There are times when a good old-fashioned painting and detail party is in order. These projects are fun because they are easy to complete quickly—especially when staring down a dozen other long-term projects that seem to extend forever! When the engine in my son's El Camino spun a rod bearing, the call went out for a replacement small-block. We dug up a TBI-injected '93 Chevy pickup engine that was in decent shape, except for the deep embedded layer of grease and oil that coated the entire engine. Once we excavated most of the offending scourge, it was time for a few spray-can-detailing tricks to transform our soggy excuse for a small-block into a photo-worthy street star. We spent a few bucks on a swap-meet Edelbrock Performer intake, a Holley 600-cfm carburetor, and a junkyard HEI to replace the original TBI intake and computerized distributor. To make everything look pretty, we experimented with Eastwood's budget Soda-Blast kit, along with a few cans of paint. The derelict engine now looks Tinseltown fabulous powering the El Camino somewhere in the wilds of Colorado. It's amazing what a simple cleansing and a little paint will do for an engine's street cred.
Parts List
Description PN Source Price Eastwood Soda-Blast kit 13943 Eastwood $34.99 Eastwood Aluma-Blast, 11 ounce 10109Z Eastwood 11.99 Eastwood Matte Black, 11 ounce 12032Z Eastwood 12.99 Eastwood Pre-Painting Prep spray 10041Z Eastwood 7.99 VHT Gloss Engine black, 11 ounce 13827Z Eastwood 9.99 Performer intake manifold 2101 Swap Meet 50.00 HEI distributor Used Junkyard 10.00 Pertronix HEI cap and rotor kit D4001 Summit Racing 30.97 ACCEL spark-plug wire kit 4041K Summit Racing 35.97 Gates serpentine tensioner pulley 38001 RockAuto 15.31 Gates idler pulley 38006 RockAuto 12.72 Dorman A/C bypass pulley 34152 RockAuto 29.79 Gates serpentine belt K060970 RockAuto 13.71 Made 4 You wire separators 50-35611 Summit Racing 38.99
We started with a greasy yet decent 350ci small-block Chevy that we pulled from a junkyard-bound ’92 Chevy pickup with a mortally wounded trans. We wanted to retain the factory serpentine belt drive, its 90-amp OE alternator, the power-steering pump, and the pulleys but discarded the stock TBI intake.
After completely degreasing the engine at the car wash, the next step was to clean inside the grunge-infested valve covers with multiple shots of Easy-Off oven cleaner. Don’t buy the foo-foo “green” cleaner; it doesn’t work nearly as well as the industrial-strength version.
Next, we used some blue painters tape to mask the carb pad. Lightly tapping around the gasket perimeter will perforate the tape, making it much easier to remove.
Eastwood sells a budget introductory Soda-Blast kit that did a great job on our used Performer intake. We did this blasting outside where we wouldn’t care when the soda went everywhere. Heavy-duty abrasives would really abuse the soft aluminum, so we opted for the less-aggressive baking-soda material. Due to corroded aluminum, the manifold was clean but left an inconsistent finish that required paint.
After cleaning and blasting the aluminum accessory brackets (including all those nasty crevices where grease loves to hide), we hit everything with Eastwood Pre-Painting Prep to remove any remaining grease and oil and shot the pieces with primer before hitting them with Eastwood’s Aluma-Blast paint.
We also carefully masked the alternator and then hit it with Aluma-Blast to make all the cast-aluminum parts a consistent color.
We replaced the original A/C pump with a Dorman A/C bypass pulley, idler, and tensioner pulleys, as well as a new belt, all from RockAuto. We painted the pulleys with Eastwood Matte Black paint—it almost looks better than new.
The finished product is set off with a Pertronix distributor cap and rotor, and new ACCEL spark-plug wires. The wire looms are from Made 4 You, and we topped it all off with a 600-cfm Holley carburetor. The upgrade took the better part of a weekend, but the results were well worth it. If our efforts have planted ideas of performing your own creation on an engine canvas of your choosing, then our work here is done.
