I was looking at my transmission housing yesterday and marveling at how hard 70 years of gunk is to remove. I started off by spraying a cleaner like Purple Power on it then using the pressure washer. I thought I was done but after it dried I could see spots I missed so I pressure washed it again without noticeable improvement. I scraped at some of it with a screwdriver before letting it soak a few days in the parts washer and have been scrubbing it with wire wheels, scotch brite pads and wire toothbrushes. It still shows dirt in spots when I let it dry. I can’t get into the tighter corners with a wire wheel.

Used Easy Off on some other parts and got similar results although it didn’t take as quite as much effort. I did notice more corrosion after using the Easy Off.

I have been tempted to do some of this in the sandblaster but my cabinet is a little small for a transmission and it could be a challenge to get all of the media out of the transmission when done.

The idea is to get it worth painting. I wanted to see what kind of cleaning tips a thread like this might produce. Not just for the greasy chunks but for frame restoration/paint prep as well.