Hi,

I'll second the parts washer quest, they are great toys.  Cheapest is a
Spray-and-Wash bottle, set to 'stream' for blasting at the grease, followed
by 'spray' to rinse off after some scrubbing. What to do with the drippings?
Well a baby's plastic bathtub is about the same length/width as say a
vanagon trans, or almost an engine, and an upside down plastic milk crate
will keep the parts up out of the murk.  Boy, am I cheap. ;).

Next step up is the same thing for $60Cdn, with a hand spray unit attached
to a tiny tank/sink with suction tube to the bottom, at the local FLAPS for
half price this week, still junk.

What did I do when I wanted a real washer.....?   Had an old low pressure
12v fuel pump, from a carbed bus, plenty of vinyl tubing.  Got a plastic
sink, decent sized, and an empty 5gal steel kerosene drum.  Put 2 gals of
Varsol in it, ran a drain from sink to drum, tubing to the pump, with
another length up to the sink.  Bought a $1.49 parts scrubbing brush and was
done, just power it with a battery charger.  Since I had the fuel pump, the
whole thing cost about $15.  The large drum acts as a settling tank,
probably was ruining the pump with grit, but it was spare anyhow.  Anyone
know if Varsol is flammable BTW?  ;)

Best homemade parts washer (not mine) was made from an old round corner
Coca-Cola cooler, one where you slid your bottle along to the end of the
racks to pull it out.  Just lifted the steel lid, pump started running and
the bottle rack with some mesh on top was where you set the parts.  It was
nice and big, had a parts brush with hose built in.

See what you can do on a budget.  bye, Tim