The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Interiors Initial Deep Cleaning Suggestions

Hi Everyone,

I'm looking for suggestions on how to do a deep cleaning on the interior of my truck. The info: the truck is a 1953 3100 that had been sitting for many years before I bought it. During that time, mice lived in it. There are bits of old mouse nest in places and the ever present smell of mouse pee. I've removed the gauge clusters and will remove the seat cushions and frame and the gas tank before I start cleaning. I was thinking that I would need a bucket of some kind of cleaning solution, a brush and a garden hose. I want to get it cleaned and free of mouse pee smell, before I start work on the interior.

Any ideas on what to use to get it clean and smelling better would be appreciated. Also, if I'm about to do something stupid (bucket of cleaner and garden hose) please let me know. I do not plan on reusing the old wires, so I'm not worried about them. I can't think of any real harm that I would do, other than causing flash rusting with the water. I plan to dry out the interior as soon as I'm done washing it.

Thanks!

What you want to buy http://www.autoshocker.com/ is Auto Shocker.
When mixed with water is releases chlorine dioxide with encapsulates any protein and then eats it. You are smelling proteins from the mice. Spoiled food, vomit, blood, cigarette smoke and other odor emitting proteins are eliminated.

Follow the instructions carefully! You will not harm yourself of anything with this process. Leave the doors and windows closed for 12 hours and do not open it to see how its doing because you'll le the gas out.

Afterwards, a hint of swimming pool may be present. A second treatment may be required.

Make your own bleach solution to kill any thing from the mice droppings, recommended recipe is 1:10 bleach to water. These trucks are pretty forgiving when it comes to cleaning. With the clusters out your only other concern may be the heater assembly. Took me three days to clean mine out the first time, nasty job, as it had been sitting many years in a farmers field.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/advance-design_parts_co/8129126615/in/album-72157631867396207/

Messing with mouse poop/pee is dangerous business so be SURE to wear a mask. I have use everything from citrus orange to pine sol to clean with. The bear metal will flash rust some in places but its "par for the course" as your just getting started. Grease spots can get purple power, oven cleaner and just about any other cleaning agent you can think of. Just remember to flush everything relly good.....Remember the MASK

A steam Jenny pressure washer would be handy for that job.

I agree with the other guys that the truck will be fine with a good dousing of water and scrubbing with a bleach solution. A steam Jenny if available would be awesome. Hantavirus is a bad thing and sometimes can lead to death. The airborne dust (aerosols) breathed in while cleaning are your most likely point of contact. Watering down everything will lessen the airborne dust and hantavirus if present(much like asbestos remediation). When I am at the cleanout stage, I were a respirator.

http://www.cdc.gov/hantavirus/pdf/hps_brochure.pdf

Those darn rodents love old trucks.

Here is a picture of one I caught in the header panel of my formerly unrestored 41.

[img]http://www.surfacezero.com/g503/data/3764/medium/IMG_20443.JPG[/img]

I have more to add. When I bought my 53 gmc it also had mice in it. A lot of mice. It had sat in a barn for 26 years. It stunk so bad you could smell it from 20 feet away. No exaggeration. There was 4inches of crap and nests on the floor. They had crap and nests everywhere. Under the dash, in the seat, inside the headliner, inside the front door jam pillars and inside the back wall around the rear window. I would recommend stripping the entire interior. I've steamed, vacuumed, blown compressed air, bleached and swept for almost a year! That stuff is still coming out every once in a while. The back wall is particularly difficult to get completely clean. Almost need to acid dip the cab to get it all.
By the way, I think the previous owner over fed his barn cats.

I hosed and detergented and bleached. On hot humid days, I could still smell the mouse residue.

When I had the cab dipped, the smell finally went away for good.

Hi Everyone,

Time for an update. I took everyone's advice on cleaning the inside of the truck. I didn't have access to a steam cleaner or pressure washer, so I got out the old bucket and scrub brush and went to town. I used car wash soap and bleach and started on the cab roof and worked my way down the sides until I reached the cab floor. I did everything including the dash and doors. It smelled pretty good when I was done. Time will tell, though, if the smell comes back on humid days. I really hope not, though! Here are a couple of pics of before and after:

Cab floor before scrubbing

Cab floor after scrubbing

The gas tank was so gnarly that I'm contemplating just throwing it out and getting new one. I'll check around locally first and see if someone can boil it out. If they can and are reasonably priced I might give that a try first. If I do, I'm guessing that I'll need some kind of tank sealer to put in when I get it back to prevent new rusting in the tank. It was pretty funny when I was carrying the tank out to the back yard. You could hear the dried debris sliding around inside the tank and the pipe nipple that connects the tank to the petcock was completely blocked with dried sediment or mud. It would be nice if I could re-use it, as the new tanks and mounting hardware and accessories are really expensive!

The other issue that I'm contemplating right now is getting the POR-15 cab floor kit. The floor is in pretty decent shape in most areas. You can see in the above pics that the previous owner had a sheet of galvanized metal installed over the original floor. That is because of rust out on the driver's side. That part will definitely need a patch panel and might make a good learning to weld section, but the rest of it can definitely be saved. I'm curious if anyone has used that kit and if so, how it turned out.

So that's it for now, thanks again for the help and suggestions. I'll keep asking, if you all will keep helping out!

Gray Ghost. Its been 15 years since I used the POR15 Kit but it works well and is still in good shape in the tank of my 37.

My story....just LAST WEEK I took a 16 gal tank to a local, long time, radiator shop to get the tank dipped overnight. The guy looked at me funny and said "I haven't heated up that tank in 20 Years, all I do now is the plastic ones".
.....so I move on to Rowlands Radiator shop that I have dealt with over the years. Keith told me "I can vat it for you for $85 and I have a sealer I can put in that has worked pretty good for a total of $150.
....then I drove about 15 miles to Fowlers Radiator shop and was told "my dad retired last year and does not come around the shop anymore so we quit doing radiators.
....I can buy this particular tank for $149 new. I think you'll find the situation pretty much the same everywhere. Save yourself the time/labor/trouble and just buy a new one to start with. Just my opinion.

Achipmunk,

Your story is kidnda what I was expecting. Sounds like my old tank is headed to the recycler and I'm going to have to save up for a new tank. My question is, will I need to seal a new tank or not? I know a new tank won't leak, but is it good insurance against rust developing in the tank or is the galvanized coating enough?

you should not have to seal a new tank.....and I didn't on my panel of any other new tank I've bought.