Floorpan Insulation Removal

[thinkmonkey]

That rubber/plasticy/gooey insulation on my z is all cracked and peeling, so I want to take it out. I'm not putting my interior back in (sleeper baby!) and I am painting the interior body color, so that crap would be distracting. Has anybody else done this? I remember someone mentioning they used dry ice, but does that work? Thanks guys.

-David

[hmsports]

One way I heard of doing this was to use some type of chemical stripper. Very nasty, stinky and time-consuming job.

I've stripped both of my 72s using a larger ballpeen hammer and whacking the insulation pretty smartly. It is so old and brittle that it pops off in most places. The remaining tough stuff is where I use a stiff putty knife or an old wood chisel and a hammer to pry it off. I've been really successful with this method.

If there is any left that you can't get out, use the stripper - at least you will have gotten more than 90% of it the easy way.

Two things, don't hit it too hard or you will dimple the floor pan underneath, and I found a lot of rust in my floor pans this way - which wasn't a bad thing.

[EScanlon]

Use your standard 2 or 3 inch putty scraper available at most paint stores. Grind a thin edge to it, on one side only, run the edge under the edge of the tar paper and give it a light tap with the heel of your hand. More than likely it will come off in chunks and will only be a small while before it's all out of there.

I wouldn't use Chemical until the very last few small spots, otherwise you'll just melt it and it will be everywhere.

The hammer? Yikes guys, you're trying to get RID of problems, why introduce more?

[peterpit]

I just removed that nasty stuff from my floorpans and this is the first time i am glad to live in the heat of Oklahoma. I just let the car sit in the sun for a couple hours. Then, with a 3" stiff paint scraper and a rubber mallet, I scrapped away. It was pretty easy once it got hot and plyable. I also have heard of people using a hot shop light to heat up the floor and then scrape. hope that helps.

[Mike]

That rubber/plasticy/gooey insulation on my z is all cracked and peeling, so I want to take it out. I'm not putting my interior back in (sleeper baby!) and I am painting the interior body color, so that crap would be distracting. Has anybody else done this? I remember someone mentioning they used dry ice, but does that work? Thanks guys.

-David

Go get yourself one of those commercial heat guns. My dad had one and I 'borrowed' it from him for this project. I just heated up the areas I wanted to scrape, and I used a putty knife/chisel to get the stuff to come up.

It was a long and grueling task. But, I finally got it all up.