Supercar Engine Cleaning: Ferrari 360

Hi there and welcome to another Car Cleaning Guru video. Here, I return to this rather nice Rosso Fiorano red Ferrari 360 I recently gave a good wash, this time to tend to its 400bhp naturally aspirated engine bay. As with most garage-kept supercars, the engine of this Ferrari really wasn't too heavily soiled, but with it never having had a proper clean as far as the owner was aware, I took the opportunity to give it a thorough going over to help show that supposedly temperamental exotic engines like this can actually be cleaned in the same manner as everyday motors. And while you obviously wouldn't perform this kind of deep clean on a regular basis, once every few years or even just a couple of times throughout the vehicle's entire life can actually help to keep it not just looking its best, but running properly too, as leaks, perishing pipes, seals and gaskets will all be far easier to spot, not to mention future maintenance cleaning being a breeze. Although a number of hours was spent cleaning the awkward engine bay, it was far from a full on detail as I could easily spend the best part of a day on something like this. The aim was simply to breathe a little life back into the visible lump while adding some protection to help prevent components from fading under the sun through the glass rear window. The first part of the process was to cover any electrical connections and sensitive parts with plastic to prevent water ingression during the cleaning process, which of course on a highly strung car like this wouldn't be good. While engines are designed to be able to take a little overspray, intentionally driving water into sensitive areas as well as them being wet for extended periods of time were presumably not things on the factory's checklist, which is why I spent some time working to cover any components I didn't want water or cleaning products ending up. I secured some parts using tape to provide a tighter seal and prevent the pressurised water from blowing off the plastic during the cleaning process, and although I just used a standard blue masking tape it would probably be best to go with a more water repellent electrical tape to ensure it stays in place throughout. Once the covering was complete I went about dousing the top half of the 360's engine bay with an all purpose cleaner diluted 1 to 10 with water through a foaming trigger spray head. The reason I chose to split it into two was that with an engine bay of this size if you sprayed the entire bay you would almost certainly have areas of the cleaner drying before you've had a chance to agitate and rinse it off, so better to split it into two separate cleaning zones and try to avoid this. Once all parts of the top half had been liberally sprayed with the all purpose cleaner it was left to dwell for a few moments in order to soften up surface dirt and grime, before being thoroughly worked in from top to bottom with a number of different soft bristle detailing brushes. First up was a standard detailing brush that was used to agitate the cleaner into all of the flat facing upper areas of the engine bay including the main red ferrari manifold, the inner side drainage channels of the rear quarter panels and the throttle body housings with the all purpose cleaner being reapplied as necessary. A soft bristled viken long reach brush with an angled head was used to agitate dirt from other slightly more awkward parts, while a trusty easy detail brush was lastly employed to give an all encompassing clean to any remaining hard to reach areas. Before moving on to cleaning the next section of the engine bay, this one was first thoroughly rinsed off to remove all cleaning product residue preventing it from drying on the surface. Prior to doing so however, I've made sure the pressure on my washer had been adequately reduced so as not to unnecessarily expose the Ferraris aging innards to an overly strong jet of water. Whilst rinsing I simply ensured I kept the stream of water moving and held the lance at what I deemed to be a relatively safe distance whilst still being able to effectively remove the soiling and product residue. Once rinsed off, I went straight on to repeating the initial cleaning process for the second part of the engine bay, this time liberally coating the airboxes, coolant reservoir, exhaust and all other surrounding areas with the all purpose cleaner, before thoroughly agitating it with the detailing brushes in the same manner as before. Rinsing off all areas of the engine bay one last time to ensure as much dirt and cleaning product residue was removed as possible, again keeping the stream of water moving and at a safe distance. Once the internals had been rinsed off, the rear painted panels of the 360 were also given a thorough wetting to make sure any product overspray that had settled on them during the cleaning process was removed. This is the main reason you would clean your engine before attending to the rest of the vehicle as there will likely be a substantial amount of overspray and residue left on the paintwork which, if you plan to then wash the car afterwards, shouldn't be too much of a concern. Here you can see the oil and grease residue running out from underneath the car that had now been removed by the cleaning process, proving that initial clean appearances can be deceptive. While the engine was still wet, I then went on to hit it with my dressing product of choice, 303 Aerospace Protectant which helps restore and give a like-new, non-glossy appearance that repels dust while providing superior protection against the harmful effects of UV rays. Perfect then for a supercar that's visible engine is exposed to the sun whenever outdoors. I generously applied it to all areas of the engine bay and left it to dwell to give time for the light film to soak in. This particular product doesn't dry on its own and requires buffing with a towel to enable its ingredients to properly bond and so once it had been left to sit for a moment I set about thoroughly working over the entire engine bay, first with a clean, dry soft bristle brush to ensure details were adequately coated, then with a couple of clean, dry microfibre towels reserved for use only on the dirtier areas of a vehicle. The reason I apply water-based dressing products to a wet engine is that I find the surface rinse water helps carry the product to all areas, providing more in-depth coverage than when dressing dry, plus you also save to kill two birds with one towel, drying and dressing simultaneously as opposed to performing the two tasks separately. Because you are also drying as well as dressing though, you need to spend some time ensuring you remove all standing water as well as buffing over the freshly dressed areas, especially if you aren't using any sort of compressed air or blower to drive it out from crevices and tight spots, which as you can see here I wasn't. Once as much surface water and dressing product residue as possible had been removed, the previously covered parts were then carefully opened up before being wiped over with the damp dressing primed towels to help them match up with the rest of the engine bay. The exhaust was then given a quick going over with some wire wool and Meguiar's metal polish, working back and forth in linear motions before being buffed off to revive the dull, tarnished look a little, although machine application with a polisher or Dremel-type tool would ideally be required in a full detail situation to help fully remove the deep tarnishing and restore a mirror-like finish. Here though, a small amount of elbow grease had to suffice. Lastly, the rear glass was cleaned to remove the overspray and water spotting that had occurred as a result of the cleaning process so that the now gleaming engine bay could be viewed in all its glory both from outside the car and from inside the cabin. Not the easiest of parts to clean, but my long reach definitely helps in contortionist situations like this. And that was that job complete. A fairly straightforward four step process of covering, cleaning, dressing and drying, which minus the time with the camera probably took me somewhere around three hours to complete. As stated earlier, this isn't something you would expose your supercar engine to frequently, however a deep clean once in a while shouldn't do any significant harm so long as exposed areas are adequately covered, streams of water are kept moving and the engine is thoroughly dried off afterwards. Subsequent maintenance cleaning including a wipe down with a damp microfibre towel primed with a little all-purpose cleaner and a light reapplication of the dressing should then help to keep things looking good as well as protected from the elements if the vehicle is used on a regular basis. Then all that was left to do was to fire the beast up, allowing the warmth of the engine on tick over to dry off any remaining unseen moisture as well as fully cure the protectant. As always, thanks for watching, be sure to subscribe to catch more car cleaning action and happy engine bay day!