hardware goes.

Step 2: Take some good "before" shots.  Like every good jenny craig or proactiv commercial, having a good "before" picture is half the battle.

Step 3: Buy Simple Green (you don't even need the "industrial" or "automotive" stuff... the regular bottle works great).  As the bottle tells you, spray it on, scrub a little, and then follow it up with a damp cloth... a microfiber one helps prevent scratching the pristine paintwork.

Here's what it looks like after the damp cloth:

And here's some good Before and After shots:

Front:

Rear

And the engine room... from Halfway done, to Done.  It's a pain in the butt getting behind some of those hard lines without taking them off though:

And finally the denouement, the jenny craig Before and After shots:

Definitely worth it.

As a side benefit, your garage smells like one of those smelly, yet delightful, green Mr Sketch markers you had as a kid.

please enjoy.

-J