shampooing the engine in my '76, any tips?

Hey everyone,
I'm going to be shampooing/cleaning the engine in my '76 this weekend. I've done this on my other cars a couple of times in the past but never on my vette. Anything I should know besides covering the distributor, battery, etc.? Any tips?
The stuff i'll probably get is from "Gunk" (engine shampoo).
Cheers.

Don't forget covering the carb. Nothing magic about it, I use a degreaser, but be careful, some of the stronger stuff takes the ink off of decals.

If the engine isnt really filthy, the best thing Ive found to do is use a gentle dishwashing soap, like "Dawn".....Wet engine, wash with Dawn and hose off completely....then I let the engine run to dry about 90 percent of the water, and wipe off the rest with clean towels....works good.

The degreaser is a good idea too. I used foil to cover the parts, is that still a good idea?

YUP! Foil works really well.

76sting said: Hey everyone, I'm going to be shampooing/cleaning the engine in my '76 this weekend. I've done this on my other cars a couple of times in the past but never on my vette. Anything I should know besides covering the distributor, battery, etc.? Any tips? The stuff i'll probably get is from "Gunk" (engine shampoo). Cheers.

I don't think you need to cover the battery!

don't forget to blow dry it

Thank's for the blow-dry tip.
That reminds me, I should probably apply a conditioner after the shampoo, then blow-dry.

my teenage daughters can help you with that

No need to cover the battery.
Dawn can strip the wax off the paint, but can work on the engine.
Can I use an exhaust hose from the tailpipe as a blow dryer?
One more thing. Hank, you can get your teenage daughter to help? You are my hero! How did you do it? I want to do that to mine!!!

Ken Styer