Bondo dust.

I haven't really had much experience using bondo (which is probably a good thing)

But recently I've run into a bondo related problem that may be not too big of a deal, but I'm a bit nervous about it.

Basically I share a house with my lady and a buddy of ours and one day my buddy decides he's gonna take an old motorcycle gas tank and get rid of all the bondo on it with a grinder. My car is all torn apart and taking up most of the garage. interior is out, hood open, carbs dont have air filters on. basically everything is wide open.

So this dude winds up grinding away on this old tank, covering EVERYTHING in the garage with bondo dust. and now im worried because my ENTIRE car is covered in the shit. And I mean everything. my whole interior is out of the car and covered in it, the hood open, its all over the motor, probably all in the carbs.

Im sure all the work i just did rebuilding my carbs is for nothing if any of that dust got into my float bowls. so im already pissed. but do i have to worry about that shit hardening again if it gets wet? like if its in my carbs and i dont tear them down and rebuild them again just in case, i'll wind up with dried crusty bondo in my carbs? those holley single barrels arent cheap. of course i'm gonna make him clean it up but i know he'll half ass it so it's almost pointless.

sorry if it seems like a dumb question but i tend to always think of the worst possible scenario for anything.

just trying to get an idea of how much clean up work is ahead of me.

 

I don't think you have to worry about the bondo setting up again, its a chemical reaction that makes it harden the first time around, it doesn't "dry".

Probably a good idea to rinse the carbs out anyway. If they are freshly rebuilt, the gaskets should handle another teardown/reassembly. hit everything with a little carb cleaner or brake spray, and put em back together.

 

blow it away with compressed air
no big problem

 

Compressor is your best friend, should be fine.

 

well thats a relief. thanks guys.

 

Maybe he's trying to tell you something about taking up the whole garage.

 

I'd recommend a vacuum cleaner over just blowing the stuff around......blowing it doesn't make it go away, it just moves it somewhere else.

Blowing out small ports in the carb is okay, just not the exterior parts.

Sounds like you'd be better off with one less person in that household.

Ray

 

The Law of Conservation of Spackle Dust (spackle dust cannot be created nor destroyed, it just changes places when you try to deal with it...) also applies to bondo dust. Vacuum it up and be prepared to toss the bag when you're done.

Bob

 

I would stay away from spraying the carbs with brakleen, etc. Just use carb cleaner. Just use compressed air to move it off of your interior... Do not wash it as it will become muddy, as for the carbs, clean them up like previously posted...

get an air cleaner(s) on it or tape up the intake to the carbs and shoot the rest of the car with compressed air. You should always close the opening if you don't have an air cleaner on it with some tape. No worries...

the guy sounds like an idiot or just didn't know... but the first indication should have been the amount of dust it was throwing... You should make him clean it so he can learn a lesson. I had to do this with a buddy that was living with me at a time and did similar shit when I was replacing the intake on my 1940 Plymouth... being homeless versus cleaning up a mess someone made isn't a hard decision...

 

Hey KemoSabi, Tell Tonto to move out.....
Sounds like a third wheel situation to me, the Bondo dust is just.... the "Trigger".... not the real problem......

 

We need a thread entitled "shared garage stories".....

Shop vac - and cover those carbs - I never leave a carb open, even off the car...

 

Blow everything clean and cover everything you don't want dirty. Leaving carbs open is a very bad idea. The bondo dust won't hurt anything but a stray nut or bolt or other piece of debris might. Never leave an engine open, if no air filter on it, cover with a cloth or stuff rags in the intake or something. Cover the car with old sheets or a cheap car cover.

 

Its shop vac time air blowers just blow the dust around......

 

If bondo dust ruined stuff, everything inside a body shop would be ruined too.
The vacuum cleaner trick will take you a year to clean "everything" in your garage.
Take your stuff outside and blow it out. Actually a good leaf blower works as well as compressed air for 80% of situations.
Set up a fan and cross breeze in the garage so the dust goes out.
You may have to do it a few times .

The bondo dust only gets hard again in the nostrils. I wouldn't worry about the carbs too much. It will stick to greasey and oily spots, just like the fat chick in flour joke.

 

Would it not be awful if all that bondo dust ended up on a motorcycle....huuummmmm....yeah vacuum as much as you can...take the seats, and all you can outside and blow the dust away right before a rain...

 

On another note: Make sure to use a respirator. Breathing that crap into your lungs will come back to haunt you.

 

Show your buddy the way to the shop vac.

 

This is the stuff "Barn Finds" are made of. Bob

 

Yea, getting rid of the bondo was his goal right ?
Getting it off of the tank is only a part of the job and the easy part.

 

Show is ass to the door,and change the locks!

 

sweep up a pile and toss it in his bed.

 

I'd suck all the dust up with a shop vac, then blow off the rest.

 

Then toss the bed on the lawn, with his half the rent money.

 

Just set up a box fan, open the doors and blow down everything with compressed air. Don't blow it around, blow it out! No harm done.
Life with room mates isn't always fun. Get your own place if you don't want to share a space.

~Alden

 

Just wait untill you do your fiberglass work to do this...^^^^^^^^^

 

No biggie, hit it with an air nozzle and blow it away. I do it daily in my shop. Your carbs will be fine.

 

Then his wife will get it all over her back.