Projects Tips on cleaning out a car

Hi All,

I am starting to gather supplies so that when I get my car (57 station wagon) up here I can clean her up. She sat in the desert for I don’t know how long-decades at least-and there is a lot of sand, dust and mouse poop everywhere.

These are my supplies so far, I have bunny suits and a shop vac with heap filter, rubber gloves and a respirator. What other supplies should I get? What should I get to disinfect the inside of the car (I am thinking junta virus from the mouse crap)? The seats will come out so I can get everywhere-short of ripping out the interior totally. Maybe an ammonia spray and wipe everything dow! The front seat got chewed up by the mice I was going to put a layer of foam down and then a seat cover. I think the back seat is good to go as it has been down for years it looks like.

thanks,

mike

 

if i were the man i was five years ago, i'd take a flamethrower to this place

 

I usually need a shovel, long before the vacuum cleaner is useful.

I must be immune to the hantavirus by now, after so many that I've half-ass cleaned then driven lots of miles. No gloves, respirators, or bunny suits.

 

You just send the team rookie in there totally unequipped with safety gear. Then you stand back and laugh at him as he nearly pukes ftom the smell and dust in the air. I've seen that's how they do it on those tv shows. It's even better if you have a chance to plant a fake snake!

 

I would take the whole interior out and start from scratch. I would use spray Fluid Film Lanolin in all the doors and ceiling sections.. It's safe, protects steel very well and has a nice sent..

Fluid Film AS11 Rust & Corrosion Inhibitor - Penetrant & Lubricant (11.75 oz. Aerosol) 00207: Advance Auto Parts

 

Painters mask and a STRONG leaf blower outside only.

 

Went through a hazardous cleanup when I bought my '63 Falcon back about 6-7 years ago. The interior was full of mouse nests from the floor up even with the seats! I suited up, gloved up, taped the cuffs, put on my respirator I use for paint work, and grabbed my shop vac. I started by simply bagging the big stuff I could put in trash bags, and filled 4 large trash bags. Then the shop vac to suck up as much as possible.
Once I got everything I could, I removed the seats, headliner, carpet, and interior panels. I found dead mouse skeletons in the headliner, and more nests there too! Another round with the shop vac to clean up after this. Then I began with my angle grinder and a wire wheel to strip the remnants of carpet jute pad, and rusty metal from floors and roof.
After it was all done, and vacuumed again, I got out my brushes, and 3" rollers, and I encapsulated every bit of floor, and ceiling with Rustoleum gloss black. Then I stopped and threw away whatever couldn't be washed, and pre washed my coveralls, out side before taking them in to be washed.
When I began my project build it was with nice clean, fresh painted floors! I did have to grind paint off in a few places, but it sure was nice to start fresh!

 

In Texas it's 30% - 70%

 

I musta deleted my post trying to edit it. Hantavirus spray is usually 10% chlorine bleach to 90% water (1.5 cups of bleach to a gallon of water). Don't get any on stainless.

 

My method, dig out the big stuff with a shovel/rake. Go to the car wash if you dont have a pressure washer of your own and hose it out. Let it dry and call it good. The more you get out dry the easier.

If youre still worried then bleach is always a good answer.

 

Just remember....don't mix ammonia with bleach, thats chemical warfare.

 

All are good suggestions. I am a fan of using a leaf blower first then good ole nasty oven cleaner along with pressure washing it. For heavy rats nest it’s a set of old man go-fer sticks, welding gloves a p100 painters respirator (rubber with screw on filter pucks, not a blue fauci COVID twit mask) dust pan and bench broom.

 

now you tell me. i was cleaning the toilet and thought i had enough bowl cleaner. after pouring it in, i thought that's not enough so i thought i'd add some bleach to it.
the fumes were instant, i took the dog and got out of the house. it etched the porcelain above the water line. had to replace the toilet.

that's why i don't clean anymore. even my vacuum cleaner needs dusting.

 

Thanks. From what I saw it is mostly dust, dirt and droppings. I didn’t see any nests, but then again I was looking at other things. The wife saw the droppings and I just assumed they were there.

I can’t send in the rookie as her mother would kill me. This is going to be a father / daughter project car. But the seats WILL come out for sure. And probably the door panels as well-I have to replace the plate glass. But, good to know I was headed in the right direction.

mike

 

Keep in mind that the hantavirus is only able to survive once excreted from a rats ass for under week at reasonable temperatures, longer if it's colder, and just a few hours in direct sunlight. Any time I drag one home I load it up with traps and poison, and then leave it set for a couple weeks. It's still a nasty mess to clean out all the radt schidt but the risk of the virus surviving is near zero.

 

you'll find a lot more when you pull out seats, etc.

 

Here ya go:
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/how-to-correctly-wash-a-barn-find.809797/