To update the list, I had asked for some recommendations on removing a
thick tar-like coating the PO had used on the interior of the car.
Normal solvents barely made a dent in the stuff, so I applied a variety
of methods and ranked them below:
Mineral spirits - did a poor job of dissolving, took many applications
to remove a small square.
Lacquer thinner - similar effect to the mineral spirits, took a lot to
cut through.
Ethyl Alcohol - OK, I admit it, I spilled a little Bushmills onto the
coating, it didn't have much effect, what a waste of a good Irish! I did
try pure denatured ethyl, still did nothing.
Heat gun - would have worked if I had enough patience, but extremely
tedious and messy, hard to get crud out of creases. Stinks too.
Oven Cleaner - no measurable effect. I was surprised by this, but
whatever this coating was, it was impervious to lye.
Freeze and Shatter - the idea is to freeze the coating then shatter it
with a hammer to mechanically break it. Since I have a lab, I have
access to liquid nitrogen, so I brought a small Dewar home and applied
it to one of the worse areas. After the mist cleared I applied several
lethal hammer blows to the coating, it cracked and chipped, but a thin
film of it still clung to the sheet metal and was very difficult to
remove. It was a fun experiment, however. Warning: LN2 is extremely
dangerous, it will cause extreme burns and will freeze appendages
instantly with the result of them falling off and/or shattering! Use
heavy gloves and good ventilation. Do not allow LN2 around people who
may suddenly shout "Y'all hold my beer and watch this!"
Methyl Ethyl Ketone - The Holy Grail. Wow, this s&$t really worked!
Luckily I had an OSHA respirator, as what few brain cells I have left
would have surely been killed off. It did a very quick and very easy job
of dissolving the crud down to bare metal. Warning: MEK is a seriously
nasty solvent, do not huff it, do not let it touch your skin, use in a
well-ventilated area. Kills brain cells dead! It is extremely flammable,
make sure your work light is shatter-proof and don't light up your fag
until you have stepped out.
Once the interior was down to its gleaming sheet metal, I TIG welded a
couple spots to reinforce the pedal brackets and around the tunnel
transition, applied the POR15 metal prep, then two coats of POR15 to
seal the metal. After a couple days of curing, I applied an etching
primer on the POR15, followed by three coats of Lizardskin thermal
insulating paint.
After installing all the rubber plugs I applied additional foil-backed
insulation to the firewall, foot wells and tunnel. I cut access ports in
the insulation to the spark plug and rocker cover plugs, a little rubber
cement holds them in place but allows removal. A 3" hole saw works well
here. The interior is now finally ready for the carpet.
It will be nice to be able to drive this car in the hot summer without
roasting.
Next week I'll begin installing the 427 FE motor (just kidding).
Cheers,
Bugz
_______________________________________________
Support Team.Net http://www.team.net/donate.html
Tigers@autox.team.net
http://autox.team.net/mailman/listinfo/tigers
http://www.team.net/archive
|