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How to clean my Cutlass.


jiggity76
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Hey guys, I want to do a good scrub inside and out on my extremely neglected and dirty Cutlass.  The car sat outside in a yard from the previous owner under a tree for about 2 or 3 years and it is covered with dirt, grime, mold and worst of all tree sap.  I was thinking of using my buddy's power washer but don't want to damage the paint any more that I have too (even though it will need to be repainted down the road) and how to get rid of the crusty, hard tree sap.  I was thinking of maybe hand washing first and then going from there, maybe power washing and tree sap removal later if it needs it.  I also want to protect the paint until it is time to repaint it.  Pics of the car is under new member introductions,  jiggity76 to give you guys a better idea of what I will be dealing with.

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Ok, thanks.  Never thought of dish soap but that would be good to cut thru the grime and such.  I was going to claybar too, forgot to mention that.

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I have heard of that a long time ago and just forgot about it,  thanks for reminding me.  That's why I love this site, people are always willing to help!

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I`d hold off on the power washing and do what you can by hand first, get it wet and allow which ever soap you use to set for a few minutes to let it cut through that sap. Maybe mix it up a bit concentrated too, and stay away from the was/wax combo and go for just the wash. Get it really super squeaky clean before thinking about hitting it with a claybar, but do use them. Makes the car feel soft and smooth almost as if a layer of really thick air has formed a barrier around the car. I`ll never forget what that classic Chevelle felt like after the owner finished.

 

 

Dawn is great to use on outside stuff!

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That sounds like a good plan.  I'm going to buy a good sponge/mat and use Dawn and let it set for a few minutes like you said.  I will do it as many times as possible to get it down to a good base, no dirt debris before I claybar and wax.  If the hand wash doesn't work, then I was going to power wash as gently as possible to get all the gunk off of it.  I just want to have a clean car to start when I begin restoring it cosmetically and mechanically.  I'm going to buy a good car cover also and keep it the garage until that process begins.  Thanks a lot for the advice!

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I use Turtle Wax Bug and Tar Remover to get bugs off of the front of my car.  It says it works on tree sap too, although I've never used it for tree sap.  I'd recommend you hand wash with dish soap like everyone else is saying then using the bug and tar remover to get as much tree sap off as possible before you clay bar.

 

https://www.turtlewax.com/shop/products/turtle-wax-renew-rx-bug-tar-remover-16-fl-oz

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That sounds good.  I want to get it down to bare paint before I do any deep detailing.  I thought about maybe using a buffer too if starts to really look promising.  Thanks for the advice and I will post some before and after pics when I actually start cleaning her up!

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  • 1 year later...

She's all cleaned up, scrubbed it by hand with soap and water from a bucket and then had it towed to a local car wash and power washed her.  Thought the pic showed up but nope, sorry.  Still working on it.  Thanks to everyone who gave me tips.

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  • 3 weeks later...

New pics of the cleaned up 91 International with correct badge placement, new door handle, correct fog lights, and fixed driver's door cladding.  Thanks to everyone who posted on how to get her clean.

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curious,

 

what web hosting service are you using?

 

all of your pics have come thru as links, not *copied* here to the forum by the hoster

 

RNADXj.jpg

 

Whoops!  Should be fixed now.

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YHEGMV.jpg

Sorry about all the duplicates and messes but here it is all cleaned up.  Figured out how to do pics and not the links.  Ended up taking it to the car wash down the street, hand washing it with Dawn and then carefully power washing it.  Turned out pretty good I think!

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Looks good! I miss mine

Thanks!  I still watch your YouTube video every once in awhile.  Did you add the DIS to yours or was that factory.  Manic said that DIS was extremely rare for 91's.  I like that your speedo shows up on the cluster since HUD cars were not suppose to do that.  How hard was it to do that?  Want to maybe do that to mine.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I worked on cleaning up the engine bay today.  Vacuumed all the dirt and leaves in the areas that I could reach and then wiped everything down.  Replaced both grills with some nice junk yard ones and the passenger headlight bezel.  Vacuumed the interior and cleaned up the trunk area.  Also cleaned the trunk lid and trunk jambs.

 

zqOVar.jpgceGcqC.jpgedd6tj.jpg

 

I'm going to clean up the battery tray area and then paint it to stop the surface rust from getting worse.

 

HYSx49.jpg

 

Cleaned up both strut towers and along the wiper area.  A lot of leaves and dirt in this area.

 

AI9QbI.jpg

 

Not sure what/where these lines go to.  Any suggestions?  Sits behind the intake next to the firewall.

 

Tup6Kt.jpg

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