jeff spahn

I am starting my intake refresh and plan to clean everything with Brakleen. Since I am working in doors, what would be the best respirator to wear? Beyond my scuba tanks which would be the absolute best, I need and idea that is practical.

I know I can't tap into my air compressor cause that isn't clean air.

It's like 5 degrees out so leaving the doors open all the time isn't gonna work either. My garage furnace is only 40,000 btus.

Landseer

Where do you think the vapor is going to go?
(Up into the house).

Indoors like that, just use WD-40, brushes & cotton rags.

Count every washer. Vac to keep every grain of sand out of valves. Keep all cylinder holes plugged at all times with clean rags or wax paper.

Mrmerlin

use compressed air to blow out the lower injector mounts in the manifold before you remove the injectors also along the edges of the intake ,
the less chemicals you use the better but you may need a can to clean out the the V

the flyin' scotsman

I use varsol (paint thinner) in a small container with toothbrushes and sizes up to do the majority of the clean then brake clean in the final stage. Cant use anything water based because of the temps.

As stated use a shop vac before, during and after the removal.

another consideration, there's 2 types of brake clean.............use the inflammable kind for obvious 'indoor' reasons.

WallyP

Combustible = will burn
Flammable = will burn
incombustible = won't burn
inflammable = will burn

Landseer

Nothing short of an earthquake can compare to gallon of flammable solvent, a nice big shop vac, a house and a static spark. From 10 miles away that is.

While on the subject, is the fuel sender unit insulation pad really asbestos?

dr bob

To the OP's question, an "organic vapors" mask will give you the best protection but it isn't enough for the tasks you describe. Vapor concentrations will be too high, and the charcoal layer in the mask will quickly become overloaded. The solvents cause permanent nervous system damage and ar fat soluble, so even skin contact is bad. Well-ventilated area is a must. Keep the concentrations below explosive levels. No exposed flames or sparks.

Do as much pre-cleaning as possible with everything still intact on the intake. Since you will be replacing everything that's chemically fragile under there, go after the area with serious detergents and high-volume water to clear as much slime and debris out before you take a wrench to anything. Stick with detergents as much as possible, and only use brake-clean as a last resort. Your brain will thank you.

Ducman82

i had good luck with brake clean outside, then when the car was in the garage i used simple green and a brush. took parts off and wiped down. the valley was the fun part. 30 years of caked on oil crud. had to use a gasket scraper and brake clean.

ALKada

Jeff,
These are the best examples of when you don't ventilate...


or worse... :

the flyin' scotsman

Jeff...........given your previous +1000 posts on this forum I believe you have the experience and common sense to clean your car's engine with the due care and attention required.

Obviously others believe differently in the over litigated parts of the world they live.

Good luck with the project and post as work progresses.

Landseer

Funny.
He kicked it off with a SCUBA tank reference.
Hard to know where that was headed.
So we started at the beginning for him.

jeff spahn

Thanks guys. I'll try simple green and a brush first. Brake Kleen for after. Got one of these for when getting down to brake kleen: http://www.globalindustrial.com/p/sa...campaignId=T9I figured the full face coverage couldn't hurt. I am gonna open the back garage door and the overhead door on the other end on garage getting a good cross flow going. I'll just have to crank up the furnace and keep the place warm as best I can (high efficiency so no exposed flame). A little bit of a gas bill is better than a messed up retirement with a drool bucket.

Should do the trick in combination with the respirator. Got a bunch of cartridges too (well, got them donated by my brother who gets this stuff for free as samples).

The scuba gear actually was a real suggestion but the metal tanks are so dang heavy out of the water.

Now if I could find a way to rig the regulator to a long hose and hook that to my full face respirator . . . . .

jeff spahn

Not worried about vapors going up into house. Garage on main floor. If they do go into attic I have a negative pressure situation in my attic, I designed it that way, so if the attic stairway is open, air flows garage up along the roof sheathing and out the roof vents. With the attic stairway closed, it flows in through the soffit vents and out the roof vents.

This is how your attic is supposed to be vented. Air intakes at your soffit vents, flows up along your roof sheathing and out your attic vents. Well, if you have it properly balanced it does. Unless your contractor/siding installer/roofer really knew what they were doing, your roof won't be properly vented. Gable end vent's won't do this. Ridge vent, while fashionable, really doesn't work very well because the net free area of ventilation is not high enough based on how most people put in soffit vent (just throw a center vent soffit in and call it good. You must calculate the values to get it to work. Your best bet on the ridge is either a (or multiples of) power attic fan or whirlybirds. It has to all be balanced out.

When I bought my house it was 2 years old (8 years ago, showcase house for local builder) it was wrong. I set about fixing what was wrong with his system. When I cut the holes in the roof, the airflow out was so strong it blew a mini geyser of sawdust up and out.

My family is in the building material business, we have 25 stores here in the midwest and supply tens of millions of dollars of roofing material to contractors every year. It's been my job to know this stuff so I am speaking from experience that the vapors won't be entering any living space short of the garage.

Now I'll put my proper roofing ventilation soapbox away (one of my biggest pet peeves). If you really want to check your own ventilation go to: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1580852/ALL_...tion_Guide.pdf Again, I don't recommend ridge vent, but we sure sell a great deal of it because it looks nice. People end up overriding our suggestions and go for looks.

928mac

Jeff I bought a large oil pan tray, and I use it for cleaning parts. I use the fume-less varsol to lean the best I can and then rinse with hot soap and water.

You would be surprised at how scaling hot and soap make them shiny clean.
Compressed air cleans out the corners.

the flyin' scotsman

Well said Jeff.

I had thought the reference to Mr. Coustea's invention was intelligent wit; some took the expression to another tangent

Dwaynes intake write up provides great step by step instruction to the project which IIRC you have at the ready.