Did you know there are places you can clean your car a concourse judge will never see? Sure you did. Some places are obvious, but today I am going to show you some you may have missed. And more importantly, keeping some of these places clean may help keep your car rust and trouble free. Who would have thought you could make your car better just by cleaning it? Of course, doesn’t the old saying go, “A clean car goes faster…”
This first place is good for all the mainstream Alfas. I do not have enough experience to discuss the early cars. And the 164 is foreign to me too. Perhaps at some time or another you have heard someone mention the “secret compartment” in the front wheel wells? Well, the secret is out! On spiders there is a panel in the front and rear of the front wheel wells. Other cars might only have the rear panel. The front panel just conceals all the headlight guts and really does not hide anything. The rear panel is the tricky one. On the passenger side of most spiders is where the charcoal canister is located. If you ever install a Greg Gordon silicone hose kit you will need to get in there. But the more important reason to dig into the rear compartments is to clean out what will probably be a massive collection of dirt, debris, and leaves. Do not ask me how it all gets in there, but once it does, it stays forever. Or at least until you clean all the junk out. So what difference does it make to have an extra few ounces of dirt in some place you will never see? It makes a huge difference!! Dirt and rotting leaves have a best friend called moisture. Need I say more? Moisture sits in the bottom and rots out your body and rockers almost as fast as the leaves you did not even know were there. As far as I can tell, if you clean out these spaces every couple years your car will be in good shape.
Another great place to keep clean is under the dash. I know this seems trivial, but you would be amazed at how dirty your hands can get feeling around under there. We all try to keep the interiors of our cars clean, but somehow dust collects on all the wiring, fuses, and electronic devices stuffed into the dash. I am not really sure how one would go about keeping a location such as this clean, but at the very least you should make a good wiping down part of any under dash repairs or wire hunting you may undertake in the future. You might find the colors on your wiring diagrams match up better when all your wires are shiny and bright!
Ok, so what if I told you there was a place you looked every time you drive your Alfa, but have probably never considered cleaning? And what if I told you this was one of the easiest things to keep clean? I am talking about your rear view mirror. But not just on the outside. Sure we all give the mirror a nice once over when we do the windows and windshields. But have you ever taken the rear view mirror off the car and taken it apart? They are not very hard to remove. The Milano mirror just pulls right off as part of a safety feature. I am pretty sure two screws will leave a spider mirror in your hand. Both mirrors come apart the same way. The plastic surround on the face of the mirror can be carefully removed. The various layers of glass and mirror are just sitting underneath. This is your chance to get all the dust and haze out from the inside! I know I have done this to all the Alfas I have owned. And even then I have to do it again on occasion when dust finds it way inside. Remember, installation is the reversal of removal! Hah!
So what about under your car? We all know about keeping the engine clean. And certainly the undercarriage gets a good spray down when the car is washed. Well other parts down there have not seen the light of day since your car was made! Or at least since your last engine swap or clutch job. A good example is the heat shield over the Catalytic convertor on a Milano. For whatever reason I seem to be taking it on and off all the time. And every time I do, I clean it thoroughly. But before I clean it each time, I take note of how dirty it is, and what sort of mess is making it dirty. Being as the tranny is in the back on the Milano, the most prominent fluid is engine oil. But it could be fuel, or coolant, or brake fluid. Who knows? On a 105/115 car you will find the transmission mount/cross member in the same location. When you take it off you can see it is almost scoop or shovel like in design. The part the engineers screwed up on is the direction. It faces forward! So next time you do a clutch job, or have one done, be sure this little cross member gets cleaned out. The first couple times I did it, I thought the welding was really poor. But as I cleaned harder I realized what I thought was big globs of metal was actually small pebbles embedded in hardened muck! Gross!
Ok, so now you get the idea. There is more to keeping your car clean than simply waxing the beautiful paint. There are all sorts of places you can keep clean that really make a difference in the life of your car. So next time you are cleaning your car, try and find some and make it just that little bit cleaner. A judge may never see it, but you will know it is clean. And you are the one who has to drive the car, not the judge. Clean on!
