For your soot removal try these soot sponges Soot Sponges & Chem Sponges from Tee-Jay I have several boxes of these if you need me to mail ya some they help alot!
White Trash Lexus - Phoenix - Fire restoration
- Thread starter Walking Eagle
- Start date
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Ohh and GotMud's post about soda blasting is solid to that does a great job!
- Thread starter
- #44
I'll try to hit a whole bunch at once -
That is what it looks like after a pressure washer! Where the rear windows are actually clean is accidential cleaning from the pressure washer. With the rear most windows out I was able to get at this area pretty good. I just made sure to stay away from the dash. The rest of the wiring / electronics were all melted anyway
The interior is basically gutted. The only reason the rear doors haven't had the panels pulled off is I'm replacing the whole doors. The RR window is coming out soon. It's easiest for me to leave the front panels on right now as I do still need to roll windows up and down. Taking the dash out is something I'm trying desperately to avoid.
Might see if the local rental place has a soda blaster to rent. Or it might be worth while to just get a cheap one
15 Lb. Portable Soda Blaster
It's not like I need alot of blasting, just from the belt line up, and only from the rear window to the sunroof. I'd rather not blast down to bare metal if I don't have to, as that opens up a whole other bag of potential issues. When I first read your post I was thinking, ya', right, that's just what I need, now I"m thinking, Hummm.... that might just be what I need - especially after web serching and seeing some of the faned out blasting - cause like I said, not looking for bare metal. Maybe I'll try walnuts first then progress to soda?
If I just hit the uppers and only from the front doors back, I can rinse all that area out pretty easy with the state of the interior today to get rid of any soda residue. Luckily I found the floor drain plugs, which is much better than hoping it all dries out!
The Majic paint I picked up is spray cans, so no harnder. I just sprayed some scrap metal in the garage to get an idea of the color. It'll all be covered with interior panels and headliner, but for the few spots one might see metal, though it'd be a good color. And once I've cleaned as deeply as possible, it will help seal anything left behind.
I've owned more than 1/2 dozen VW's, but this is the first water cooled one. There does seem to be alot of LC folks with Type I's or other VW's as second cars.
I did go out and hit the area above the tailgate w/ a brass hand brush. Came off much better than before. The area that I'd hit with the mineral spirits the soot/tar was dry and powdery, the other area's it was still stuck on hard and wasn't going to give up to a hand brush. I'll take a picture tonight to show what I'm talking about. Still lots of tight areas though too, which the soda blasting might help with.
I'll PM you - think those would work great on the door openings where it's just a residual from the water that was carrying all the smoke and stuff out when I wa extingquishing the fire.
Thanks everyone for the ideas. It's definately going to be try this, then try that, and I'll report what works well for me and what doesn't. Part of my hesitance with the oven cleaner is I would for a range manufacture, and ovens have a porcelain (glass) finish on their surfaces, and will withstand much more than what the paint on this truck will. It could end up working as paint stripper. We'll see what this weekend brings....
That is what it looks like after a pressure washer! Where the rear windows are actually clean is accidential cleaning from the pressure washer. With the rear most windows out I was able to get at this area pretty good. I just made sure to stay away from the dash. The rest of the wiring / electronics were all melted anyway
The interior is basically gutted. The only reason the rear doors haven't had the panels pulled off is I'm replacing the whole doors. The RR window is coming out soon. It's easiest for me to leave the front panels on right now as I do still need to roll windows up and down. Taking the dash out is something I'm trying desperately to avoid.
Might see if the local rental place has a soda blaster to rent. Or it might be worth while to just get a cheap one
15 Lb. Portable Soda Blaster
It's not like I need alot of blasting, just from the belt line up, and only from the rear window to the sunroof. I'd rather not blast down to bare metal if I don't have to, as that opens up a whole other bag of potential issues. When I first read your post I was thinking, ya', right, that's just what I need, now I"m thinking, Hummm.... that might just be what I need - especially after web serching and seeing some of the faned out blasting - cause like I said, not looking for bare metal. Maybe I'll try walnuts first then progress to soda?
If I just hit the uppers and only from the front doors back, I can rinse all that area out pretty easy with the state of the interior today to get rid of any soda residue. Luckily I found the floor drain plugs, which is much better than hoping it all dries out!
The Majic paint I picked up is spray cans, so no harnder. I just sprayed some scrap metal in the garage to get an idea of the color. It'll all be covered with interior panels and headliner, but for the few spots one might see metal, though it'd be a good color. And once I've cleaned as deeply as possible, it will help seal anything left behind.
I've owned more than 1/2 dozen VW's, but this is the first water cooled one. There does seem to be alot of LC folks with Type I's or other VW's as second cars.
I did go out and hit the area above the tailgate w/ a brass hand brush. Came off much better than before. The area that I'd hit with the mineral spirits the soot/tar was dry and powdery, the other area's it was still stuck on hard and wasn't going to give up to a hand brush. I'll take a picture tonight to show what I'm talking about. Still lots of tight areas though too, which the soda blasting might help with.
I'll PM you - think those would work great on the door openings where it's just a residual from the water that was carrying all the smoke and stuff out when I wa extingquishing the fire.
Thanks everyone for the ideas. It's definately going to be try this, then try that, and I'll report what works well for me and what doesn't. Part of my hesitance with the oven cleaner is I would for a range manufacture, and ovens have a porcelain (glass) finish on their surfaces, and will withstand much more than what the paint on this truck will. It could end up working as paint stripper. We'll see what this weekend brings....
I never realized until now that Eric was your brother! Eric is a great guy for sure...
Good luck on your progress and nice looking Passat! If you can weed through the BS, VWvortex.com is just as informative as Mud but for VW's... Just be prepared for the BS.
I am currently VW free but my girlfriend has a '89 Jetta GLI Helios that has a lot of motor work done to it... It's kinda scary at 150 mph+ 
Good luck on your progress and nice looking Passat! If you can weed through the BS, VWvortex.com is just as informative as Mud but for VW's... Just be prepared for the BS.
I am currently VW free but my girlfriend has a '89 Jetta GLI Helios that has a lot of motor work done to it... It's kinda scary at 150 mph+
- Thread starter
- #46
Shhhhh..... I don't think he likes admiting he's related to me
Definately a great guy though, he busted hump to get everything set up for me before I got to Idaho. My only regret in the trip is I wish I had more time. We don't get together real often cause of the distance and schedules. One of these years we'll both get to Moab at the same time again.Good luck on your progress and nice looking Passat! If you can weed through the BS, VWvortex.com is just as informative as Mud but for VW's... Just be prepared for the BS.
The part that cracks me up is the white Passat behind my white Passat is my brothers! He used to be the Corevette fan and I liked Porsche, somehow we both ended up with Passats and 80's ? He's had air cooled over the years too, including the Sweet Pickles Bus (you're either the right age to understand that, or explaining it is difficult) - and I loaned his now wife $300 to buy "Bubbles" the '73ish super beetle she had in college. That's a long time ago, back when you could get a decient running bettle for $500, and back when I had a spare $300!!!
150 is alot of motor work on a '89 Jetta!!! Wifey says this car stays just as it is, but has taken the locks off as it were on the Lexus - though shooting the locks off when you have no time or money is kinda pointless.
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- Thread starter
- #47
ok, here's before anything was really done, and after minerial spirits and a brass brush. The little areas are still tough to get, and I'm leaning toward before I go soda, doing walnut blasting w/ the blaster I already have...
Definitely making some good progress on restoring it. Is the fire smell still strong in the cab?
- Thread starter
- #49
It's better. I hit it with the Fire D before I left to pick up my stuff labor day weekend. The bubble gum smell as it's been refured to was pretty strong right after. I've left it with the windows open a couple days and it seems to be equalizing out. There is still some jute in the front PS foot well that needs to come out, a couple of burnt harnesses, the burnt rear dome light, and the rear door panels. I didn't figure it'd get rid of the smell completely with all these burnt items still in there - but, it is DEFINTATELY better. I was hoping to make it tollerable to work in and its beyond that. A couple times I opened the door and didn't smell any smoke right away, but once you get a wiff of something that is still in there and still burnt, you know it.
SOOOO
Yes, it's better
No, it's not to a level that is acceptable for me
Yes, I have another can of Fire D to hit it with after I get all the metal cleaned up and painted and the door panels out.
fjfar80
GOLD Star
Keep it up...
Try the soda first. Here's why:
It's water soluble
It's water soluble
It's water soluble
If you plan to leave your dash intact, you'd better tape the heck out of it as ANY media you use will find its way into every little nook. It will then blow in your face everytime you roll your windows down or turn the HVAC on. Ask me how I know!
If you remove the dash and rest of the interior, you can hose down the inside and soda will rinse away. If you're concerned about stripping the paint completely, you can hold the nozzle further away from the surface. Personally, I wouldn't worry too much about the paint. there are some really durable industrial paints out there that will seal and adhere to the bare metal. They can even be color matched. JM $.02
It's water soluble
It's water soluble
It's water soluble
If you plan to leave your dash intact, you'd better tape the heck out of it as ANY media you use will find its way into every little nook. It will then blow in your face everytime you roll your windows down or turn the HVAC on. Ask me how I know!
If you remove the dash and rest of the interior, you can hose down the inside and soda will rinse away. If you're concerned about stripping the paint completely, you can hold the nozzle further away from the surface. Personally, I wouldn't worry too much about the paint. there are some really durable industrial paints out there that will seal and adhere to the bare metal. They can even be color matched. JM $.02
I've been watching this thread with some interest since I set fire to the roof on my old 60 whilst welding some rust repair patches. Yes that jute burns something fierce. luckily I had no interior to burn and 2 fire extinguishers on hand so no harm done. What I have found what works well for cleaning glass and painted surfaces is steel wool. It doesn't scratch the glass. You can get it either plain or detergent coated and needs only water. We use these pads for cleaning glass when applying window tint. look forward to seeing the finished poduct.
Any Luck
Heath-
Been lurking on Mud for awhile while I scheme on purchasing my own rig. Wondered if there was any progress on this project.
Heath-
Been lurking on Mud for awhile while I scheme on purchasing my own rig. Wondered if there was any progress on this project.
These guys (Eastwood) are good. This product could be good for your solvent? Not sure...
Eastwood Billet Rechargeable Aerosol Can
Eastwood Billet Rechargeable Aerosol Can
semlin
curmudgeon
two thoughts -- steam cleaning it or seafoam?
- Thread starter
- #56
Life has been happening to me so I haven't had much time to work on the truck, but I finally got out there yesterday with the sandblaster and walnut shells. I think I made the right choice. I have a mess in the bottom of the truck to clean up, but the walnut shells did a great job of cleaning off all the soot and creosolt (sp) and whatnot, even in all the little crevises. I did from the rear window to the sunroof in a very short time period, then ran out of shells. The best part is it didn't strip all the paint off. So the good toyota primer and paint coat is still there.
I then painted it with the majic Dessert Tan paint. Now it smells like paint rather than bubble gum (from the fire-d) or burnt. With both the rear windows out now it should air out over the next couple days, then I'll see where the odor sits. Going to have to take the rear hatch off and pull the glass out of it to get it all cleaned up. Hoping to get that done this next weekend. Then I still need to finish the one wheel well and do the other so I can get the headliner and rear windows back in, hopefully before the weather turns bad. The way the older head liners were, they have to go in before the windows.
I'll post some pics tonight, the battery was dead on the camera yesterday.
I then painted it with the majic Dessert Tan paint. Now it smells like paint rather than bubble gum (from the fire-d) or burnt. With both the rear windows out now it should air out over the next couple days, then I'll see where the odor sits. Going to have to take the rear hatch off and pull the glass out of it to get it all cleaned up. Hoping to get that done this next weekend. Then I still need to finish the one wheel well and do the other so I can get the headliner and rear windows back in, hopefully before the weather turns bad. The way the older head liners were, they have to go in before the windows.
I'll post some pics tonight, the battery was dead on the camera yesterday.
- Thread starter
- #57
well, was finishing up the blasting on the main interior, down to the drivers door sill, and my compressor blew up. Not in the mood to deal with it, but when I was unplugging it, bits and pieces were falling off! Not a pleasant sound.
- Thread starter
- #58
updated photos - on the rear hatch you can see the left is black, the right has been only lightly hit with the walnuts, it'll be completely white before it's done. The top of the interior is coated with flat dessert tan paint. And my son, helping clean up the mess of shells.
Just so you know, you will NEVER see the last of that dust 
Nice progress! I think those shells will take way less time to complete the job than chemiclas alone.
Nice progress! I think those shells will take way less time to complete the job than chemiclas alone.
