Yeah, I did that on mine as well. Worked just like it did for you. I took a little wire brush and worked in a little before I hosed it off and I didn't have any paint left to contend with afterward either. The fun part was digging out all the old gross oily/tar like crud and debris from the front cross-member.
Roger
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07 Ford Escape Limited (first new car ever)
78 F350 Flatbed (Dentside)
67 F100 Pickup (Bumpside)
65 Falcon 2-door Wagon
63 Falcon Ranchero
Sure you can use it on the engine. I'm going to clean the engine and transmission I have. But it might take off the paint. I don't care about that because I'm painting mine. You can also clean engine parts with this stuff from what I heard. I've seen some pictures posted on the Internet showing the results. pretty impressive. Just do a google search on cleaning engine with oven cleaner.