Black Soot In Engine Bay (Firewall & Strut Towers)

[Marko R1]

hi guys,

im looking at buying an r32gtr 94 model (very clean car) apart from the engine bay, there is a thin layer of black sticky crap, more so on the firewall & strut towers...what is this stuff? maybe a buildup from age or a type of protectant spray?

how did it get there & will it come off with a cleaner such as kerosene?

regards

[Wacky Dee]

Did you ask the owner ?

May have had (or still has) rust and someone sprayed fishoil or something like it to prevent it from coming up on the surface ie. it could be rusted badly underneath so make sure you take a thorough look for weld spots and see if it's had rust cut out.

[Marko R1]

yeah well he said that he didnt spend time on the engine bay appearance - more performance & exterior.

i dont think its fish oil - i actually saw this stuff on another gtr which i looked at last week...

[Marko R1]

here is a pic of what im talking about - the top of the strut is relatively clean - look at the vertical section of the strut, you can see that black crap

[Marlin]

You notice this quite a bit on white ones, not usually as prominent on darker ones though.

My opinion is it's just a build up of grime. A bit of TLC will get it off but to do a really superb job and get everywhere you need to unbolt a few things to move them around and out of the way.

Front guard has clearly been off that car which of course is common at that age, but still, make sure you take a good look around it and make sure its straight and that the guard has only been off for cosmetic repairs, not structural.

Edited December 20, 2010 by Marlin

[Marko R1]

thanks marlin - it will take a bit of time to clean but will look good after...

yeah i'll get a better look at that guard