alright so I got this 1976 fiat 124 spider and Yesterday I set out to strip everything out of the interior. Then rather than getting to sheet metal like I expected I get to this weird tarred in insulation. Does anyone know how to get this crap off? You can see that there is perfectly good sheet metal then a fine line of tar crap, and then there is sound deadening fluff stuck that tar and its just a mess
I have never tried it myself, but some people say that you can get stuff like that off by freezing it with dry ice (ZOMG, CO2!!! GLOBAL WARMING!!1!!!) and then it will come up. Cost you a few bucks to try.
Dry ice, like Hess said. Whatever you do, don't wait until July and go after it with a putty knife and a hammer.
+3 on dry ice, than use a orange dead blow and it should come up is post card size chunks
If you're located anywhere north of the Mason-Dixon, you might try hitting it with a hammer and chisel before running out to buy dry ice. I've been working on stripping that stuff out of my RX7 and found it's brittle enough in even mildly cold weather to chip away pretty easily.
If it isn't cold enough to chisel it out, I would go the dry ice route. Pro tip - Put it in a big ziploc bag instead of pouring it directly on the sound deadening. It will stay solid longer and make it easier to breathe while you work.
Either dry ice or a propane torch and a scraper.
Ask your grocery store for some dry ice. They get all kinds of E36 M3 sent to them packed in the stuff. Used to be easy until kids learned how to make bombs out of it with 2L pop bottles. Otherwise welding supply store carries the stuff.
Heat gun works, but it's a whole different and smellier game.
Pete
I have only had minimal luck with dry ice.
I use a propane torch on the underside of the panel and then scrape it off. Not a lot of heat mind you. A little bit goes a long way. I just kind of wave the torch on the underside of the floor in a 4"X4" area and then slip a putty knife under it and pop it off.
I'd swear I read something about a revolutionary technique involving one of those reciprocating cutting tools, but danged if I can recall the details.
Ah, okay. I've never tried it, but you can see my guileless delight in reacting to jpnovak's post here:
https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/removing-undercoating/58956/page1/#post1072833
Like Furious_E, I had good luck getting it out of my Rx-7 when it was about 30° outside. A nice metal putty knife and a deadblow made quick work of it, but I'm in CT and it's currently 18°.
On another car, it took HOURS AND HOURS to do in July. That sucked.
I tried the dry ice thing on my M3, it sort of worked, but not great. Took ages to do one small spot, and even then it wasn't all that complete. It was July though. Break up the dry ice, dump it on, then pour isopropyl alcohol on it.
Unless I really need access to that area for welding or something, I leave it in. Takes less work and is cheaper than Dynamat.
When I do need to remove it, I use a putty knife. I have a putty knife with a .401 shank for use in an air hammer but doing by hand works just as well.
Buy a Good Scraper one you can Hammer on. Heat Scrape, Heat Scrape Gasoline desolves the stuff pretty good to scrape it off but then Gasoline
Last time I did this, after learning my lesson trying a torch on previous car (i can still recall the stench), I used dry ice and an air-chisel turned down to 'pleasure the missus' low. Just enough to easily break up the tar and not dent the steel. It did leave some scrapes in the paint, and just a bit too much air could spell disaster, but boy was it easy.
If you are painting, carpeting, or otherwise unfussed about looks, it is a solid option.
I have no other advice, but would like to share this anecdote:
About ten years ago, a few of us started to build IT cars. I put together a twincam Neon, and a friend was building a B14 SER Sentra. We were both working in my shop, and I spent the whole. Damn. Day. with a gasket scraper and a heat gun, scraping tiny chunks of really high quality Chrysler tar off the floor. I went home to let my blisters heal, and left Binky working on his car- He had not started scraping the floor in his yet. I came back the next day, and found four perfectly floorpan shaped pieces of tar which had popped out with no effort at all. I found this to be, shall we say, rude...
I had good luck with dry ice on my Lexus challenge car a few years back. It took a lot of dry ice, was cheap for me, but that is because I have easy access through work. It really depends where you are located with how easy it is to find dry ice.
Has anyone tired the scraper attachment in an oscillating saw tool?
In reply to Nate90LX :
I have the exact tool shown in the above link and use it heavily for paint removal (citrastrip, let sit for 8+ hours, then oscillating blade your way to clean self etching primer.
But I have not utilized it for sound deadening. The blade gumming up would be of concern.
Unless a race car is being built, it is much better to leave the tar on so long as it is 3 inches back from any welding. Being Fiat, I assume it needs welding! It broke off my X1/9 quite easily anywhere the steel was failing, without chilling or heating, about 65 f ambient.
Dry ice is wonderful .
That stuff comes out of the E36s fairly easily with a heat gun for me. Took a little practice figuring out how to get it hot enough to release from the panel, but still cold enough that I could strip it off like old wallpaper in nice wide strips with a broad-blade putty knife. Odorless mineral spirits and a rag (used outdoors!) took off the residue.
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