cleaning that orange bullshit off my engine compartment

[flyboyx]

i have read a thread or two about cosmoline removal. trying to come up with a way to make my engine compartment look good without having to repaint it. anyway, i spent one morning working on it and the best idea i came up with was EasyOff oven cleaner. it does a pretty good job. i used the no scratch type scrubbing pads because i didn't want to mess up the paint underneath. as you can tell by the photo, the passenger side is done. i starting hitting the core support when i took the photo. it doesn't make that crap fall off the car, but at least it takes it off without screwing up the paint.

what have other members come up with to combat this problem?

['e30love']

everything is out you might as well repaint it, says this observer

[IronmanE30]

everything is out you might as well repaint it, says this observer

No way, the original paint is much better than you can ever re-do. Clean it with straight simple green with a brush, or watered down purple power but be careful not to get the purple power on a good paint job in the sun. You can also use some brake cleaner(acetone) on a rag to scrub the stubborn areas.

Cheers,

Jim

[dkbmxer002]

i didn't even know what the hell that shit was, mine is HORRIBLE and i just assumed it was something a previous owner did. is it just road dirt or what...? excuse the ignorance..

[IronmanE30]

i didn't even know what the hell that shit was, mine is HORRIBLE and i just assumed it was something a previous owner did. is it just road dirt or what...? excuse the ignorance..

No worries, Cosmoline or a similar substance was sprayed on the cars so they would survive the trip across the ocean without rusting.

Cheers,

Jim

[tim88325is]

Try this stuff, I can get it at home depot, really amazing stuff that is nice to work with - water clean-up, non toxic...

http://www.blastercorporation.com/Citrus_Based_Degreaser.html

[Huff]

It's Cosmoline. From what I've read and tried, a steam cleaner works best. You can try numerous ideas that Google will throw up. Don't paint over it though..

[Sailor37]

Wonder if that's some kinda anti-corrosion stuff that the norther dealers put on cars.

[Scallywagon]

No way, the original paint is much better than you can ever re-do.

You're high as a kite dude.

But definitely in this circumstance, just clean / buff that shit steam is the best but theres cheaper ways that involve more elbow grease and work just as well.

Also I would use something like simple green concentrate or something, buying 100 cans of break cleaner or PB Blaster is just gonna take the cost up to where you should have paid to steam clean it

[Huff]

Wonder if that's some kinda anti-corrosion stuff that the norther dealers put on cars.

The factory sprayed it on for shipping over seas to protect the bays from salt air and what not. American (or where ever) dealers where supposed to clean it off before selling the cars. Either do to laziness or upselling it as a "rust protection", some dealers left it on. And here we are 20 years later..

[flyboyx]

thank you everyone for the advice. i tried purple power and simple green. i couldn't find the b'laster degreaser in my area. apparently, houston isn't green enough for such a biodegradable product. anyway, here are my results: i don't know what is sprayed in the engine compartments of your cars, but simple green and purple power didn't even come close to making a dent in that stuff. basically, it didn't do shit. i even tried letting it soak for 10 or 15 minutes. no luck. the easy off oven cleaner is probably about 100 times better. my technique is to keep the car in the shade with no direct sunlight. spray it on for about 5 minutes and scuff away with a non scratch kitchen pad.(the blue one) i think if it were left on too long, it may damage the paint. after about 40 minutes of scrubbing, i wash it off with the hose.

the biggest problem is where it was pooled up in a low spot or a run. having a really hard time getting through those areas. i think i am going to try the heat gun on the really stubborn areas.

[mitch500]

Steam!

[gearheadE30]

I've been pretty successful with brake cleaner, purple power, and acetone, but it all takes a good amount of scrubbing.

[flyboyx]

i finished up this screwed up chore this evening. here is my suggestion: use easy off oven cleaner to take off as much as you can. where it is pooled up, i heated it up with a heat gun and used a plastic scraper to take it off. that worked pretty good. then more easy off and the blue scrubber to finish up. my engine compartment looks pretty good.

[txtorquemade]

toss a naked blonde in that bay and your ready for a photo shoot