General degreasing - any recommendations?

[Tom Wesenberg]

Here you can see what I did using WD-40, gas, and a soft paint brush. The car has good original paint on the firewall under all the grime.

 

[Dollar Bill]

What happened to Varsol and a scrub brush? Then scrub with soap and water and rinse. Still works well for me.

John Poole

John, you and I think alike (post 7). Charcoal starter is essentially Varsol which is also dry cleaning fluid.

 

[Special Coupe Frank]

Vegetable oil ( cooking oil) is supposed to be very good for softening hard, caked grease. Apply liberally, let soak-in, apply more, let soak until softened, then scrape and wash with warm soapy water.

Purple Power, Super Clean, Awesome Stuff, etc. do work, but they are all caustic ( akaline ), and will do a whammy on your hands / fingernails, and any paint or aluminum.

 

[Tom Foster]

Some of our brethren on the H.A.M.B. are proponents of a spray called Gibbs Brand. It's very good penetrating and rust preventative. Second to ATF/ acetone it's the best penetrant I know of, and one guy coated his bare-metal roadster with it and drove it that way for a year.
Fearless

 

[Tom Wesenberg]

Some of our brethren on the H.A.M.B. are proponents of a spray called Gibbs Brand. It's very good penetrating and rust preventative. Second to ATF/ acetone it's the best penetrant I know of, and one guy coated his bare-metal roadster with it and drove it that way for a year.
Fearless

I like Gibbs, but don't know where to pick it up anymore. I used to buy a can at the threshing shows, but don't see it there anymore. Due to the expense I'd only use it as a rust penetrant though.

 

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

Be careful using spray carb or brake cleaner, it can RUIN plastic glasses lenses!!!
Bill Blind

 

[Pinesdune]

I guess I'm too impatient, I'd just fire up a pressure washer and let er go, bag up/tape off all electrical and holes into the cab, put on my rain suit and goggles and get it wet, let sun dry for the rest of the day and grease everything and change the oil, but I'm probably still to young and dumb.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Binger]

I am very surprised that nobody uses Gunk engine degreaser any more.
It cleans very good and you can get it at Walmart. It has been around for 50 or 60 years.

I like using Gunk. However it doesn't seem to work as well as I remember it used to. works best if most of the grease is scraped off before you apply the Gunk. I always let it soak for quite a bit before I go with the rinse.

 

[Tom Foster]

I like Gibbs, but don't know where to pick it up anymore. I used to buy a can at the threshing shows, but don't see it there anymore. Due to the expense I'd only use it as a rust penetrant though.

I bought two spray cans online when I was working on a Tudor body; still have some.

 

[Cool Hand Lurker]

Scrape off the thick stuff then use Dawn liquid dish washing detergent and HOT water. Gets the stuff off and doesn't hurt anything. Just cover parts that can't get wet.
Oh yeah, mix it up in the kitchen so you don't get Momma's Dawn bottle greasy.

 

[ian Simpson]

I used to buy GUNK concentrate by the gallon from NAPA. But they do not seem to carry it now. I still have a half gallon left but will keep it for removing oil and grease from the garage floor.

For Model A parts I use putty knives, wire brushes, etc. to scrape off as much as possible and then follow up with Varsol or paint thinner. Final wash is with a product called Fast 505 from Home Depot and then a rinse in Dawn laced water. I am lucky in having a very hot water supply in the garage and find this helps a lot.

For general under carriage cleaning I use a pressure washer to get rid of most of the mess and then hit specific areas as per above.

One trick I saw at a local dealership used on a truck thickly coated with dried clay mud was to set a lawn sprinkler going underneath. I saw the result some hours later and it looked good. Do not know how it would work on a heavy grease layer.

 

[SeaSlugs]

when i re did my AA rearends i got a big tub and filled with about 10 gallons of kerosine andlet them soak overnight. in the am a stiff scrub bush got most of it off. some nooks required a screwdriver but it eventually all came off. Local gas station you can buy it by the gallon so wasnt too expensive.


Whatever you do cover the tub or put it somewhere dry where rain wont get to it... Rain got to mine and even though there was a lid it eventually filled up the rest of the bucket and overflowed to the patio... That was brown stained and waterproof for months! Worst part is every time it rained it kept washing off and eventually killed the grass that was downhill.....

Dumped the rest on the log/burn pile and lit it off...

 

[Tom Wesenberg]

"I used to buy GUNK concentrate by the gallon from NAPA. But they do not seem to carry it now. I still have a half gallon left but will keep it for removing oil and grease from the garage floor."

In 1969 I heard about an Army Sargent that ordered the guys to use a bucket of gas and mops to remove all the grease and oil stains on the shop floor. I guess it worked good until the fumes reached the gas water heater.

 

[Dodge]

I have also had good luck with a product from the dollar store called awsome orange.
It comes in a spray bottle and in a refill thats about 1/2 gallon for a buck a piece.
I kept spraying it for 3 days before using the pressure washer on it and it worked great.
Anything the emulsifies the oil and grease will work. My Uncle used to say the most important ingredient any any cleaning product was the elbow grease....

 

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

A Guy had a can on the shelf, labeled, "ELBOW GREASE"! "Maybe" that would help Mitchs' popping THUMB or my knee, that goes, "T-KLUNK"????
SA Dad

 

[RonC]

I guess I'm too impatient, I'd just fire up a pressure washer and let er go, bag up/tape off all electrical and holes into the cab, put on my rain suit and goggles and get it wet, let sun dry for the rest of the day and grease everything and change the oil, but I'm probably still to young and dumb.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

15+ years of grease and grime! X2 for power washer!

 

[CarlG]

Pour charcoal starter in a spray bottle. Spray on the offending area and let it sit for a few minutes then agitate with a parts brush. Do a final rinse with garden hose. Won't harm paint, no noxious fumes and very cost effective.

I thought you were going to say: "throw a match at it"

 

[prpmmp]

https://www.amazon.com/Permatex-01406-Label-Cream-Cleaner/dp/B000HBNV76?tag=atomicindus08-20 Hand cleaner,DL is not as strong as before but let it sit over night hose off, works real well. Pete

 

[Jim Mason]

Red Devil Lye and water. Can be heated to work faster. Horse trough or pint. Caution will remove eyes, skin, hair, mucous membranes, pretty much any tissue, grease, oil etc. Same ingredient is in oven cleaner.