[alfalfa53]

Greetings and happy Holiday to all. My GTV6 is coming out of 10 year storage. Has anybody tried dry ice cleaning for the engine and underside of their car? Results? Pros and cons. Also who makes the best suspension coil overs for those who have switched ? Thank you in advance.

 

[ghnl]

I've only read about it but it sounds interesting. It seems ideal for removing old undercoating. The cold makes the undercoating brittle so the pellets can blast it off. I'm not sure if you'd want to use it for 'cleaning' an engine bay - I assume it'd strip off paint along with the dirt & grime.

 

[tomhenneka]

Somebody posted a picture somewhere of a engine that was dry ice cleaned. The concept seems really great to me. No liquid to get in the electrics. No liquid waste under the car. No sand particles left everywhere. No baking soda residue. No chemicals.
If some cleaning service has the equipment, and the cost is reasonable, I am not seeing a downside. Yes, I am assuming that it would strip paint.

 

[Del]

Interesting. Wonder if it would do any harm to wiring insulation and rubber pieces such as ducting.

 

[alfaloco]

Good point Del... dry ice has to be brittle, jagged and abrasive.

 

[Del]

I was thinking of it chilling the plastic wire insulation so that it becomes brittle, and then gets knocked off, having little strength.

 

[alfalfa53]

Thank you for everyone's response, i was thinking i would try to leave the electronics and the wiring alone and concentrate more on the oil, grime and oxidation both in the engine compartment and underside of the car. I cleaned the wheel wells with high pressure water and mild soap and noticed a clear coat that covers the paint ( probably factory ) and would like to keep that. the rest of suspension transaxle and drive train have a lot of dirt and oxidation that i like to clean up before proceeding to any restoration. In any case there are a few outlets that do this kind of dry ice cleaning and i will ask hoe effective their system is. Hopefully i can post some pictures. Cheers.

 

[tomhenneka]

The dry ice particles have to be abrasive in order to clean anything. You wouldn't blast anything with dry ice that you wouldn't blast with sand. The advantage of dry ice is that there is absolutely no residue. Dry ice is for cleaning a very dirty block and oil pan area. It is not for cleaning the engine compartment. But unlike other media blasting, you can clean the engine while in the car, since the dry ice leaves no residue.

 

[Del]

I like the idea, if one is very careful to stay away from anything but the sump and transmission I would think.

 

[sh0rtlife]

i would think it would be IDEAL for anything "hard" IE not paint...so the transaxle, suspension entire engine..would be great ..bonus is its probably the only way of cleaning these parts and..atleast in theory not removing the zinc dip coating

 

[Alex]

Dry ice is not abrasive at all. Full explanations of how the process works can be found online. It will remove paint.

 

[930cabman]

We have a small business here in Western NY that does this work on an industrial basis, I have been having discussions with him about taking on some auto blasting. Soon I will be taking him a few samples of 50+ years old Porsche stuff for him to experiment with. Check out 914World for more, it is gaining popularity with the Porsche group.

 

[Alfafannj]

 

[alfalfa53]

The task at hand, this is what i am faced with. some surface rust, rott and years of grime and oil . it's a long road and if i wanted to use the manual method and elbow grease i should be done by 2050😆

 

[930cabman]

Perfect candidate for ice blast process

 

[alphil]

Not so sure about that. Do you know how effective dry ice blasting is at removing rust? I've heard not so good but possible, so very interested in hearing from someone whose had experience, have you? FWIW, I've been looking at Bring A Trailer and many Mercedes and Porsche sellers use DIB. Supposedly as expensive as bodywork, very time consuming when done right, but the undercarriages I've seen look factory new.

 

[930cabman]

Heavy rust will not come off with dry ice, but as you mention it leaves the undersides like new. My local guy is in the process of setting his industrial DIB business for us car guys, has a four post coming soon, he is asking for me to be his test sample. Target price for an underside $600 - $800.

 

[alphil]

That sounds excellent. No question there's a place in the vehicle restoration world for this process. Your local guy could do very well plus he's already set up and knows how to use it! Those prices could be an introductory offer; I've heard of nearly twice that much. From the few videos I've watched, there's more to it than pointing a wand and pulling the trigger,ie., variable pressures,attachments,distances types of ice,(chips,flakes,balls,etc.). Thanks for the response and good luck. Phil

 

[racingswim2006]

I've used dry ice blasting for component work but not on an underside. I know folks that have done entire undersides with outstanding results.

The only downside is the cost.

That said you'll need a bit more than dry ice blasting to remedy the underside on that GTV6.

 

[shross]

I used dry ice blasting on my 1961 SS. Just like a lot of things, results are very dependant on the operator. The guy I used involved a few different heads and different pressures depending on wheat part of the underside was being done. FWIW, I ended up as a happy customer.