Refreshing my GS Engine Bay

[Guest rusty_bucket]

So my GS is a pretty low mile original, but it was not stored well for many years. It now runs like a top and my dad did a pretty darn good driveway paint job on it, but there is just light surface rust on many of the surfaces in the engine bay. I am in no position to handle a frame off restore on the car, besides, it runs and drives to well as it is.....most of what it needs is only cosmetic so I'm going to be handling all of this I can as a frame-on refreshing. I've removed the passenger front wheel and hub and am cleaning it and installing new inner and outer bearings. I pressure washed the inside of the wheel well to remove the old 50% gone, 100% cracked and peeling underlayment. I removed the Antenna access plate and replaced the original broken antenna with a spare I had. Removed all the passenger side engine bay accessories, pressure washed the sheet metal and low pressure washed around the motor along with a pick, screwdriver and toothbrush. Then a gentle degrease and rinse, prime and paint. I'll reassemble the wheel and well, then clean and replace the accessories. It came with an old set of aluminum AllState air horns that I may attempt to restore and replace although the original horns work fine. Here are some pictures:

I'll post more pics as I progress. Trying to be done with the engine bay and both front wheels and wells by the end of the weekend. I know it's wishful thinking.

[Rufcar]

Great job! As you can see now its mostly all labor and the finished product is fun to look at and you have a great feeling of accomplishment too. I did the bottom of several cars over the years. I did a 59 Rolls that took me an entire winter to do. Scrapping off the sprayed on undercoating off the frame cleaning off the nuts and bolts but the finished job was like jewelry! Again good job! Tkx for the pics there always welcome.

[Guest rusty_bucket]

Thanks! I've really enjoyed it, but realize it is all labor and spray paint. So far I'm in about 24 total work hours with another 16 to go. So a full work week to refresh a big portion of the front end by myself. Not a bad trade off I suppose. I'm sure a shop would charge a grand or so to do it if I could even find someone willing to do it at all.

[Rufcar]

a couple of years ago a client asked me to strip and paint his car paint the firewall and front end components paint the engine bay redo the interior wood and touch up the leather and do some chrome work for show of a 1954 Bentley MK VI it was over 90 K! and it was a nice car to start with but not perfect. I suggested we do the remainder of the bottom maybe another 5-7K and he said he'd do it. He took it to show and the only points they took off was the bottom he didn't do and lost!

I have a thing I do with car bottoms and that is every time I have it on the lift for something I try and do a small section of the bottom maybe just clean off some grease or maybe clean off some nuts and bolt etc. In a yr there's a lot done! Just keep on what your doing and it will all come together nicely!

Edited April 25, 2014 by Rufcar (see edit history)

[lrlforfun]

OK Rusty: When I first got in the used car business the industry standard was to clean and paint and clear everything in the engine bay. Many years later it is still cleaning of course. When the metal and rubber comes out real clean the detail shops use a few sprays of tire dressing. That saved a whole lot of mess. Than again sometimes a 50 year old has a bigger mess to clean up. Hey, wait....I'm 62 Mitch