Removing seam sealer... Options

[Jeroen]

Well, I got pretty much all of it out of the engine comp. and rear trunk
Took it out using a small wirebrush on an electric drill

Only seamsealer left back there is around the heater tubes (where they come out of the longs)
It's pretty impossible to get to with the wirebrush/drill in that location

Same for the seamsealer in the front trunk (where the gas tank is)
It's tight and hard to reach there

Can I hit it with some nasty chemical? Will paint stripper work on this stuff?
I'm not a fan of paintstripper, but I'm running out of options here...

Any tips are welcome...

cheers,

Jeroen

ps. so far, no rust found under any of the removed seam sealer... knock on wood for what's left...

[jmargush]

You can use a propane torch if you are careful. It works really well if you have access to the backside of the metal that the sealer is on. Heat the metal from the back side then go tot he front side and use a puttty knife to scrape the sealer off. Two people, one with torch one with the putty knife, make it go a lot quicker

[dakotaewing]

I was doing the exact same thing this weekend.... Easyoff and paintstripper will not touch the seam sealer... I even tried a heat gun, and that did not seem to do much either.... Time to whip out the razor blade -

Thom

[balljoint]

For tight spots I have used a flat head screw driver like a chisel with great success, (provided you have room to tap it with a hammer) but none of the paint strippers or even the sand blaster would make a dent in the seam sealer.

[brant]

Jeroen,

Not answering your question...
but since I know how invested you are into the rear shock uprights....

There is a bunch of seam sealer upside of the uprights.
I took a drill and round wire wheel (don't forget the safety glasses) and got 99.9% of the sealer out of these.

After its out, you can then seam weld from the inside of the upright. There are a number of overlaping plates that are not accessible what so ever from the outside.
I figured that this would have to help some, with strengthening the shock tops....

seeing as to how much effort you have already put into the same .... you may want to consider this while your there...

$.02

brant

[Jeroen]

Thanks Brant

Hadn't looked in there yet (shocks are still mounted) but will surely get there when the rest of the bottom is cleaned

cheers,

Jeroen

[SteveSr]

Jeroen,if you have the room an air chisel with a flat blade works wonders,just get it started under the sealer and throttle the air on carefully so as not to cut into the metal and it peels right out. This is the method I used on the rear shock towers. It may not fit in your case.

SteveSr

[zoomCat]

I saw something called a 'gasket scraper' for the first time yesterday. Could this work? Anybody ever see one of these things in action?

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Disp...itemnumber=3309

[gopack]

Not to hijack this tread, but newbie that I am, I need to know...... Why do you need to remove the seam sealer? I am getting my car (tub mostly) ready for paint and body work, trying to do as much as possible to save costs, but wasn't planning on taking every little blob of goop off in the hard to see/reach places. Is it rust hunting issue? Does this mean the job I have been dreading and putting off for so long is actually worse than I envisioned?


Back to your previously scheduled thread!

thanks
MARK

[brant]

Mark,


I've had cars where I did not remove all of the goop..
and I think thats ok...

kinda depends upon your level of anal retentative ness, the cars final purpose, and how rusty it may or may not be to start.


Sometimes there is rust in these seams and thus it can be a good idea (although a terribly time consuming one) to do this. A good example is the back crack in the rear trunk floor... They all are starting to rust in this area, this is an excellent location to spend the time getting all of the crap out and preventing further damage.

In my case, the car is becoming a race car so I wanted it all out to save weight and to prep for some seam welding I had planned...

but like I said, I've had cars that were drivers where I didn't take it all out and thats ok too as long as your not providing a breeding ground for rust.

brant

[SteveSr]

I saw something called a 'gasket scraper' for the first time yesterday. Could this work? Anybody ever see one of these things in action?

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Disp...itemnumber=3309

Yes! that is exactly what I'm talking about (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smash.gif) ,except that is a purpose built tool that probably works better. The air tool I used is the kind the muffler shops would have used to cut pipes off.

SteveSr

[McMark]

Propane torch and a mask for the fumes and some scraping tool is the fastest and easiest. Wire wheel will take a long, boring time. I've spent my time behind a wire wheel. Never again if I can help it. BTW, those green 80 grit 3M StripIt disks are really good at taking it off. Not as good as propane though.

[IronHillRestorations]

We use a wood chisel, along with some wood gouges, and other improvised chisels in my shop. The wood working tools can be easily sharpened, and can be purchased fairly cheap. We've tried air chisel, but it causes too much damage and can be hard to control in tight areas.

There isn't any easy way, unless you get the entire body dipped.

PK (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cool.gif)

[mr914]

I found that the paint stripper made by POR-15 works wonders on the undercoating.

I spent hours with a drill/grinder/heat gun doing one fender. Must have been 10-15 hours.

The POR-15 stuff did the other fender well in about 2 hours.

BTW that was on a factory 6 with the undercoating everywhere.

[McMark]

mr914, are you talking about the black rubberized undercoating in the fenders or the white seam sealer in all the panel joints?