How do you get that crap finish goo off a 348?!?!!?

I hope you are OK! Smoking a cigar while playing with highly flammable fluids makes for an exciting time.

I would stick with the acetone, I used lacquer thinners to do my plastics and it just takes time. Preparation is everything.

 

We use Charlie's Soap , John. The general purpose cleaner works great. And non flamable too.
www.charliesoap.com

 

I tried Easy Off oven cleaner and it was VERY slow at best.

 

All depends on how bad the part is--The worse the part the easier the goo comes off---I have tryed about 20 different products and have found it all depends on the condition of the part. I try to use the least harmfull stuff first and move to the harsher stuff it it doesn't seem to work..

 

+1----It works but involves ALOT of elbow grease

 

If you are not removing the parts for refinishing I would recommend using Goof Off 2 available at Lowe's. If you are removing the parts for refinishing the no fume oven cleaner works well. Good Off 2 is also water based so you should be safe with cigars around it, but read the label to be sure.
BT

 

people have told me I'm nuts, but I used a small handheld orbital sander from ryobi (with a triangular sanding footprint) to sand the stuff down. Went through a lot of sheets of the coarse stuff, but it works and creates a perfect surface to paint on.

 

I used gasoline and it worked ok.............but on the hand............ I do not smoke

//B//

 

That is the ticket - that and an old towel (or a bunch of rags) to wipe the gunk off with. When using any solvent on your sticky plastic parts make sure to wash them off afterwards with a damp cloth or the solvent may damage the plastic.

 

I paid my local body shop to do it! Did one part myself with Oven Cleaner and gave up. Some things are better outsourced, while you enjoy the more fun jobs in life. I may be poorer for it, but hey it will be worth it to avoid that mess. I couldn't even get it off my fingers once I had touched the steering column cover! Mind you, we get 50 degree heat in summer so mine might be worse than others!

Easy for me as labour is really cheap out here. Will let you know if they do a good job, as i get the bits back this weekend.

 

One more suggestion: rubbing alcohol works pretty well. I don't know how it compares to the other suggestions, but it does work. Burn marks? Can't help you there.

 

i used easy off with my center console pieces, but my steering colum would probably take too long with that. wouldnt paint thinner be better to use??

 

Paint thinner can be used, but be careful it will melt the plastic if you don't do it quickly and properly...

 

This might seem like a novice question but how do you get the steering colum cover off?

I unscrewed all the screws but it just wouldn't budge at all. Is there a secret screw I'm missing or some sort of clip arrangement?

 

Did you get the screws behind the guage cluster? You need to lift the guage cluster up out of the way to reveal a couple more screws.... Also the two halves snap togther--gently pry them apart...

 

Thanks Robbie, this is what I was missing. Yay, i get to play with more goo.

 

I used acetone and Easyoff. Easyoff was better. Sanding sucked.

 

Can you take a pic of the part, from a few different angles----Let me see it firsthand....