Hey everyone,

I have been getting a few messages about how to detail the engine bay using Simplegreen so I thought I would write up a quick step by step to help some people out. Now, I am not a professional detailer, just a guy who likes to keep his cars clean. Since my S was just done last week, I decided to use my fiances Nissan for the demonstration. I have used many engine cleaning products in the past and found Simplegreen to be my favorite. One main thing to remember with Simplegreen is that it DOES eat away at soft metals such as aluminum used in our cars. The key is to leave it on for only a few minutes and to rinse thoroughly. These pictures don't show a huge difference (using a cheap camera and the sun light) but it will give you a good idea.

Here is my S after same treatment.



Step one: gather products: one bottle of Simplegree, a can of Black Magic engine shine, towels, a few plastic bags and kitty is optional



Next we look at the 01 Nissan Sentra with 158k Minnesota driven winters. It does not look too bad cause it has been detailed about a year ago...





Next we take the plastic bags and cover up any major electrical components such as fuse boxes ect...



Now the Simplegreen is sprayed directly on the engine. Note, I do not dilute, this is full strength. I leave it on for about 2-3 minutes



Afterwards it is hosed of with low to normal water pressure. Make sure to get all of it off. Leaving any on to dry may damage the metals over a long period of time



Now I take a towel and dry as much as I can by hand. Afterwards, I drive the car around the block to get the rest of the water off. Now we are ready to apply the engine shine



Once that is applied, I drive the car around the block again to let the engine shine dry. This may take a few days to look 100%. In these pictures, it still looks a little runny. I will follow up with some more pictures later once we drive the car a few hours up to Duluth today.

 

Not sure if I should follow this DIY since its not on a S2000 but a Nissan for a write up..lol

 

I don't blame you sir. Do it at your own risk! I didn't mean to infect the S2K community with Nissan pics, but like I said, the S was already clean. And thus, it would have been been weird to see a clean engine get clean, followed with clean after pics

 

BTW did you forget to cover the alternator in the process of covering it up or just no picture of that side?

 

BTW did you forget to cover the alternator in the process of covering it up or just no picture of that side?
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thanks for mentioning that
yes, it was covered as well but not visible in the pic.