80+ years of road dirt..ideas?

[Mitch//pa]

Originally Posted by 700rpm

Les's Vol. I red book.

times 2 red book, restoration guidelines, service bulletins, suppliers catalouges (free) show many exploded views

[Charlville]

Soaked mine in paraffin for a few days, then hot pressure wash and the good old scraper worked for me

You can see some of my crud here

[larrys40]

You can use whatever method you like for initial cleanup from the elbow grease ( use no matter what the method) or kerosene and the hot water pressure washer . Or you can just do what it really needs which is a removal and tear down for rebuild . Cleaning each part as necessary in the parts washer and bead blasting parts to prep for rebuild and "restoration ". If you want to just clean for a clean up and paint job you would be best served by doing what needs to be done mechanically.
As Kevin said there are other aspects which dictate A tear down and rebuild
My diagnosis and prescription to you.

Larry Shepard

[vespaholic]

Regular old oven cleaner and a power washer.
Make sure you catch the grime and don't let it into the ground or storm water system.

[Doug in NJ]

When I restored various chassis parts of my car, they had a layer of crud that nothing seemed to even soften. I even tried boiling in straight Simple Green, but no luck.
Then I tried oven cleaner, and it worked great! Be sure to use the genuine Easy-Off full-strength kind, in the yellow spray can. I tried an off-brand can once, an it did not wok as well. Also, remember that it will remove paint!

Doug

[Brentwood Bob]

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I could not help but notice how your one picture helped me understand what you were doing. You have a great advantage in your restoration by having a complete car. By going slow, reworking one system at a time, taking alot of before and after pictures, and journalizing each step and sketching original fastners, and their exact location before removal, You have the primer you need to restore and replace each part on the car.
The classic mistake I made was dissassembling my first car before starting to restore with no idea what I was trying to accomplish. And save everything. Rust on original parts is called patina. The parts are usually valuable, and the wire wheel will bring them back. They were originally overengineered, and made of very high quality material. Remember Henry Ford was able to control the building of the car, and did.
Bob

[jchochole]

Bob- thanks for sharing your insight and experiences. I will do my best to make this a safe running car for fun outings with the family.

Appreciatively,
Jim