I have the under-pans cleared. The last body area that I need to glear is the super grimey area where the engine and tranny used to be.

Is there anything that I can put on it to clean off the grime easily? I don't want to have to rinse off the metal with water. The entire car right now is bare metal until it gets warm enough to paint. Adding some chemical that I have to rise with water would be a nightmare. I'd rather lightly sand the body to clear flash rust then introduce water in my garage and really have rust start growing.

But I also can't paint over greasy metal, either.

Zach

brake cleaner works wonders. wear a respirator ... get a whole box, use generously ...

that's what i used to get 30+ years of grime off the underside of the trunk etc ...
Andy

Wear Gloves Too! Good ones, that shits bad for you.

POR-15 makes a product called Marine Clean. I used it to clean my entire engine compartment before I pained it with POR-15. It worked pretty well on all the grease, oil and dirt... Did have to wait a while for it work and then wash it off with water, though. So brake cleaner might be your best bet.

That would give my painter a heart attack. He never lets them sit bare even for a couple of days. I'd get it primed now.....it will have surface rust if you wait and even worse where you touch it. With it primed, you can do whatever you want.

Go to Napa auto parts and get a *(&t load of brake cleaner - if you have a AAA card you get a discount - It's well under $3 a can. I am cleaning up an old Volvo and this stuff is awesome, my 27 year old car looks NEW.
Steve

I've been cleaning engine tin this week, had a bunch of various products I tried- Goof Off, Dish Soap, Steel Wool, Brake Cleaner, Engine Foaming Cleaner, Acetone, Auto Prep pre paint wipe down stuff, and Simple Green. Not everything worked.

What worked the best was:
*Brake Cleaner
*scrubbed with Steel Wool or Scotch Brite pads
*followed by Simple Green... again scrubbed with Steel Wool or Scotch Brite pads
*sponge rinse with water. Paper towels help too.
*Repeat as many times as needed until it's really clean.

Once you think it's clean- you should prep for primer immediately.
*Auto Prep de-greasing paint prep wipe down with clean cotton rags (before you sand- to get the last bits of grease out)
*then lite scuff sanding (280 grit, wet/dry is fine) to provide a 'footing' for new paint
*rinse with water/sponge to get rid of sludge
*paper towel dry
*then Auto Prep wipe down again for final insurance (wear clean gloves so as not to add any grease!!)
*Paint with quality primer
*additionally you'll want to paint with your top coat within the recommended time frame if possible. Usually 24 hours. If you wait longer, you may have to sand again.

I'm using SEM Self Etching primer, or straight black SEM Trim Paint (also self etching, and both in rattle cans) because I have a few bare metal spots. But I am leaving most of the original paint on as long as it is solidly bonded on the car. I think it's a little overboard to obsess about getting down to bare metal everywhere. As long existing paint is solid, thouroughly degreased, and scuffed up- there shouldn't be any adhesion problems. If you have all bare metal you may want to put some sort of high quality auto body shop type metal etcher on it especially if you aren't using a self etching primer. My engine tin looks awsome now!

this link has great info

Its 40 degrees in my garage on a warm day right now. Painting is an impossibility until the air gets warmed this spring. I know it is an imperfect solution, but I take comfort in knowing that the cold freezes most of the moisture out of the air in the winter around here. If I shot primer now, it would all just wrinkle off when it hit the cold metal.

Zach

When I do cleaning on places like this, I like to use a 2" bristle brush. I prefer the natural bristle to synthetic. I cut the bristles to about 1" or less. I use mineral spirits of some solvent and a small bucket. The bottom of a 1 gal container about 2" deep works well. I would avoid Toluene. This works very well but causes cancer. There may be Toluene in your brake cleaner. Read the contents. using a case of this in a confined area is a bad idea. Using a brush and take your time will reduce solvent usage. And BIG rubber gloves helps.

I just dropped my engine yesterday and am cleaning today. I have a new can of brake cleaner if needed, but really prefer the NON-TOXIC (mostly) water soluable Simple Green. I have lots of old T-shirts to use as rags. First a good double soak spray, then get all the grime off, removed tins hosed. Then second pass with cleaner shirt, third pass with clean shirt if needed. Sanding rusty bumpy parts smooth followed by primer then black. Phosphoric acid stuff if it is really rusty, wait 24 h, sanding smooth etc.. .I plan to use most of the rest of my gallon of QuietCar on the firewall, followed by the rest of my can of Wurth Undergaurd - both have bumpy bits that insulate against sound.

My speedy side-shift conversion turned into a engine bay rustoration

Oh yeah- as a ex-painter, one of the best tools I had was a pair of 1000W halogens work lamps. They draw a lot of power, but put out great light and HEAT... really improves conditions for painting if high humidity and low temps.

If you have lots of bare metal now...don't even bother touching it now unless you can really paint it with primer. W/o paint it will rust ASAP and you'll need to stat over in the summer. Good prep = decent paint job. Great prep = good paint job.