Shark Attack

On this 84 im working on, the bushings in the tentioner pivot are wore out thus tilting the arm forward and making the belt ride fwd on all the sprockets and rubbing the harmonic, thus chewing the belt away. WHAT A MESS UNDER MY TB COVERS. oil soaked black GOOK, EVERYWHERE.

what do you think if i make sure all the oil holes are plugged and gently take a pressure washer to the front of the engine???

this sounds like a bad idea at first, but the more i look at it, im not seeing any reason why not, if im careful.

David L.

Hello, Erie!

You ARE gonna replace the belt and the tensioner bushings, I trust Otherwise, you'll be needing to do way more than that!

No harm in blasting the front of the motor, especially after removing the covers. Won't hurt to cover the distributor and avoid hitting it with a blast.

Imo000

Here is a better and more gentle alternative. Instead of the power washer get a couple cans of break cleaner. They work better and are more controllable than a pressure washer.

JKelly

Spray the front of the engine down with simple green first, then use the pressure washer on it.

T Colvin

Shark,
I used simple green and power wash the front and bottom of the car before I did my WP/TB. It made the job a lot easier.

Mike Frye

Shark,

I'd also suggest you completely remove the alternator, tie it in a bag (if you leave the wiring connected like I did) and put it on a block or something back out of the way so it's not sitting on the floor while you're doing all this spraying.

T Colvin

Shark,
And yes what Mike said.

icsmike

Brake cleaner is the shizit though!

heinrich

dude do NOT get the water into the V or onto the distributors, trust me it can be catastrophic. You CAn wash the lower part of the engine after soaking in engine brite with good result.

heinrich

brake cleaner will absolutely make no dent in good lower engine gunk

Imo000

Allright, then how about a gallon of diesel fuel and a stiff brissled brush or a toothbrush?

heinrich

lol Imo if brake cleaner works for you, I will not stand in your way

SharkSkin

The area under the TB covers can withstand pressure washing as long as you don't hit the cam/crank seals directly. What you have to worry about is all the other places water can go and f things up, as Mike & Heinrich pointed out. You're better off with a putty knife, simple green, long parts brush and a hose with no pressure nozzle. Remove or bag up the alternator in any case.

JKelly

If you ever drive in the rain you're going to get your alternator wet. I'm not saying that pressure washing the front of the engine doesn't have it's risks and that taking preventative measures isn't good, but splash through a large puddle in heavy rain and the water sprays up to your distributor caps. Since I don't have a belly pan (ordering soon), I don't know how much that helps to deflect water.......the point is, things get wet.

JKelly

Yep.

Regular concentrated simple green works better though ; plus it doesn't make you dizzy and confused. The simple green MAX stuff sucks on engine gunk.