Picked up a 71 Dart from the Northeast yesterday, and as the seller described, there is a lot of cleaning up to do. He was right. From behind the front bumper, surrounding radiator, inside fenderwells, firewall, and entire bottom of the car is covered with I don't know what. The original purchase order on the car included an "undercoating job" but I think it has been redone several times since. It was about 100 degrees yesterday when I put the car on the trailer, and there was some fluids dripping off the gas tank, rear, and just about every place else. Best I can tell, its not engine, trans, or rear end fluids, just some nasty stuff. I hit the engine compartment with a hose and a lot of the heavy stuff came leaving a whitish looking substance, almost like grease. I rubbed several spots with a rag lightly and some of it came off, but for the most part, I just smeared the stuff around. I want to save what appears to be paint in outstanding condition beneath the stuff. What should I use to get the darn greasy junk off the car without destroying the paint? I know the answer to the bottom of the car...lots of hours of scraping.

I'd try some mineral spirits. If you put it in a garden sprayer, you could soak it down good, then rinse it off with a power sprayer. I'd be sure to do it in a shady spot though, and don't let it dry. Mineral spirits should not hurt the paint. My 2cents worth.

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1953 Plymouth Belvedere, 1979 Dodge B-100 Van

I might suggest you at least try Simple Green, and Castrol Super Clean to see what they might do. It won't hurt, and you might find a decent, reasonably safe solution to the problem.

You really don't want to have to resort to a heat gun and scraper.....trust me.

Roger

Razor blade scraper if you want to do it the semi-hard way. Dartvader swears by a propane torch with just enough heat to bubble the undercoat but not warp the metal.

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

I second the castrol super clean stuff. Man that thing can melt away 50 years $#!+... i use on every serious repair job and it worths its weight in gold.

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Juan Ignacio Caino

Please use e-mail button istead of PM'ing. I do log in sometimes but I'll be answering quicker thru e-mail.

I used some stuff from the POR-15 people that seemed to work OK for stripping paint & a normal thickess undercoating layer. It would be hard pressed to go through many layers, but it may be ideal once the bulk is scrapped off.

It burned my skin on contact, so be careful an wear googles and gloves.

For removing gunk with out hurting the paint, I used a product that the body shop had called either Prepsol or Prep-So Clean. I don't remember exactly what it was called. But an auto body place should be able to get you what you need. This stuff would remove window sealant, grease, that yellow 3M weatherstrip adhesive. All without damaging the paint.

John

After trying everything, I used some of the Castrol Super Clean. Wow...took 90% of the crud off the inside of the engine compartment. I found that the crud was covered with dirt and something else. Blew most of that off with the hose. Then, put on the Castrol, let it soak, and washed it off. It hasn't gotten everything off, but a majority of it came off. Just for kicks, I took my garden hose and began spraying down the leaf springs and gas tanks, and stuff was falling off in sheets. I think if I can get the car to a power washer, a lot more of the junk will come off.