by Preston Brown
I took a break today from bodywork after exposing a bit more of the underside of the tunnel while I nibble away at the old floor pan. As I looked at the heater cable tubes, clutch cable tube, and parking brake tubes, I silently kicked myself for not taping them up inside the tunnel better before the media blasting. I mean, I did follow people's advice, I did tape them...but not very well. That media grit gets everywhere, through the smallest holes. Some grit had gotten in the tubes.
I read on the list or in a book or somewhere that other people faced with similar situations in the past had created really long "q-tip" like devices to scrape out the tubes. This seemed like perhaps the only feasible solution. I decided I would try alternative methods anyway.
First, I tried pumping up an e-brake tube with grease. I mean, they have to be greased anyway, so I thought maybe I could pump grease in through the rear and force old grease plus grit out the front. Well, I pumped a lot of grease in, but eventually there was too much back-pressure and grease just squeezed out of the tube/grease gun junction. With a tighter seal this wouldn't have happened, but even duct tape didn't prove enough after awhile. No grease had come out the front yet. I stopped and thought.
Why not treat the tubes like the barrel of a gun? Visions of a giant spit-ball straw passed through my head. Yup, it would probably work. I got a piece of shop towel, wadded it up into a ball that was tight but not too tight a fit in the tube, and put compressed air behind it. Bam, out it shot from the front of the tube, along with all the old and new grease, and the grit. What a mess! I put some rags in the front of the tubes to catch the glop, and proceeded to do that again with all the tubes.
It has a total success. Tubes are clean, the process was easy, and it didn't take that long. Only bad part is the grease that sprayed around the front of the inside of the tunnel, but since the bottom is off, it won't be too bad to clean up.
Just thought this tip might help others in the future.