Down side to a barn find:Getting rid of the smell

Just started working on my 1929 Model A Four door. It had been on my parent's barn since the early 19701's. Right now I have three goals run, stop and smell better. Anyone have any proven suggestions to help with the barn smell. The interior was redone around 1960 and the car was hardly used since them. there is rodent damage but overall the interior is not too bad. I am planning on keeping as much of the barn fresh look as possible. I plan on trying vacuuming and blowing out everything then fabreeze or something like that. I also plan to seal the wwod floor. whant do you think?

 

Pull the seats and look in the padding, if there are any holes in the headliner there will be nests there, you won't get rid of the smell until you get rid of the nests. Good luck

 

fabreez is amazing

 

Yep. And Fabreze will only mask the odors temporarily. Get it out in the open with the windows down and doors open for awhile. Blow it out (or vacuum it up), and get rid of ALL the evidence of critters, then you can use Lysol or something that will kill any remaining bacteria that is causing the odor...

 

use those little biscuits that you see in the pissers, it won't smell like rat piss anymore, then all you have to do is get rid of the other smell. Just joking

 

Use some upholstery cleaner and clean it, too.

 

What the others have said... and a couple of open bars of Irish spring soap put in the interior also works amazing well over time.

 

If the suggested vacumning, blowing, airing out, and some scrubbing and shampooing still doesnt quiye get it done, paint something. If you pull the carpet or headliner and spray paint it that musty smell usually is gone and that fresh paint smell is NICE....

 

Shoot..You'll never get rid of the smell..Send the car to me,you dont want a stinky car do you?

 

smoke some big fat cigars in there and that should take care of it!!!

 

?????????dryer sheets??????

 

I'm pretty sure he meant new ones, not the ones you see in pissers.

 

Try some of this stuff. It was designed for doggie odors and you know how bad that can get. It's called ZeroOder

http://www.petproductadvisor.com/[email protected]

 

The problem is the rodent piss. Vaccume good look for rodent burrowing and yes they do shit and piss where they sleep. Clean everything with houshold amonia. I have put it in a spray bottle and sprayed everything with it. Then get a can of lysol and rool up the windows and spray the whole bottle into the car and shut the door. Let it sit a day or so and that will help. If the rodents have gotten into everything you will have to rip out all the upholstery and start over.

 

Problem Solved.

 

Scrub everything with a hard surface with baking soda. Get a few boxes of the baking soda packaged to use in the refrigerator to hide under the seats.

 

After removing all trace elements, douche everything in "ODOBAN" (Home Depot) it got rid of bad body part smell for me (long story).

 

Dead "bad body smell"????

 

thornell.com

professional cleaners tab

free sample of Odorcide 210

 

Remove all rodent nests. Put a bushel of apples in the car and roll up the windows. (I Took out back seat, put bushel on the floor, and leaned seat cushion against backrest).

I thought this was crazy, but I was told to do this by an Uncle who used to restore old Caddy's.

I tried this on a 1969 Olds 98. 6-8 weeks, and no more nasty smell.

 

X2 on the baking soda. In a previous O/T car I cut the end off of 2-3 cardboard boxes to make fairly large flats then filled them with baking soda and put them in the car with the windows up. I also sprinkled a couple of boxes of BS just loose in the car.Left them for 3-4 days then removed them and vacummed the car. No more smell. Oh and you will probably need to rip out all of the old interior.

 

Just another idea. A buddy of mine does detailing. He has a machine that might do some good. It fits in the top of the window and kinda sucks all the air out of the car. Hard to explain, but it can make a car that's been smoked in for years smell like new. Ask around at detail shops.

 

Back in my early days in the trim shop business, we done quite a few cars damaged by fire and yes, the occasional suicide job. Gut everything out of the car that can be gutted and vacuum and clean , clean , clean. Anything up in the headliner is going to be a problem. You will likely have to drop the headliner and clean at the minimum, at the maximum, a new headliner. Smells actually settle on the surfaces and we would clean fire jobs by cleaning all metal surfaces with SOS pads. Today, Scotchbrite and soap would work. Today we have Ozone machines that will take a ton of smells out but they are expensive. There is a product called "Fire D " that does a good job of killing fire smells and I have had some success with it for other odors. Just Google Fire D. Pretty cheap for what it does.

 

The big boys in school always told me (It's good once you get past the smell)

 

Mow the lawn - put the clippings in the car for a week...

 

Find out who sells car wash/ detailing supplies in your area. They have these little aresol bombs that you set of inside the closed up car. They produce a fine fog that settles on all the surfaces. I worked at a dealership for a couple of years and you would be suprised how well they work. Some one brought in a car they they had recently purchases, that they left a gallon of mik in the trunk for about a week in the summer. The whole car stunk real bad. We had to bomb it 2X but the stuff worked. You will still need to vacuum out all the loose stuff, and leaving the vehicle outside with the doors and windows open. But the bombs will do their thing.

Also they sell an all purpose cleaner that you mix with water and dispence it out of a spray bottle. Spray down the upholstered surfaces, (don't forget the headliner) and then use a wet vac to pull it out. you can agitate it a bit with s brush before you suck it out if it fabric.

 

Sounds like Fire D. You turn the cap over and jam it onto the nozzle and sit in the cat with the windows up. Smells like really intense bubble gum.

 

Well, the cat may take offense, better put it in the car.

 

after you do all the above, sprinkle fresh dry never used coffee into the car and leave it for a week or month.

 

Thats funny right there!!! and the new ones taste much better.