Clean that belly without goofing off

[Will.iam]

On 9/24/2024 at 4:30 PM, N201MKTurbo said:

I finally fixed all the oil leaks in my 56 Cessna. So I'm cleaning the belly. The previous (RIP) owner's son told me it always leaked oil. So there is decades of gunk. I have made it from the tail to the wheels so far. Shooting for the firewall today. I'm using mineral spirits, then Goof Off with a scrub brush, then soap and water. Disgusting job. My wife says I should hire someone to do it. Where do you find this person?

I find using a airpressure hose to spray on mineral spirits does a decent job of blasting away grime in the engine bay especially hard to reach areas. Maybe would work on the belly too?

[N201MKTurbo]

9 hours ago, Will.iam said:

I find using a airpressure hose to spray on mineral spirits does a decent job of blasting away grime in the engine bay especially hard to reach areas. Maybe would work on the belly too?

that’s what I did first. It got all the liquid oil off. The baked on crud is taking a lot of elbow grease.

[Will.iam]

I tried the tub of towels last night. I always thought the nose wheel well was painted black but noooo there is shinny aluminum metal there once you get through the black crud layer. Then i started thinking maybe that is mother nature’s corrosion protection, will spray corrosion-x in there for good measure once i clean it all out. 

[N201MKTurbo]

1 hour ago, Will.iam said:

I tried the tub of towels last night. I always thought the nose wheel well was painted black but noooo there is shinny aluminum metal there once you get through the black crud layer. Then i started thinking maybe that is mother nature’s corrosion protection, will spray corrosion-x in there for good measure once i clean it all out. 

Humm, there is usually paint there, maybe the wipes worked too good....

[Shadrach]

7 minutes ago, N201MKTurbo said:

Humm, there is usually paint there, maybe the wipes worked too good....

No paint in the nose well well of my 67 Exec.

[N201MKTurbo]

3 minutes ago, Shadrach said:

No paint in the nose well well of my 67 Exec.

Here is the "h" you lost.

In My 67 F the plastic wasn't painted, and the metal was bare. My J is painted, but it was repainted before I got it. They may have painted it.

[PT20J]

So, there are lots of cleaning products on the market that can be used on airplanes. Looking at the SDS may give a clue to what is corrosive, but maybe not. I think it's best to use products that have passed Boeing D6-17487 which comprises four tests: Sandwich corrosion, acrylic crazing, paint softening and hydrogen embrittlement. For the sandwich corrosion test, a piece of filter paper is saturated with the cleaner and sandwiched between two sheet aluminum test pieces and placed in a humidity chamber. 

[MikeOH]

2 hours ago, PT20J said:

So, there are lots of cleaning products on the market that can be used on airplanes. Looking at the SDS may give a clue to what is corrosive, but maybe not. I think it's best to use products that have passed Boeing D6-17487 which comprises four tests: Sandwich corrosion, acrylic crazing, paint softening and hydrogen embrittlement. For the sandwich corrosion test, a piece of filter paper is saturated with the cleaner and sandwiched between two sheet aluminum test pieces and placed in a humidity chamber. 

@PT20J

ALCLAD, or unpassivated?

[AndreiC]

Tub o' towels works great for me in order to remove oil and grime. It does absolutely nothing for exhaust gray streaks. What do you guys use for that?

[PT20J]

59 minutes ago, MikeOH said:

@PT20J

ALCLAD, or unpassivated?

Both apparently according to a company that makes the test panels https://www.metaspec.com/product-page/boeing-bss7434-7-1-sandwich-corrosion-test-panels