Any ideas how to clean a body tub without messing up the paint to badly?

I've got an '85 toyota that I'm re-building.

Years of oil leaks, wheeling, and various other leaks have left the underside of the body and frame caked in thick gooey grime. also the interiour is filthy (the floor is caked with shit under the carpet). I'm gutting the interior and removing the whole drivetrain as part of the re-build/build-up and I want clean all of this shit off the body and frame.

Is there any good way to go about this? get some simple green and go crazy with a scrub brush? What do all those clasic car/hotrob guys do when they need to re-build their filthy junk?

What about saying screw the paint and having the whole thing sand blasted? how much would that cost?

I realize that the truck is just going to get all dirty again when I take wheeling, I don't mind dirt, it's this gritty oily grase scum that I want to get rid of.

thanks.

[ 10-03-2001: Message edited by: bmaresh ]

heated pressure washer with some solevent, although it might pull some paint.

Use oven cleaner. Go to a place like Smart and Finale and get a gallon of liquid oven cleaner($10). Grease and oil become water soluble in a high Ph. Oven cleaner is 14 ph it is about 10/15% caustic soda (Naoh), same suff they use in a Hot tank.

The citrus based cleaners are pretty good at that, scrape off the biggest part and spray down with citrus stuff, let it soak and hose it off. Might take a few times and there will be NO wax left on the paint, but it shouldn't hurt it.

<FONT COLOR="Red"> I'm an over cleaner fan too.. Just buy the 'el cheapo 99 cent stuff. It will fawk off the paint tho. </FONT c>

there will be NO wax left on the paint, but it shouldn't hurt it.[/QB]

there isn't any wax on it now. hehe.

Where can I get a heated presure washer? Can I rent one?

Is over cleaner safe? should I wear a mask? or gogles?

Where is the best plase to do this? I live in an apartment w/ a one car garage. It's ilegal to degrease anything at the car wash right?

Originally posted by bmaresh:
<STRONG>Where can I get a heated presure washer? Can I rent one?

<FONT COLOR="Red"> hook your garden hose up to your hot water heater and crank that sucker all the way up. Wear a glove if your sprayer nozzle is made out of metal. </FONT c>

Is over cleaner safe? should I wear a mask? or gogles?

<FONT COLOR="Red"> They make oven cleaner for women to use... How dangerous can it be? Wear gloves and don't spray it in your face. </FONT c>

Where is the best plase to do this? I live in an apartment w/ a one car garage. It's ilegal to degrease anything at the car wash right?

<FONT COLOR="Red"> I do it at the car wash if it's gonna be a really messy job. Just keep your eyes peeled for the "carwash cops" <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0"> </FONT c>
</STRONG>

i used castrol super clean and go to the local car wash at night and spray her down! <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">

Thake it to the damm car wash....I've fucked that place up so bad I swear they had to call Hazz-Matt...Nobody said shit to me...I dont recomend going at night because where I live the only people up late are Cops and Drunks...and your will look very suspitious at the car wash in the late night....I have exepernce with this kind of BS

<IMG SRC="smilies/idea.gif" border="0">

Simple green is biodegradable, I can use that at the car wash right?

I hate greasy gooo....

[ 10-03-2001: Message edited by: bmaresh ]

Originally posted by bmaresh:
<STRONG>Simple green is biodegradable, I can use that at the car wash right?

I hate greasy gooo....

[ 10-03-2001: Message edited by: bmaresh ]</STRONG>

Not only that but simple green kicks ASS at stuff like that. I had a saab awhile back with shit on the paint that was there for at least 5 years and sprayed some simple green on it and viola` a little rubbing and it was clean as a whistle.

The only thing is that the paint on this saab already sucked so I don't know what it'll do to a shiney paint job.

Must be nice to not live in the rust zone. Here in Vermont we purposely spray thick oil all over the underside of our vehicles every year to prevent rust <IMG SRC="smilies/eek.gif" border="0">

Originally posted by bmaresh:
<STRONG>Simple green is biodegradable, I can use that at the car wash right?

I hate greasy gooo....

[ 10-03-2001: Message edited by: bmaresh ]</STRONG>


EVERYTHING is biodegradable! It's a MYTH that its not harmful to the enviroment.

Go to a coin op car wash. They have a oil/grease seperator built into there drain. Apply your cleaner of choice and give it some contact time and then blast away. A pump up weed sprayer is the best thing to apply the degreaser with.