Cleaning interior of bare car prior to paint

[MConte05]

So, I have a 94 Legacy rally car that I bought. I have rallycrossed it a few times, and it is very dusty and dirty inside (already was like that when I bought it). In a few days I will be stripping most of the car to flock the dash, do a lot of rewiring, clean off the rest of the sound deadening, as well as prepare the interior to paint the cage as it is mostly just bare metal with grey primer paint shot at the welds.

Cleaning the interior is looking to be very daunting to me. How do you guys do it? Just a lot of soap and water? Pressure washer?

What do you guys do for the paint? I am thinking some spray on primer and then just hit it with some krylon white paint. How many cans should I budget for? Should I get the POR-15 stuff and roll it on instead? Lots of questions....

[KevinWelker]

Don't spend too much time on it, cause it's gonna just get messed up again. I tend to vacuum first, then wipe down with a wet cloth, let it dry and hit it with rattle can rustoleum. 2-3 cans should be plenty. It won't make you go faster and probably won't really make it last any longer, so don't overthink it too much.

[MConte05]

Yea, I probably am overthinking it. I just know its an utter mess right now, and the idea of cleaning it up enough for paint is daunting.

[Dan McGinn]

If you have an air compressor, blow it out real good, vacuum the big bits, blow it out again, wipe down with some kind of light solvent like a wax and grease remover. THen I brush the floors with a light gray (haze gray for you Squids)

[hoche]

For a new car, I wipe the cage down with solvent to get all the oil off it, or the paint won't stick. The rest of the car I just try to get reasonably clean with soap and water (usually Joy for soap). Then I squirt it with rustoleum. I've used rattlecans, but now I use an HVLP gun with a remote paint pot. Rattlecans make my fingers tired.

The floorboards are going to get scuffed no matter what you do, and even if you're careful they'll probably get battered with rocks and you'll have to pound them back flat at some point, so get a couple of good coats on there but don't worry about it - you'll be retouching it every couple of events most likely.

I like the insides of my cars white.

[409industries]

Aircompressor + vacuum for all the loose stuff. i used simple green and a rag for the stickier dirt. If you have residue from the sound dampening on the metal, some goof-off will make pretty quick work of it. Let everything dry real good, then rattle can it if you're on a budget and have the space to do it (be careful of overspray, it can get on everything).

Inside gets jacked no matter what. some clear film on the door bars is highly recommended.

+1 for white insides.

[MConte05]

Never again am I rattle canning an interior. That took a solid two days to do. Spent the first day disassembling the interior, removing the wiring, and cleaning with a crappy ass Dust Devil that was covered in duct tape. The next day was able to push the car out to clean up the dust/dirt/sound deadening, etc. Removed all of the heater core and AC components as well to remove the compressor. Lots of weight removed.

Masked off the windows with Chinese restaurant menus and painters tape. Ran out of primer halfway through spraying, ran to the store to buy more, then finished that up. Spent a good deal of time trying to contort my way around all the bars to get all the corners, and ended up getting overspray on EVERYTHING that wasn't masked. Thankfully PB Blaster removes it with a little elbow grease. Will deal with that later.

I will be picking up some paint to brush on to get the bars and corners I just couldn't get a spray can behind without spraying myself in the face.

Otherwise. It looks badass. I can't wait to have the flocked dash back in along with the seats/belts. :)

[thewizard]

Instead of using the typical Rustoleum Type rattle can a better choice is Appliance Epoxy. It is also sold in quart sized cans.

[spiwrx]

+1 for never rattle canning a cage again. It sucked. And Aaron if you find a good source for helicopter tape I need some too...

[409industries]

+1 for never rattle canning a cage again. It sucked. And Aaron if you find a good source for helicopter tape I need some too...

Helicopter tape... meaning 3M clear adhesive film? I think i have some left. I got a ton of scraps from a local clear bra installer. Perfect for cutting strips to cover roll cage bars.

+1 too for not rattle canning. I paid a local auto body shop $400 to spray the inside of the car. Sure rattlecan costs like $50 in paint, but its the prep and labor that takes forever. They didn't do a WRC spec job, but it came out pretty dang good.

http://www.dirtyimpreza.com/hosting/project_rs/2008-12-10-interior_paint/interior_paint_005.jpg

Trick is finding someone that's stupid... er crazy enough to take on a caged car.

[tdrrally]

looooking gooood!