Here is some engine detailing stuff I wrote up on my site. Maybe it will help a little.
Detailing a brand new car is actually harder than detailing an old beat up one. The main reason is that all you need to do is toss a bucket of water on an old car and its already looking better. Its tough to get a new car to look any better than it starts out looking. That is probably why the engine is my favorite part to detail. You need to do very little to get it looking better. Some of my methods may not agree with yours, but they are just my methods and I take no responsibility for anyone who FUBARs their car using them. Capisce?
I start out by covering my intake. I've got a short ram air intake and the filter is exposed. I just wrap a plastic bag around it and that does the trick. Cover any other exposed filters and/or blow off valves as well. Some will say to cover the alternator and distributor cap and I can't argue with them. You don't want the water to corrode anything important. Tin foil is a useful product when you are covering things. It covers and protects for the purpose of detailing your engine just fine. My solution to covering half the engine in plastic and tin foil is just common caution. I don't spray water in those directions. If they do get a little wet in the process of detailing, well.... I'm fairly sure that they aren't made of sugar and won't melt.
After you have covered everything that needs to be covered I break out the foaming engine degreaser. I'm a big fan of Gunk brand engine degreaser. I like the foaming action. It helps me see where I've got it and where I don't.
I spray the firewall down really well with it. That is the hardest part to reach so I want all the help I can get. Basically all the painted surfaces get sprayed with Gunk. I don't really do much on the top part of the engine since that will be more meticulously detailed by hand. This is just for the harder to reach areas that show up more. Any painted surface will show up if its dirty.
I only use water on the engine two times. Once is to spray off the degreaser. You should let it sit and do its magic for a little bit before you go blasting away with a water hose. I take this time to go get the hose and fill a bucket of soapy water. I've got a towel and a wash mitt especially for engines. I've got one for wheels too. I like to keep things separate. Anyway, when I get back to the engine I'll spray it down with a little more degreaser just to take care of some of the drips that you'll see and then with low pressure I spray it off. I use my thumb to change the pressure of the stream. Sometimes you want to just rinse and sometimes you need a little blast. You aren't putting out a fire here so don't go crazy.
I don't use any attachments on my hose. In fact, I cut off the metal tip of my hose. I don't want to run the risk of dinging the car with anything. I'd wear a total microfiber body suit while detailing if I could find one. I'm out of my mind insane though. Don't follow my example when you see me dressed all in microfiber like I'm working in a laboratory studying highly contagious diseases. lol
I use the wash mitt to wash down all the painted areas that I can find. If the mitt can't get under a hose or something, then I've got some towels that I use. I just use old microfibers that have been retired from my collection. Don't be afraid to cut up your hands on this job. If you can see it, then so can the judges and you might as well try and reach it with the towel. I've been known to do some pretty wild things in order to reach spots on my car. Get creative and I'm sure you can do it.
For the valve cover I use Simple Green and a tooth brush. Its amazing how clean it gets. You shouldn't have to do it that way very often. Be very careful with the simple green too. Its pretty strong stuff and you might want to dilute it just to be safe. This stuff is not good on plastics and I would probably avoid aluminum with it too. Its a really strong cleaner.
I really can't explain much more about engine detailing than that. Just keep using the tools that you have till its clean. If you can reach it then clean it. If you can't reach it then wrap towels around a tooth brush and try to reach it. Products that work well that you may not think about using under the hood are things like Tire Foam, Glass Cleaner, Armor All, and probably a few others that I can't think of.
The CD2 products I said to find are awesome. If you do a search on Google for "CD2 Engine Detailing Kit" then it will take you to a link from the Wax Depot that carries it if you can't find it in a store. K-Mart usually carries it. Anyway, the first part of the kit is a degreaser. Not necessary if you have the Gunk. However, the second product is incredible. Its an engine shine product that I've never seen the likes of before. It adds a non greasy gloss to the hoses and plastics that will blow people away. You could seriously just degrease the engine, spray it off with a hose, spray this detailer on it, and then walk away and people would think you spent hours under the hood. Its really that impressive. It will make your black valve cover or hoses or whatever under your hood just look outstanding. I spray it on and then smooth it out with shop towels. After I'm done with that I'll use 4 Star's Gloss Enhancer (a QD) and wipe down the painted areas. Here are a few examples of what this process can achieve.
I use a little glass cleaner on my intake pipe because its chrome, but that's about it for under the hood. Unless the car is modified, then you can probably just stick to the normal methods. Special cars require special care. You will know when detailing a car that has special needs.
I take special pride in detailing my engine. Because engine detailing is an art that requires every bit of skill and attention to detail that you can muster, I feel that it is the best place to show off what can truely be accomplished. When detailing my engine I have been known to take several parts off the car in order to clean areas better. I don’t know that I would suggest that for details on your client’s cars, but it is a good way of getting everything. I feel confident that when I pop my hood at a show or for someone who is just curious what I have under there, that they will see a well detailed engine bay that I can be pleased to show them.
The underside of the hood usually gets pretty gross. Clean that like you would clean anything else. Use a wash mitt and soapy water. You should actually probably do this before you do the rest of the engine. Integra drivers have it lucky because the hood will prop up at a 90 degree angle from the engine bay. That makes it way easier to clean under. Scrub scrub scrub and then QD when you are done. That will make an impressive hood. Just use your common sense and use the products you have available. I am pretty lucky with my hood. It is white and also clear coated. Sometimes it acts like a mirror for the engine. When my car is in a show I think the reflection under the hood is my favorite part.
o If you can really gloss up the areas that are possible to gloss, then you will have an appearance that many people do not get under the hood. I have had much success at car shows with my method of engine detailing. I firmly believe that the deciding factor between my car and another car has been the detail under the hood and the extent I will go to obtain the best look in the engine bay.
