what's the best way to clean a dusty engine?

i just got my car a few weeks ago, it's a '97 GS-R, an the engine's pretty dirty. i was wondering what would be the best/cheapest way to clean off all the dust and dirt. my friend tells me all the great things about steam cleaning(cuz he had it done) but it's like $45, and it's not like a have oil or anything caked onto my engine. another friend of mine was telling me the spraying down my engine with water and gunk or simple green will do just as good as a job. what do you recommend?

water and simple green work great for me and my friends (its alot cheaper too)

Yea, just use water and simple green. Much cheaper that way thats for sure!

Just make sure you cover up the distributor, alternator, plug wires, etc. Don't want to ruin anything trying to get the engine clean.

Yeah, they're all very inexpensive ways to clean the engine.

Gunk degreaser and spraying with water is the most thorough method.
It gets all the hard to reach areas. Just make sure to cover the important parts.

Gunk rules! Most of the time Ive cleaned mine with Gunk and water I havent even covered anything up. Tegs are sealed up pretty good (spark plug wires, distributor, ect) and Ive never had a problem getting anything wet. Gunk wil get grease and everything off your engine but if all you have is dust then just water or simple green and water should work fine.

Here you can get like a $2 can of degreaser spray, and spray the whole engine, leave it a while and hose it off. Just make sure you cover up your alarm siren :)

There is also a product called Chemtech, which the trucks use, this is also pretty handy if your engine is really really dirty. Costs quite a bit more than normal degreaser though.