Degreasing my engine area Options

[VaccaRabite]

I have the under-pans cleared. The last body area that I need to glear is the super grimey area where the engine and tranny used to be.

Is there anything that I can put on it to clean off the grime easily? I don't want to have to rinse off the metal with water. The entire car right now is bare metal until it gets warm enough to paint. Adding some chemical that I have to rise with water would be a nightmare. I'd rather lightly sand the body to clear flash rust then introduce water in my garage and really have rust start growing.

But I also can't paint over greasy metal, either.

Zach

[Bartlett 914]

When I do cleaning on places like this, I like to use a 2" bristle brush. I prefer the natural bristle to synthetic. I cut the bristles to about 1" or less. I use mineral spirits of some solvent and a small bucket. The bottom of a 1 gal container about 2" deep works well. I would avoid Toluene. This works very well but causes cancer. There may be Toluene in your brake cleaner. Read the contents. using a case of this in a confined area is a bad idea. Using a brush and take your time will reduce solvent usage. And BIG rubber gloves helps.