Down under and DIRTY.........

[JWPATE]

Guys,
The car is a 90 cab. I have it up in stands and while waiting for parts, I have started to clean it up. I am old for this trial. Still pressing on, wiping the drips from my glasses. 45K miles have brought along such a grime load that I falter, but with rest I plan to sally forth again. The question is this: how do the rest of you do this aweful job? I am on my back, wallering in the filth which has already fallen, spitting when it drip in my face, and thinking..........bet thouse young guys know a better way! I retire now. Best to all.
James

PS didn't mention that so far I am using a jug of stuff from Cosco called oil eater. That because they don't have simple green. I believe that this simple redneck better retire to bed. Best to all of you.

[maxnine11]

Costco oil eater works great but is VERY harsh!! If you do use it, make sure not to use it on a hot or warm engine, and neutralize it immediately after.
I used it to clean up an oily/dirty old engine (non Porsche). It cleaned it right up. Even though i rinsed it off with water, two weeks later all of the alloy bits were corroded with a whitish powder and looked like they had been sitting outside for 50 years. It did make it easy for me to see where the oil was leaking from though, which was my main objective.

Oh, as you probably could tell, it doesn't feel very good on the skin either! Wear good protection if you choose to use this stuff.

[doncapecod]

One way to get a start under car cleaning is to remove the sound tray (which I assume you have removed anyway, and go to one of those self car washes where you drive in and can use a power wash wand. I just use it under the car (never on the car itself) and I find that it takes some of the crap off. It's a good way to start, anyway.

[colo964]

Ain't that a fun job? Like most owner, I've had my tray off for years and took off some of the silver fiberglass shields too. Clean the cylinders regularly to allow the cooling air to blow down or else they'll overheat.

The first time I cleaned mine, I took off the alternator/fan and sprayed some degreaser on the tops of the cylinders (cold engine, of course) then hosed out all the crap. Then had to take Qtips to clean the grooves. what a pain.

Since then, I've fixed the oil temp sensor leak so the top stays pretty clean, but mine still drips from the bottom. So every time I go to the coin op I spray the heat exchangers and the bottoms of the cylinders (cool-ish engine). That works pretty well.

[JWPATE]

Thanks for the ideas and encouragement fellows. I am still pressing on with the cleaning. Like the song from PAINT YOUR WAGON, “The Best Things in Life Are Dirty”! That first couple of days was spent just cleaning the grime off from inside the wheel arches. For that the Cosco oil eater worked well. On the engine grime, it really isn’t that bad. I have always kept the splash guards on and actually the engine is the cleanest part. Just that section between the engine covers where the transmission, shafts, rear suspension and such were exposed, and were right and truly grimy. And for all that I used P21 total wash, which has a nice citrus smell, but just takes lots of water to ever get back off. Things have cleaned up rather well, and I used lacquer thinner on some of the bare parts. The factory used a spray to put on that brown protective coating under the engine transmission swings arms and etc. Have taken some of it off and probably will take off the rest. This car is never going over salted roads in winter, and there is little reason I can see for putting up with that sticky goo everywhere. It cannot help with the cooling either, though it is over all the finned area of the transmission.

Regards

[maxnine11]

RE: brown protective coating, aka cosmoline
-I heard this tip from a guy with a concours looking car. He said that he used 3M adhesive remover to clean the comoline off of the car's underside, fenderwells and aluminum engine and suspension pieces. It says on the can 'safe on paint', so that should be comforting.
I have never tried it yet myself, so proceed with caution.

max

[JWPATE]

Thanks Max,
Yes that 3M adhisive remover is a fairly effective agent, and safe on painted surfaces. For MOST of this job, the surface is unpainted alloy, so lacquer thinner is also safe (good ventilation assumed), and miles more effective. Miles!
James