Just like the title says. I am strripping down my chassis and I need to know if anyone has an easier way of taking this mystery gunk off. I have tried just scraping at it but, I would imagine that there is an easier way. Any help is appreciated.

 

luckily its cold, best time to do it, just take a chisel and hammer and spend a weekend in there, that's the only way i know of. most power tools gunk up and stuff.

 

Gunk Carb Cleaner will take it right off! Spray a shitload on, let it sit, do a quick scrape and wipe off. Buy at least 5 or 6 cans, lots of rags, and a respirator or good mask.

 

dry ice and a chisel

 

You can even use the citrus solvent that is used for removing sticker adhesive and gum. Just scrape off the majority of it with a putty knife first. It works in the same way that carb cleaner does, but you aren't sucking fumes for an hour with this.

 

Thanks for the help guys. This should make it a lot easier.

 

Not that this hasn't been covered before, but I'll say it again...
On a cold day (maybe around 50 degrees) I did the entire car (FC) in about an hour with an air chisel.

 

imo best way is just got at it with a hammer and chisel

i havent tried dry ice, but carb cleaner or anything else will make a mess without helping that much. I also tried a heavy duty orange cleaner and that did nothing.

i did the rear of my fc in about a 3 hours, but that was while trying different methods and split between 2 days

 

I used dry ice. It worked really easy. I did it in sections... just spread the ice around and let it set for a minute or so... then move it to the next section and whack the frozen area with a soft mallet. The tar jumps right off. I found that you have to be careful how hard you hit the car... the floorboards are pretty thin and dent easily.
For the sides of the trans tunnel, I put the dry ice in plastic grocery bags so I could hold it in place.
Just a caution... that dry ice is very cold. While doing this, I gave myself frost bite in a section of the palm of my hand about the size of a dime... no big deal... just had the skin peal off and it healed just fine... just be a little careful.

 

Definitely refrain from using chemicals. Anything that cools down the stuff is going to make it chip off in big chunks. Since you are in AL you might not have as much luck. I did it on my first car in PA in the summer with a hammer and chisel. The stuff was goopy so it took about 7-8 hours. I did it last week when it was 30-40 outside and the whole thing took about 2.5 hours with a hammer and chisel.

 

Just wondering if I'm on the same page as everyone else...it seems that most of you are talking about the seam weld, whereas I was thinking about the black gasket gunk. If it's the former, then yeah, what they all said. If it's the latter, then really the orange cleaner made short work of it for me.

 

goto any supermarket and goto the butcher people...most supermarkets (i think) use dry ice to pack meats for shipping..so when they get shipments itll be in dry ice

 

Dry ice without a doubt. Doesn't work all that well on the seam sealer but makes quick work out of the tar. Let it sit for a few minutes, smack it with the hammer and vacuum it up... very little cleanup required. The Impreza I just did took me all of 45 minutes with a little bit of cleanup with mineral spirits. Mineral spirits works well on the left over residue w/o all of the harsh chemicals.

My next cage project that requires seam welding, I'm going to try liquid nitrogen... supposedly gets rid of the seam sealer as well.

 

The dry ice technique is sounding really tempting. I am going to have to call around for that one. I know someone mentioned getting it at a supermarket or butcher, but does any one else know where else I can get it?

 

Look up Ice in your yellow pages. Most large distributors will have it. IIRC it's about $.17-.20 per pound. 30 lbs will do.

Make sure you have the time to do it. The Dry Ice won't last overnight.

My trick is to put it in plastic grocery bags and crush it up a little. The bags make it easy to move around and keeps the ice from getting mixed up with all the chipped tar.

Get two areas going at the same time otherwise you're standing around waiting for the ice to work because removal goes so fast. Once the first spot is ready, move a couple of bags to another area and pound away.

 

I did mine with a heat gun and some scrappers..it comes off really easily once it gets gooey..and then you can wipe it witha rag and its totally clean

 

Its in the 20s outside here in cleveland, so I am jsut going out there witha rubber mallet, and it is cracking off pretty easily.

 

It is in the teens tempwise here in upstate NY...the rubber mallet works perfectly! Anyone know how much weight all that tar adds up to?

 

Maybe this is a stupid question but I was going to get my chasis sandblasted, will that stuff sandblast off? If not dry ice it is.

 

Sometimes it depends on the compound used. In my experience, if it's too rubbery, the sand doesn't really have all that much of an effect.... If the sand does work... it takes a long time. Dry ice it to get it off then sandblast to clean up what's left The less time spent sandblasting, the better IMO.

 

how about a wirewheel? Thats what we used... just make sure you make a breathing mask.