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[w3526602]

Hi,

I'm not sure if I've already asked this ....

How do the professionals (like CAR SOS) get rid of eons of congested gunge and clag from big items, such as axles and gear-boxes? I doubt that they spend days with a screwdriver scratching it off?

My guess is they did things in a bath of acid .... I have a vague memory of reading "£600  to acid dip a classic (eg: (1950s BMC) body shell ", but I don't remember any reference to to first removing precision components such as bearings and gear-wheels.

In the RAF, we could always find the odd 50 gallons of AVGAS (aviation spirit .. 120 octane... unsuitable for car engines, unless you had a stupidly high compression ration).

Or, I think it was AVTAG  (jet fuel) probably akin to parafin, that we used for washing the vehicle service bays on a Friday afternoon .... then have a game of football on the slippery surface. How nobody finished up in sick bay, I'll never know .... but it was fast and fun.

A drum of AVTAG, with an airline bubbling away, moved a lot gunge, from components, with little effort.

602

[Wittsend]

They use professional sized parts washers, with various de-greasing agents and detergents with some heat

At home, I've had good results with a pressure washer and patio cleaner.
Smaller stuff goes in the dishwasher when Mrs Wittsend is out.

 

[Herald1360]

.....

In the RAF, we could always find the odd 50 gallons of AVGAS (aviation spirit .. 120 octane... unsuitable for car engines, unless you had a stupidly high compression ration).

.....

602

Is AVGAS actually unsuitable (as in still full of lead perhaps, a problem for CATs) or just wasted on low compression pre CAT engines?

[Davy61]

Is AVGAS actually unsuitable (as in still full of lead perhaps, a problem for CATs) or just wasted on low compression pre CAT engines?

100ll avgas still contains Tetraethyl Lead as an octane booster. (General) aviation has been exempt from this ban due to safety concerns.

Last year an unleaded avgas was released by GAMI an private company specialising in aviation modifications, as an drop in leaded fuel replacement.
This fuel has been certified for use in I believe all aircraft piston engines.

The problem here is that this private company now has to find a fuel producer and distributor willing to actually get the fuel to market.

[w3526602]

Is AVGAS actually unsuitable (as in still full of lead perhaps, a problem for CATs) or just wasted on low compression pre CAT engines?

Hi Both,

My "little bit of knowledge" (a dangerous thing) tells me that increasing the compression ratio also increases the "flame rate", which leads to "pinking", and the possibility of burning holes in your pistons .... first symptom can be a dent (upwards) in your bonnet, caused by the gasses in the sump exploding (been there, heard that, saw the dent ... but not in my car. Long time ago, early 1960s, memory says it was a 6-pot  Granny Rover ... perhaps not a rare occurance).

Increasing the octane rating slows the burn rate, but increasing the octane rating too much, slows (aviation spirit) means that things are still burning when the exhaust valve opens, resulting in burnt valve.

My ladies are calling me for lunch

602

[2286]

Jizer , diesel, steam cleaner.

[w3526602]

Hi,

Thanks for replies. I guess I will have to resume sharpening my screwdrivers.

I suspect that CAR SOS projects are done by a commercial classic car restorer. Can anybody here identify them?

602

PS. I once considered burying a grease encrusted "pie dish" in an ant's nest, in the hope that they would have the tenacity to gnaw it clean. I regret never getting round to trying it.I believe locusts have been to do something similar, but vegetable based.

[Genem]

Another vote for degreaser and a pressure washer, a cheap "middle of Lidl" will do just nicely.

I'm not answering for what state the driveway will be in afterwards... 

[Wittsend]

You either do it on next door's drive ... or ... lay a sheet of builder's polythene down, as you would do for underselling/Waxoyling

If you don't want to buy a pressure washer (a useful bit of kit) then you can always hire one for the day


 

[w3526602]

Hi Alan,

I was visualising the sort of gunge that you scrape off with an old carpenter's chisel BEFORE starting to digging into the nooks and crannies.

Gone are the days when I had a half an acre of garden (chickens, ducks, goats, orphan lambs, pigs., and on "Farrier Day" two or three mares, and a couple of foals, and a couple of donkeys. This was in a residential area, but nobody ever complained ... in fact most came to say goodby when we moved, said they were sorry to see us go, but we had worked out that Barbara's pension might be a bit stretched.

Then there was room in my garage for maybe four medium cars. I could drive a LWB Safari into either half of the "basement" garage but not reverse in, and swing the wheels at either end off the ground, with a chain-hoist hung from an RSJ. The bigger garage had a stainless steel sink, and it would have been easy to install a tfourth flushing WC, for my own convenience, but that would have meant losing one of my hydroponic units.

OT ... both kids had 10ft x 20ft bedrooms in the attic space, with a 20ft x 20ft landing in between ... plenty of room for a Scalextric, or toy train set. The truss fabricator said our roof was the biggest they had ever supplied.

The self-build ran our overdraft up to £55,000. (circa 1985).  What did I do wrong?

I miss that house, and the seven and half acres up the road behind us. We now have to live in a civilised fashion, as we each get only half the normal Civil Service pension.

602

[rusty66]

When I had my first Landrover Gunk was en vogue and it was really good cleaning the crud off the engine and gearbox. You just brushed it on and then rinsed with plenty of water, no high pressure needed.

It was horribly smelly and dried out the skin on my hands. Which also got a brownish hue and also smelled for a couple of days.

I guess that these days it’s banned by health and safety, but it worked pretty well.

[Wittsend]

Gunk was back in the day very good stuff - the smell and look was/is reminiscent of creosote which is nigh on impossible to get these days.

I suspect H&S has messed with the original formulation 

I suggest the process in cleaning up really gunged up stuff that has years of accumulated muck is to scrape off as much as you can with a scrapping device of your choice.

Then apply something like Gunk and allow it to soak in, maybe leave overnight.

Then attack it with a pressure washer, cheap enough these days, else hire one.
Or there are plenty of "pressure" type nozzles for hose pipes.

Then maybe repeat the de-gunging process and rinsing.

This should get you down to the bare metal.

 
Make sure you cover up any obvious engine/gearbox oriffices.