Well, to put it another way, "clean code" can be the means of achieving an end, but if you tell them you're replacing existing code with clean code that sounds

Well, to put it another way, "clean code" can be the means of achieving an end, but if you tell them you're replacing existing code with clean code that sounds like a waste of time. You should be able to describe some concrete goal you are working towards and they should leave it to you to worry about how you do it.