Getting the crud off ??

[chitown40]

I'm in the end stages of stripping down the cruiser for paint and herculined interior. I've managed to scrape off most of the factory rubber lining off of the floorboards, but I still have some residue and chunks that are hanging on for dear life. Does anyine know of a good chemical to "dissolve" the last traces of the tar/rubber so my herc will stick real nice? So far I've tried degreaser (with steel wool pad and scraper), tal-strip (stripper), and acetone and none seems to help much. I'm running low of elbow grease and my fingers feel like crap from all the scraping. Any product that would also strip off the paint as well would be just fabulous. I promise to post some pics next week when the interior is done and the new paint job is complete. I got my neighbor (he's an auto body painter) to do the new paint job, and so far he's got the hardtop and all four doors done and I have to say they look great. Whole paint job is running me $1000. Got a few areas to fix up on the tub this week in addition to the herc and then its off to get sprayed. I can't wait..it's been almost 2 weeks without being able to drive her. And of course it's been sunny and nice almost every one of those days. Arrrgh.

Thanks,
Rob

 

[waskillywabbit]

Stripper

You might try the kinda stripper that most powder coaters use to get everything off the metal before powder coating. I hear it is some pretty harsh stuff. I'm not sure exactly what it is called though.

 

[Otis]

Rob,

I used a pressure washer and it worked pretty well at cleaning up all the stuff stuck on the floorboards.

Chris

 

[Pinion]

Xylene. (USE NITRILE (Preferred) or Latex gloves.)

Or a propane torch and a rag.

 

[Isotel]

Aircraft Remover

that should work, with a scraper!

 

[atoyot]

A hand held grinder also with either a wire wheel or grinding wheel. The attatchments are expensive but they work. That's what I was using before I sandblasted everything for my line-x. Torch's work good also to soften stuff that's been attatched to the vehicle for 30 years.

 

[chitown40]

Wow, lots of replies for a Sat. night. Am I the only one stuck @ work ? Anyway, thanks for all the suggestions. I'll try the torch and the Xylene since I have a torch, and I have to get some Xylene anyway for the herc application. I think the stripper I tried was aircraft stripper, but not sure. I'll give that a try if the others don't work. Hopefully it'll be easier going with all your suggestions. Look for some pics to come.

RB

 

[Alaska FJ]

TurtleWax bug and tar remover.

That is what I used and it peeled that old crap off there in no time flat. I have no idea what is in that stuff.

 

[chattfj40]

I just used Mineral Spirits. It worked well. The trick I learned was to apply a copious amount and let it sit for a few min. then I used a large screwdriver and a 5&1 paint tool to scrape it up...and a few rolls of HD paper towels. You can see the pics under the thread "opinions on this rust" from last month. sorry, not sure how to post link to thread...

That stuff fawkin sucks

 

[atoyot]

https://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=18751&highlight=opinions+rust

 

[JohnL]

Angle grinder with a wire wheel

What atoyot said. I can't believe you scraped it by hand...i did mine exclusively with a wire wheel on a dewalt.

I was scraping off old herculiner. It was holding moisture against the body. I do not recommend herculinering your tub. POR 15 is much better.

 

[chitown40]

Well, as far as scraping, I got all the big stuff off by hand, but used a drill w/ rust and paint remover wheel to do the little stuff. Only problem was it just smeared the tar-like stuff around into the surrounding paint. I've got the POR 15 to put over the front area of the tub which has a just a little surface pitting and minor surface rust. The back bed is in pretty good shape all in all. From what I've read, herc should stick to the POR no problem as long as you scuff off the sheen of the POR. I never used that POR 15 until recently when I repaired the rear sill, and I'm pretty amazed how strong and hard it dries - like a rock.

 

[KLF]

I have yet to see anything that can stand up to a knotted wire wheel in my 4-1/2" angle grinder. It takes anything and everything off. Just be sure to wear a heavy long sleave shirt and a face shield, those chunks and wires really sting when they come flying off!

I never used that POR 15 until recently when I repaired the rear sill, and I'm pretty amazed how strong and hard it dries - like a rock.

Ya, well... give it a year or 2, that crap will be peeling off and you'll be cursing it. I'll never use that overpriced snake oil again.

 

[chitown40]

Ok... progress. is made. The Xylene took off the remaining goop like melted butter. Good stuff. After cleaning up the tub, I was going to just POR the rusted and piitted areas, but it was going on so smooth and covered real nice, so I just went ahead and did the whole tub. After it dried I scuffed it up and rolled the first coat of herc on and I gotta say it looks pretty tits. I'm gonna catch some z's and roll on the final coat in a few hours.

RB

 

[Pinion]

Sounds good! Im glad it worked out for you!

(I hope you used nitrile gloves..) Xylene is very nasty stuff when it comes to your skin and blood.

 

[Exiled]

I spent a few hours on Saturday restoring a pair of OEM sliding rear windows for my FJ62. The inside frame had some black goop (almost like rotten sikaflex or something like that) that didn't want to come off. I tried Xylene and a few other products, then hit jackpot with some GOOF OFF (big can from Lowes). Soaked a rag in it, applied liberally, let it sit for a few minutes, then applied the elbow grease. Came off pretty easily after that.

 

[chitown40]

Yep, Pinion, I made sure when I raided the supply closet in the ER the other day that I specifically got Nitrile gloves.... I use them for everything when working on the cars. Sure beats scrubbing your hands for an hour when you're done.