The International Cessna^® 170 Association

Friends,
What is the best way to clean out all the years of oil and grime build up from under the floor? Someone mentioned to me that you could let solvent run down through the floor and it would work it's way out the tail. I would like to at least attempt to get it a little cleaner before I have the plane painted.

it wont make its way out the tail

I've found that a bunch of micro fiber towels that you buy at Home Depot and oderless mineral spirits (also home depot) work the best.
Soak the rags, slop it down the inspection hole and slather around. It'll clean out most grime and any metal shavings from drilled rivets.
You'll go thru a few bags of towels and a gallon or two of mineral spirits but it works great!

Congrats on the new plane!

bagarre wrote:it wont make its way out the tail

I've found that a bunch of micro fiber towels that you buy at Home Depot and oderless mineral spirits (also home depot) work the best.
Soak the rags, slop it down the inspection hole and slather around. It'll clean out most grime and any metal shavings from drilled rivets.
You'll go thru a few bags of towels and a gallon or two of mineral spirits but it works great!

Congrats on the new plane!

What David said. Unfortunately there are no shortcuts, just solvent and elbow grease (and nitrile gloves and a few old toothbrushes and a big fan). But the results are worth it!

Never tried oderless mineral spirits, I'll have to check it out.