Back to bare steel, I suppose... Mold killed it.

kennith

kennith

Well-known member
Apr 22, 2004
10,891
172
North Carolina
Looks like I'm fucked.

Before that, I spent quite a bit of time installing my modifications within or under the factory interior trim; bringing back a stock look while retaining functionality. I thought it might be nice to have that, rather than the rather stripped out, obviously strange setup I had before.

Then, I was hit by quite a few things at once, and the vehicle was parked. Every single seal on it has been carefully maintained over the years, and not two weeks before I was in there inspecting it and giving it a run.

I come out the other day to the picture below. Trashed. I don't know what leaked, but I've never seen mold accumulation that quickly and that dramatically before. It's never had a problem before, and the air has been filtered for a long time.

Every single part has to come out now, right down to the fucking wires. I'll have to replace most of it. This is what a totaled interior looks like. It's much worse out of frame, actually. The shit is fucking fuzzy...

Luckily, I hadn't installed the nice new door panels I modified yet.

So, it's sealed up from the outside so it doesn't infect anything else, and nothing inside will be taken out. This stuff spreads like crazy if you aren't careful. Just going to have to leave it until I get a chance to pull it all.

May as well remove the engine at this point and get some polishing, painting, and plating done. Might be a good time to install one of those Quaife center differentials when I have a chance.

Cheers,

Kennith
 

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helievacpilot

helievacpilot

Well-known member
Mar 29, 2007
960
0
Denver CO
Yea, you can wipe down the stuff you can see, but it's the mold inside the hvac system. How would you like to be enclosed in the truck with the heat/a/c blowing in your face?
 
kennith

kennith

Well-known member
Apr 22, 2004
10,891
172
North Carolina
fishEH said:
That actually doesn't look too bad. You can't just wipe that stuff off with some bleach solution??
Click to expand...

It's terrible. It's actually deep into the leather, in the trim, the glove box, the far reaches of the roof...

Pilot is right; at this point, regardless of what I tried to clean, as soon as I turned on the blower, both me and the vehicle would be covered in that stuff, and it's contagious.

If I were to sit down in one of my other cars, or in the wrong area of the house after washing clothes or taking a shower, it could be a very bad situation.

It's not just one contaminant, either. All kinds are in there. It's as if the thing was parked near a waterfall in a rain forest for a month with the sunroof open.

The thing has been through hell; just about every environment you can imagine, and it's been shaken about quite a bit. The entire body is twisted, actually; so it's not just seals that could be an issue. I did spot what might have been a leak along the roof seam.

There wasn't much water, but I'd put a vintage computer (IBM 5150) near the spot for a little while. It's possible that computer carried the nastiness inside. They can be pretty fucked up, but this would never have occurred to me.

Something happened to introduce the contaminants into the vehicle. They didn't just sprout out of nowhere. This happened too fast, and it's not as if the thing hasn't survived plenty of water before. I'm laying my money on that computer.

I don't know. Doesn't really matter at this point. I'll save what I can in there, but with this level of fucked, not even chemical treatment and baking all the polymers straight to dust with my ozone generator would help.

This stuff is terminal. It's really, really annoying, because even though the factory seats have been in there through plenty of abuse (not all, but enough), I think I kept them up as well as anyone could have. I was really trying to replicate a factory setup again.

Cheers,

Kennith
 

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kennith

kennith

Well-known member
Apr 22, 2004
10,891
172
North Carolina
sven said:
What about steam cleaning the entire interior? Ive used the steam machine on leather and it is da shit.
Click to expand...

I've had to deal with this before on a car I bought, but not this bad.

Steam isn't going to help until I get ready to finish up the metal. It'll just keep coming back.

Cheers,

Kennith
 
D

discostew

Well-known member
Sep 14, 2010
7,745
1,026
Northern Illinois
How did that start Kenny? Did it all start out as the same truck or could you have brought in a contaminated set of seats? That's really messed up. What do you think happened? Is there a leak and standing water anyplace? Cause like you said your gonna have to tear that down to the bare body at this point. Burn everything you take out of it and start again. I've never seen anything like that.
 
fishEH

fishEH

Well-known member
Jan 26, 2009
6,930
203
Lake Villa, IL
Weird. My '98 has been parked for 2 years with holes in the floor and missing a door seal and I have zero mold. Sounds like your cab is too airtight and once moisture got in it could get out.
 
D

discostew

Well-known member
Sep 14, 2010
7,745
1,026
Northern Illinois
Ya I say that"s strange as hell. I don't see how that would come in on a computer and spread like that. It had to be some kind of protein feeding that shit or something strange. Any animals dragging food in there? I don't get it.
 
Buddy

Buddy

Well-known member
Nov 6, 2006
2,839
1
Central NC
fishEH said:
Weird. My '98 has been parked for 2 years with holes in the floor and missing a door seal and I have zero mold. Sounds like your cab is too airtight and once moisture got in it could get out.
Click to expand...

It's not really all that strange, mold will grow in most environments when the humidity is over 70%. NC has some stupid high humidity, you guys up north have no idea how shitty high humidity is. I had to buy the biggest dehumidifier Lowe's carried just to keep my tools from rusting in my non-climate controlled garage.

The '95 I got was utterly infested with mold. Pulled out everything but the dash and trashed it. I'll be pulling and replacing the dash once I finish stripping down my '97.
 
kennith

kennith

Well-known member
Apr 22, 2004
10,891
172
North Carolina
You'd be surprised what can hide out in a 30 year old PC power supply.

One way or another, it got in there. The damned thing is sealed to prevent even insect ingress. Nothing was dragging any food in there. I don't know where it came from for sure, but it's in there now.

Those seats are original. They've been out a few times for dirty trips, but they haven't been near anything that could have caused that in years. Everything should have been fine.

In fact, most of the trim is original. It's spent so much time out of the vehicle that it was pretty much in new condition. The only things in those shots that didn't roll out of the showroom with it are the cup holders, the e-brake boot (brand fucking new a few months back) and the panel behind the seats.

Well, most of the dash harness is custom, but you can't see it in the picture.

Cheers,

Kennith
 
kennith

kennith

Well-known member
Apr 22, 2004
10,891
172
North Carolina
Devildog01 said:
Try to look at the bright side. Next time you get the flu just lick your seats and presto bammo let the penicillin work its magic. Your welcome.
Click to expand...

That's pretty funny, because I'm about to have a hole in my shoulder for a week; or so I'm told. A nice, moldy seat back could be just what I need to keep everything in order. :rofl:

Cheers,

Kennith
 
Nomar

Nomar

Well-known member
Apr 23, 2004
6,078
13
Virginia
option 2: Chop the top of this Disco. Gut the interior.

That way you won't confined in the mold contaminated environment.


.
 
kennith

kennith

Well-known member
Apr 22, 2004
10,891
172
North Carolina
Nomar said:
option 2: Chop the top of this Disco. Gut the interior.

That way you won't confined in the mold contaminated environment.


.
Click to expand...

I rather like keeping mother nature off the top of my head.

Not a fan of open air cruising, which makes total sense, because the Jag I've put so much effort into is a convertible...

The DII will probably be getting a special interior again, though. There's no sense buying everything I'd need to sort this out, and it's not as if it hasn't spent plenty of time as a tin can already. Doesn't really matter, in the end. I'm buying another car soon anyway. Something new, with a warranty...

Cheers,

Kennith
 
Ed Cheung

Ed Cheung

Well-known member
Aug 23, 2006
1,584
2
Hong Kong
Mix bleach with water in a spray bottle, start spraying and wiping everything down. Then closed all window and have the heat all the way up for a few hours, that should kill the mold.
 
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