The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Best way to remove 53 years of greese?

I've got a '54 GMC 248 that I just acquired.

\'54 - 248 engine

It has a generious coating of greese and I think my first step in rebuilding this will be to take the greese off of it. Is there any secret formulas anyone has or favoriate commercial products that will take this greese off without making too much of a mess? Thanks in advance!

Ive used easy off oven cleaner along with a scraper and it worked great, But there's some good "more expensive" engine degreasers out there,
Check with your local parts store

You could also use a pressure washer but it makes a horrible mess of everything around it...

I took mine after rippin off the front sheetmetal and bed up to a BIG RIG service shop that is like right around the corner an had her STEAM GENNIED....man it made life nice !

I'd put some plastic underneath to catch the mess, use a scraper on the thick stuff, then spray on brake cleaner for the rest. Roll up the plastic and put it in the trash, voila, you're done!!

easy off oven cleaner

@ the 99 cents store
buy a case
pour it on, spray hot soapy water, scrap...
repeat

This solution is rather pricey and falls under the category that Tabdoo16 mentioned, but a company called Damon Chemical sells a product labeled SF-77. In essence, it is an acid based cleaning solution. I used it cleaning the grease and oil off my 72 Chevelle. Granted, I had to dilute it, but it in conjunction with a pressure washer worked quite well. However, if you're bold enough to put SF-77 on straight, don't let it sit there too long. We put it on straight on the family motor home and it started taking the paint off. Boy, it was clean though...

I've had pretty good luck using a small propane torch to heat the caked on grease while using a scraper and a wire brush. It takes less effort if you heat it up, but not so hot it burns.

Dawn dish soap and a pressure washer. Let the soap stand for a few hours(works best when everything is warm) and when you're done, you can rinse everything, drive and all, with a nozzle and your garden hose.
DJ

I would second the "hi-strength" approach. Either a hi-pressure steam cleaning or hi strength chemicals. I haven't heard of a way to do this without making a mess, but you can limit the mess with cardboard, plastic etc as stated earlier. Oven cleaner works pretty good, but usually takes a few rounds. Typically it's a nasty and time consuming task. I brake it down into sections and tackle it over several days time. The better you degrease, the less you have to deal with later on! Good luck with her and keep us posted.
Dan

Using a pressure washer creates an unnecessary amount of additional waste that should be dealt with in a way that is friendly to the environment. For what it's worth, allowing the water to infiltrate your yard or run down the street into the storm drain is NOT an environmentally sound manner. When I rebuilt my engine this past june, I set up the engine stand over a childs swimming pool which I bought from Kmart for about 10 dollars. I used a blow torch, some diesel fuel, and a minmal amount of water. When I finished, several weeks later, I "bottled up" the entire accumulation of liquid and took it to the local landfill for proper and FREE disposal. The pool was fairly durable and held up without ever springing a leak.

I take stuff to work and put it in the Hotsy's

For home, I use engine cleaner and the pressure washer followed by a few rounds of 409 and the pressure washer. Dont know what is in 409, however spray it on, hose it off, gets a fair amount of crud loose without the annoying petroleum aftertaste :p

dublenaught,

Did the good folks at the local landfill know what secrets the kiddies pool held inside? In California you can't landfill heavy metals and diesel fuel...it's not good for the environment.

Stuart

If he has the same situation that I have here the local landfill has free haz-mat dumping 6 days a week. I imagine thst's what he ment by "proper disposal". That's not a bad idea, with the kiddie pool, Think I might go that route. Thanks!

i am with a buch of the guys here, being a tight wad or penny pincher i just use the cheapest oven cleaner i can find at the el cheapo store and some hot pressure washer water take some work but saves the $

automarc....working as an environmental consultant for the past 18 years, I can assure you I am aware of legitimate, effective, and legal treatment methods for some of the waste liquids that garage's generate. For me to use the term landfill may have not been appropriate. Perhaps the term "recycle" or "re-use" may have been a better choice - particularly for those who may have snickered with regards to my described "landfilling" methods. AS far as the metals content is concerned, the facilty filters prior to incineration, and the remaining concoction of petroleum based "broth" is actually fairly well managed by 21st century remedial technologies......even here in the Carolinas.

dublenaught,

Sorry If I offended you. My post was intended to be on the light side. Thanks for the note.

Stuart

Last weekend I I made the soon to be wife happy when I bought a Shark Steamer. She was happy she could use it on other things around the house, I was happy to use it to degrease my engine, and engines in the future as well. Though its not as good as a Steam Jennie, it work about the same way. YOu puor in 1400 ml of water waiti about 15 minutes, and you get about 50 minutes of steam. It just kinda blows out the end, not super high pressure but it works oretty good. Cost about a 100 bucks or so.

I also swear by Castrol Superclean. This is a great degreaser that you can get most places, I think I got mine at Wal-Mart.

Just don't get this stuff on your hands, or if you do get it off there pretty quick, it tends to take a layer off pretty quick.

Also This is bio degradble it says so on the packaging anyway.

Birge