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Tried using a soda blaster on a greasy engine firewall, got a surprise | Aircraft Mechanics - Vivisector

Tried using a soda blaster on a greasy engine firewall, got a surprise

I had this old Cessna 172 firewall that was caked in decades of oil and grime. Figured I'd try a soda blaster instead of my usual chemical scrub and elbow grease. Thing stripped that grease right off in half the time, but I didn't realize how much soda gets into every nook and cranny - had to spend another hour blowing out all the residue from wiring bundles and control cable pulleys. Has anyone else dealt with cleanup issues after soda blasting tight spaces like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_viola3mo ago

Yeah, that soda gets everywhere doesn't it? I did the same thing on a car engine bay once and found soda dust in places I didn't even know existed. Spent a good hour chasing it out of the alternator vents and spark plug wells with compressed air. Definitely faster than scrubbing but the cleanup is its own beast.

fiona_carr263mo ago

Honestly, the wiring bundles are the worst part. I found myself pulling tape off and blowing soda out of individual wire channels on my 172, and it still felt like I missed a few. Next time I might just bag up the whole harness before I start.

the_brian3mo ago

Almost 20 years working on planes and I have to say I disagree with bagging the harness. Soda blasting works so good because the media is soft but the friction from the soda hitting the grime is what does the work. If you bag everything tight you end up with soda packed in little crevices that turns into a paste when moisture hits it. I have found that leaving things open and just hitting it with a solid 90psi air blast right after while the soda is still dry gets 95 percent of it out. The other thing is I never use tape on wire bundles for this, I use a low tack masking paper and just drape it loose so the soda bounces off but doesn't get trapped. Saved me hours of cleanup on my last Mooney cowling job.