Cleaning the firewall

[CL72Stingray]

Hey all long time between efforts on this.

Question? I’ve cleaned the engine bay with degreaser, and will do that another dozen or so times to get it as clean as possible. I wondered about the built up crusty stuff around the Openings between the engine bay and the interior it looks like a sealer. What is the best way to remove this? Also is it ok to use oven cleaner to degrease the engine bay?

[CL72Stingray]

Close up photos added of the “Crusty” stuff I am asking about removing.

[MaineVette]

I dealt with the same thing on mine. Luckily, most of the "crusty stuff" is pretty brittle and doesn't stick too well. I removed most of mine using a small putty knife/scraper.

For degreasing the firewall I used a product called "purple power" available at WalMart. It's a water soluble degreaser that's cheap and works really, really well. I highly recommend it. I find the stuff in the aerosol cans to be expensive and much harsher to work with.

I would not use oven cleaner. That's exceptionally harsh and I worry it would break down the fiberglass resin. That said, I've never tried it so maybe it would be ok.

A picture of my finished firewall is below. It required lots of scraping with a putty knife, followed by a couple degreasings (let it soak for a good 15 minutes, then scrub with a stiff bristle brush), then a bunch of sanding and a bit of body filler to smooth things out.

My first write-up regarding my firewall cleanup efforts starts on my website here: http://www.corvette-restoration.com/200 ... ng-part-1/



Hope this helps.

[CL72Stingray]

Your firewall looks great. The cakes on stuff is coming off with a sander. Was it just a process of time to get it out of the nooks and crannies?

[CL72Stingray]

Current state in the process. The black undercoating thick junk, is proving to be a formidable opponent. Sanding it seems to be the only thing to remove it.

[MaineVette]

I used a sander to get the worst stuff off, too. For the nooks and crannies I scraped as much as I could out with a putty knife and a flat head screwdriver. I probably didn't get all of it out - did the best I could.