When it's really REALLY stuck on...

[Brett Van Sprewenburg <brett@netacc.net>]

I'm sure everyone has a favorite chemical solvent.  Depending on
what it is, I usually start with something like diluted Simplegreen,
or Windex, or bug & tar remover.  All of them have their uses.   Sometimes
I'll step it up to Castrol Super Clean (fairly nasty), carb cleaner
(mostly nasty), or the ultimate: brake cleaner (very nasty, _especially_
because it smells like you WANT to breathe it!)


Who here has removed the sound deadening material from under their
hoods?  Anyone who has knows where I'm going...I'm in the middle
of doing it now, with the hood off the car.  My white car has the
borrowed hood from my silver 84 racer-2b...looks weird...

Anyway, back to the job at hand.

The sound deadening foam just easily scrapes away, leaving you with the
feeling that the job is going to be quite easy.  HA!  The glue holding
the foam backing to the underside of the hood is incredible stuff,
NASA should be using it to seal shuttle fuel tanks.  After ratcheting
though my usual store of chemical attack weapons:  Castol just annoyed
the glue, I was only able to scrap off another thin layer with my
plastic putty knife.  Carb cleaner was a bit more effective when
combined with a flat razor blade (hello gouges in the paint).  Brake
cleaner was the most effective, turning the glue into a slick, sticking
glue-slime that really didn't come all the way off, and tended to stick
to everything in little clumps.  Amusing, but the fumes have taken
several months off my life.  This got old after only one small section,
not much result for an hours work.

Griping about it at work today, one of my coworkers (not Jim :) ) tossed
out an idea...one that's so good, I hesitate to share, but I'm sooo
impressed I just have to tell as it just never occured to me....

Easyoff oven cleaner.  Oh my gawd, I have a new favorite super chemical
weapon.  Spray it on, wait a while (or just fertilize your lawn like me
then give the kids a bath.)  Apply the formerly highly ineffective
plastic scraper, and the glue is coming away in sheets that look like
grey alien slime in seconds, with very little effort.   Remember to
do this outside, with gloves.

Easyoff:  Approved by Dick.  (The beer commercials, remember?)

Anyone else have a favorite solvent?  Or better yet, a favorite solvent
story?

later!

==Brett

  \/  '84 Scirocco (ITB racer 2B) | "Hot VW's, take two home. They're small"
\/\/ '88 Scirocco 16v (Show), '85 Scirocco (Winter) | - brett@netacc.net

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