Refreshing My Engine Compartment

351mclaren · Post by **351mclaren** » Tue May 22, 2007 10:17 pm

Guys. Help! I want to thoroughly clean and refresh my engine compartment without going chrome crazy. I want to make it look show room. I dont have any rust like some of the cars, I just have some dirt from over the years. Like the finish on the AC is steel gray with no rust but dingy (caked up dirt). I want to bring it back without resurfacing it or polishing it because then it will lose the original texture. Where is the cheapest place to get OE replacement parts for this car. FORD OE replacement, not after market. I particularly want to know where to locate that thick long black hose and cover that comes across near the fire wall and runs along the back side of the intake. Also, is the cheapest price for the under the hood pad $99?

svo413 · Post by **svo413** » Tue May 22, 2007 10:49 pm

For the best deal on OEM Ford parts is Motorcraft. I gladly recommend Gyrhead for good deals. They drop ship from Motorcraft.

http://www.gyrhead.com/

Rather than replacing everything, try clean and refinishing as needed. I start with Simple Green 50/50 with water. Cleaner paste wax works well on the painted parts. Last resort, replaint with Eastwood paints.

Many OEM parts are obsolete or hard to trake down after 20 years. Use the Ford parts manuals and the Motorcraft website to find the part numbers.

No Capri hood pads in repro.

Kevin

Post by **negusm** » Tue May 22, 2007 11:38 pm

Are we talking a Capri or Mustang ascMcLaren?

svo413 is right on the money.

Eastwoods underhood black is a perfect match for things like air cleaners and the like. For other items like AC compresser housings, bead blasting and then protecting it with Eastwood's clear seems to work great.

Powdercoating (ask n20capri) is another great option (Eastwood has a kit).

For 85 Capris, the replacement parts are going fast. For 86 Capris, it's a little easier on the engine compartment since most stuff was used till 1993.

85-86 Capri underhood insulator pads are the same as 79-82 Mustang pads. 83-86 mustang pads WILL NOT WORK!

-Mike

1985 Motorsport Capri · Wed May 23, 2007 1:29 am

mike,
does anyone repo or have nos of the 85-86 Capri or 79-82 Mustang underhood insulator pads?

Post by **negusm** » Wed May 23, 2007 4:12 am

1985 Motorsport Capri wrote:mike,
does anyone repo or have nos of the 85-86 Capri or 79-82 Mustang underhood insulator pads?

NOPE!

There may be very very VERY few floating around aout there. I searched and called and called and called for like 1 year and finally gave up. Ebay coughed one up for me. I got it for $150 BIN. Then the same guy put his last one up and it went for $300.

I got a very slightly used one from a guy...by slight I mean I got it in the oem Ford box but it was definitely on a car for a bit. It is 95% all there but is a bit brittle.

Hank in Florida used to have a stack of them but like EVERYONE I called, they sold out their supply for like $70 each, tried to reorder from Ford and found out the hard way that Ford was O-U-T. For some reason the word never got out quick enough or some places may have held back and jacked up their price and you'd see a few more here and there like the SVO pads which you can get if you know who to call.

I imagine one day repros will be out...but it's gonna be a looooong time. SVO pads will be made first I imagine.

-Mike

Post by **negusm** » Wed May 23, 2007 4:14 am

Also 79-84 Capri pads are different somehow. I don't know the exact difference. But I know the pad on my 1984 hood is different (the vacuum sticker hole is on the other side). Pictures of 85-86 Capris have the holes in the same place as the 79-82 Mustang pads, and the parts books say the Capri uses the 79-82 Mustang pad.

n20capri · Post by **n20capri** » Wed May 23, 2007 12:44 pm

It's going to be tough to get OEM parts for these cars...they are too old. Your gonna have to refinish/restore. As mentioned above, Eastwood has a ton of restoration paints and finishes along with their powdercoat kit. I powdercoated all my brackets etc but they aren't 100% factory correct.

You can bring back the AC compressor and like brackets fairly easily w/o polishing. You could use come scotchbrite to lightly buff the surface bringing back the natural look...You could then coat the brackets with a clear coat to maintain the finish. There are a number of other techniques to bring back the new as well...Again, Eastwood will most likely have everything you need in regards to restoration...