Help me plan my engine bay clean up

[Matthew Abate]

I'm getting into the process of welding up the little holes and imperfections in the body of my Z from things the previous owner did to her (aftermarket mirrors, mud flaps, etc.) and want to start planning the engine bay clean up process while I'm at it.

One thing I know I don't know is what is the list of stuff that can be tidied, and what can't change? I'm running a 1983 F54 with a P90a and two SUs. Haven't gotten past that on the configuration yet (lots happening in parallel).

Any tips and tricks are much appreciated.

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[Kurbycar32]

Keep all of your old crap including mounting hardware until the job is done.  There are rubber grommets, fuel rail insulators, hard to find tiny bolts etc. in there that are difficult to find.  While you can generally get new everything, its hard to figure out exactly which version of those part you need without the original to compare against.  

I wish that i had redone my fuel hardlines in the engine bay.  When i was in there the lines looked old but i didn't want to slow down the project and figured i could do them later.  That's all true but i think it would have been easier to bend new tubes with the motor out of the way.

Get some of that electrical wrap and rewrap your wire harness.  Its basically electrical tape without the adhesive.  Minimal investment and its like an hours worth of work when everything is taken apart.

If you are planning on repainting the engine bay pull the wiper cowel and pay attention to the area under it. 

[jonathanrussell]

This is the tape I used.

http://www.amazon.com/Corvette-Harness-Stick-Correct-Black/dp/B0029D6DA2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00

 

[Captain Obvious]

jonathanrussell, Where there any manufacturers part numbers printed on that tape you bought off Amazon?

When I redid my harness, I used Elliott Tape EE 201, which is dry (no adhesive at all). It sticks to itself very well, but I think the original tape from Datsun did have a small amount of adhesive on it.

[sweatybetty]

11 hours ago, Matthew Abate said:

Any tips and tricks are much appreciated.

 

take lots of pictures

[jonathanrussell]

Captain,

I ordered from Amazon and it was shipped from Corvette Central. Here is the link to the item on the Corvette Central site. 

http://www.parts123.com/corvettecentral/dyndetail.pta?catalog=0000050e&ukey=47275

Unfortunately I can't put my hands on the Corvette Central tape for another month to look for any numbers. I don't recall there being any numbers. I think the tape came in a nondescript ziplock bag. There may be a number on the cardboard roll the tape wraps around but I can't be sure. The Corvette Central tape definitely did not have any adhesive. I used the tape to re-wrap my 240z engine harness. I completely unwrapped the old tape (took lots of photos), and cleaned up any problem areas. The original factory tape was very much like the Corvette Central tape but with some sort of hardened adhesive like substance that had dried and powdered somewhat with age. It wasn't really sticky at all and was nothing like electrical tape. I was able to use Windex and shop towels to clean up all of the dried residue off of the exposed wires before re-wrapping with the Corvette Central tape. I am pleased with the results. The process of wrapping and overlapping and the natural clingy nature of the Corvette Central tape resulted in something that looks great (Factory) and seems like it will last at least another 40+ years. I have made the mistake of using adhesive electrical tape in the past and my experience has been that it turns into a mess quickly with heating and cooling.

Hope that helps.

 

[Matthew Abate]

Anyone have any good pics they can share and describe the choices they made? I saw a couple good ones on the catch can thread.

[jfa.series1]

Hi Matt,

You didn't say if the engine and tranny are out.  If so, lots of opportunity to clean up the fuel and hydraulic lines as well as the wiring discussed above.  Here is my resto'd engine bay - pretty well stock except for emissions plumbing gone from the balance tube.  Like you, I had holes in the right side inner fender to repair from an a/c system no longer in the car.

Jim

[Matthew Abate]

Sorry. Yes, they are out. I'm doing a complete tear down.

[Captain Obvious]

Were you asking for pics of the tape that we used to re-wrap harnesses, or something more complicated?

[Matthew Abate]

I'm looking for advice and idea on getting the bay as tidy as possible, not making it look factory stock.

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[CanTechZ]

Here is a link to a large collection of S30 engine and engine bay pictures for inspiration:

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOOstuMLWQ-T-nfkSMbw1tvyAboqyIZEECGlrSo1O7NPbcNEB-Of7X1-LCM-BVavA?key=VXlBaFpISGZBcTl1T1lTcVVuUEVwbWRwMkJPekdn

I book marked this page after @gwri8 posted it last November.