How to remove soot without damaging paint?

[madspeed]

Had a mishap with my Mustang a while back. One of the 25 year old fuel lines burst catching fire to my bay. The car was in my garage and the hood up when this happened. I was able to contain it and get it out without too much damage. I did unfortunately throw a floor rug over the bay to help keep the flames from damaging my fiberglass hood. Anyhow, looking for some advice.

 

1. The throw rug melted of course and left some residue onto the front bumper cover. I have not done anything to try to remove it as I was awaiting the outcome from the insurance company. It is minor, but an eyesore. I will try to get some pics of that for reference. What method shall I use to remove that crap without create too much damage?

 

2. The flames obviously melted anything that was rubber, plastic, etc. There is a black sooty film all over the inside of the painted fiberglass hood as well as a small section of the wiper cowl area. Again, I have not done anything as i didn't want to create any more headaches. What products and methods will work best for this cleanup?

 

Here's a pic of the inside of the hood to show the soot. You can also see some of the melted rug up by the cowl vents.

 

 

 

irrelevant, but here's a few shots of the damage caused

 

 

 

 

 

Any help is greatly appreciated, as I have tons of time into this thing and am already missing the bulk of the car show season!!

Edited July 23, 2014 by madspeed

[mc2hill]

That looks to be smoke damage on the underside of the hood, not fire damage.  I would start with the least aggressive method first - Rinseless wash.  Mix up a bucket of Rinseless Wash using the wash ratio, and soak a few towels in it (work Microfiber towels or terry towels), then wipe down the engine bay, hoses, shock towers, and hood.  This should get the soot off.  You could move up to diluted APC (start at a 50/50 mix) for the areas that do not come clean after 2 passes of RW.  After APC, wipe those areas with the damp RW towel to dilute the APC.