I'm in the process of rebuilding a sort of Baja to see if I can get it registered in WA. There is a possibliity that I can't get it registered, because its on a shortened pan, so I've limited the build budget to about $1,000. I therefore will not spend much on making it look good.

The previous owner/builder has liberally covered the entire inside of the car with black tar. Yes. That's right. TAR! You know. The stuff we build roads out of, or fix leaking roofs and gutters, or waterproof boats with. It's all over the underside of the car, but that's where it should be.

I've attempted to wash it off with petrol, but it is too messy and difficult, the petrol fumes nearly flattened me and just spreads it around.

Anything that is put on any inner surface of the car, sticks to the tar on a hot day.

I've had an idea that I would like your opinions on.

If I cover the affected areas with a very runny mix of epoxy resin, will if soak in and as it sets, seal the tar and make it solid?

Would I then be able to paint it?

I hope so. The only other alternative would be to completely cover the inside with carpet or vinyl or some such fabric.

hmmm... i wonder if you can treat it like the soundproofing tar.

Its a pain to remove, but looking in your yellow pages, look for a dealer in 'dry ice'. use it to really cool the tar down and then the tar will harden and become brittle.
combined with a heavy duty scraper and maybe a small hammer, chip it off, and hopefully it comes as big chunks...

other option is use a heat gun to really heat it up and soften it, and using a scraper get as much as you can till u hit metal, using a rag to wipe it off. then when its only the small layer of residue coated all over the metal, then use a solvent to remove.

Quote:

Originally posted by bajachris88 hmmm... i wonder if you can treat it like the soundproofing tar. Its a pain to remove, but looking in your yellow pages, look for a dealer in 'dry ice'. use it to really cool the tar down and then the tar will harden and become brittle. combined with a heavy duty scraper and maybe a small hammer, chip it off, and hopefully it comes as big chunks... other option is use a heat gun to really heat it up and soften it, and using a scraper get as much as you can till u hit metal, using a rag to wipe it off. then when its only the small layer of residue coated all over the metal, then use a solvent to remove.

FIRE, it will burn off, i'm sure theres a bush fire some where close by thats blazing away, just park it there for a while!

The dry ice will work... I have seen it at work removing bitumen in an oil refinery....

Having mulled it over for a long while, I bit the bullet and yesterday I removed the tar with a blowtorch and a scraper.

I opened the shed doors and windows, set up a fan onto the area and got stuck in. I places the tar was a quarter of an inch thick.

I only did the space behind the seats and from there I removed about half a bucket of scrapings. The area under the dashboard was left alone as my poor old back wouldn't let me do such an awkward space.

I washed the scraped area three times with fresh petrol, and then glooped a thick gooey layer of Killrust gloss black onto both areas.

The whole car interior is transformed and now at least when I put something down onto the rear shelf, it won't stick down into black gooey tar.

I still don't get it. Tar!! What was he thinking?