MK VI - Chassis cleanup

[Neil Bennet]

Hi,

This weekend I have put my MK VI on axle stands ready to fix the rear shock leak, Brake Master cylinder leak and gearbox mounting replacement.

But, the chassis is coated with years of black oil, sludge and dirt.

Are there any good ideas on how to remove this stuff so I can get down to the metal and paint it.

Once the chassis is clean and painted then working on the attached mechanicals and electrics will be a delight.

cheers

Neil
_________________
Derby Bentley - DLA 377 - B153HM - 1936 4.25 Park Ward Saloon
Former owner MK VI - WKO 561 - B389MB
Burgess Hill, West Sussex, England, UK

[Laurie Fox]

Neil

There is no quick answer to this. If it is oily dirt scrape it off with a plastic spatula and you may find good paint underneath with no rust. For non oily dirt scrape with something a bit tougher, clean up the metal and repaint, then reinforce with underseal on the bits which don't get oily. Unless you want to show the car at a concourse there is no point in doing thorough spit and polish everywhere. If the underlying metal is sound then protection is more important than appearance.

Laurie

[Neil Bennet]

Laurie,

Thank you for your tips, is there something that will disolve this muck, I thought of petrol but I am not used to using petrol to clean up. If I can scrape and then disolve then I hope to have a good clean chassis.

cheers

Neil
_________________
Derby Bentley - DLA 377 - B153HM - 1936 4.25 Park Ward Saloon
Former owner MK VI - WKO 561 - B389MB
Burgess Hill, West Sussex, England, UK

[Laurie Fox]

Neil

I don't have personal experience so I can't say. Maybe someone else has some ideas. I just got dirty hands when changing the rear engine support some time ago. It is just not possible to stop that area getting oily but the plus point is that there is no rust there. You can protect the rubber mount to some extent by wrapping it in plastic. The area round the clutch and brake linkage needs to be oily anyway, particularly the swinging link which tends to run dry after a while. The throttle pedal bearing and the joints etc. in the rods going from there to the bulkhead need oiling which is not too easy to do. I use an oilcan which will fire a jet of oil about 9 inches long, aim it in the right direction and hope for the best.

Laurie

[Christopher Carnley]

Neil, use petrol and lose the car, it is very dangerous stuff, not only that, but any of these substances in spray or aerosol form will give you a bad chest for weeks or cancer at worst.
Scrape the worst and wash down with kerosene or Jizer.
Chris.

[John Robins]

I have been doing the same exercise, slowly, when house repairs and grandchild chauffeuring permit, and have been using diesel to shift the years of caked on gunge.

It is at least less liable to self ignition than petrol, and my wife doesn't complain too much about the smell, presuming that it's the diesel she's referring to.

The problem is what to do with the oily sludge that you get left with, and the only thing that I can see is to put it into cans and take it to the council tip, where they will dispose of it f-o-c provided that you don't appear to be a trader.

I would be very interested to know how, and how carefully, to prepare the chassis for it's next coat of black paint, and to hear from anyone who has experience of dismantling the front suspension. Those front springs look to me to have the possibility of a fair amount of energy stored in them even when the wheels are hanging down, and I don't think the spring compressors I've used on Macpherson strut Fords will cope. I seem to recall a special tool for the job, any information?

[Christopher Carnley]

John, Diesel oil will give you dermatitis if in contact with the skin, but kerosene and rubber gloves makes a good job, and the cardboard that you will put down can go in the bin.
The complicated tackle as shown in the W M is the tool to use and I can supply details if you have a competent machine shop to make one. The Sykes Pickavant type are no use as the spring goes a long way up into the turret, and also you have to have special high tensile keep bolts to shove up the hole.
Before you start any of this potentially lethal exercise check that the steel around the large hole in the top of the chassis is in good condition as the compressor is hooked into this thin flange to prevent it slipping off.
Check also that the dished spring keeps are not rusted away as the keep bolt goes through the 3/4" holes. It is not the sort of job to be entered into lightly or inadvisedly," heard that before somewhere"
Christopher Carnley

[John Robins]

Thank you for this Christopher, I've never liked the idea of compressed springs, and now I like it even less. Having looked at the design of the tool, your "competent machine shop" comment is very pertinent.

Fortunately, there is little or no rust in that area, a combination of a leaky engine and about 20 of the 57 years off the road, plus little winter use since the middle seventies having kept corrosion of the chassis at bay. Would that it were the same for the usual suspects within the bodywork.

I have so far escaped any dermatitis, using latex gloves and keeping my arms covered, while restricting activities to short bursts, but I note what you say.

[Mark Hollis]

To whom it may concern!!

Re cleaning grubby ( Oh all right - B filthy) chassis it might be an idea to see if there is any garage or similar in your area that does steam cleaning.
That will certainly shift it and without poisoning everyone within range, particularly if someone else does it!!

Mark.

[Robert Craven]

I've often thought of taking a car to a steam cleaners, but been a bit wary of any adverse effects. I realise it's different, but I once used a hired extra powerful pressure washer to clean a car and despite my being careful it refused to start afterwards and took over a day to dry out. I was able to push it back in the garage but would have been stuck if I had driven it to be cleaned. Still, the advantage of going somewhere else to have your car cleaned is your driveway doesn't suffer. (If I could I would always oil the chassis of my 3 litre on the road or someone else's drive.)
As to kerosene, if by that you mean paraffin I've always found it dissolves latex rubber gloves alarmingly quickly when I've used it to clean components.
Finally, some of the proprietary cleaners aren't too bad. I've not been very impressed by Gunk but Autoglym seems OK for cleaning moderate grime off engines.
A Google search reveals a variety of reviews of these cleaners.

[Christopher Carnley]

Robert , you are right, I find that a stock of the yellow Marigold washing up gloves not only protects your hands and wrists, but they last well if you keep wiping them, and unlike the thicker P V C ones, you can feel the component.
Regards Christopher Carnley.

[Robert Craven]

I'm resurrecting this subject after nearly six years!
I decided the engine and underside of my 3 Litre needed a through clean, partly to help me trace oil leaks and partly just to have it clean for once. After ringing around I found a local service centre for commercial vehicles regularly provided this service for lorries etc. They had a 4 foot or so high ramp for the vehicles to drive onto with drainage facilities underneath and a variety of steam and pressure cleaning devices. I was lucky the operator was a vintage Austin owner and was very careful and thorough, covering the magnetos with plastic bags. In the end he didn't use steam, just hot water and detergent.
Fortunately the car still started afterwards, and I can now see where some of the leaks are coming from (the inspection plug for the vertical turret, one of the adjusting nuts and maybe the rev-counter drive. Drips from these areas then get blown all over the engine bay.)
I imagine this kind of service is commonly offered by lorry service outfits and it's just a question of persuading them to clean a car and being brave or foolhardy enough to hope the car won't get so wet it won't start again, because they probably usually deal with diesels.
PS the operator himself first went off to put on what he called his "wet suit", without which he would have got soaked to the skin.