This post brought to you by Spray Nine. The content and opinions expressed below are that of Baby to Boomer Lifestyle.
I drive a 1982 Datsun 4×4 King Cab Pickup. Who knew that when I drove my new truck off of the car lot that day in 1981, that I’d still be driving it 34 years later, I sure didn’t. It was the truck of my 23-year old dreams, I was single and spent a lot of time hunting, fishing, and camping. It was my gift to myself when I was hired as a firefighter. I never dreamt I’d take the first road trip with my girlfriend in it (she’s now my wife), and soon after stuff two boys in car seats in those jump seats, or still be driving it well into my 50’s. I sure didn’t.
After ten years of owning my truck, it became a bit of a joke at the Fire Department. Many of the guys had gone through two to three cars in the same time frame. When I neared the 20 year anniversary, I think I kept it mostly out of spite because I was always being pressured to upgrade to a new car with cool tech features, especially by my wife. Sometime between years 20 and 25, I decided that my truck and I had started my career together, so we’d finish it together. Therefore, my current plan is to keep it running until my retirement.
Keeping My 1982 Datsun King Cab 4×4 in Peak Condition
But I’ll confess, that a good chunk of the reason I still own my Datsun pickup is that it’s a dinosaur like me. I’ve torn it apart and fixed it several times and I can because it requires wrenches to repair it and not a computer to diagnose it. It has no fancy tech features to go haywire, but of course, that means it has no luxury options either.
The parts for my truck haven’t been available off the shelf for decades, and it’s become a bit of a treasure hunt to find parts as they wear out. I often have to harvest what I need from wrecked vehicles at a junkyard.
That’s exactly what I did last weekend when I replaced the aging water pump. I think this may be the third time I’ve done it over the years, and I’m not entirely sure that it was defective. But it’s been some time since the last fix, and it could explain the problem I had, so it was worth my time to replace. That said, I wasn’t willing to dispose of the old pump, at least not until I know for sure it’s defective, so I cleaned it and added it to my shelf odd of parts which I’ve archived in the event I need them.
My Spray Nine Challenge
Before I put any part away, I make sure it’s clean so that it doesn’t deteriorate and so that it’s ready to go when I need it. With a vehicle of this age, grease and grime are a given, and I’ve tried many cleaners over the years and have had success with some, but most are very caustic and my wife is always on me to find less noxious cleaners. To appease her, I decided to take the Spray Nine Challenge to see if less caustic cleaner can do the job.
Spray Nine claims that their heavy-duty cleaner and degreaser can tackle the toughest of grease and grime in addition to disinfecting. While killing bacteria wasn’t my goal, degreasing certainly was.
I read the directions and a little bit about the degreaser before I started and found out that it’s been used by auto techs and DIY’ers for more than 60 years. It’s pretty obvious that I appreciate things that have a history behind them. I also pointed out to my wife that Spray Nine doesn’t use bleach or other corrosive chemicals which made her happy.
I’ll admit it; I never expect a less-caustic product to work as well as a more abrasive product and many times I’ve been proven wrong just as I was today. It does have a strong scent, and it needs to be used in a well-ventilated area like most cleaning chemicals so take a moment to prepare your work area.
Spray Nine’s “Triple Threat” formula worked well on the water pump and with only a light scrubbing with an old toothbrush to get into the cracks and crevices; the part was clean in minutes. It would have been much faster if I had trusted its cleaning power instead of stopping to check it every 30 seconds or so.
Even better, the oil pan I was using was cleaned in the process and required just a quick wipe to clean. I don’t think I’ve ever put it away looking this good.
While I used Spray Nine on my greasy, grimy water pump, it’ll also clean engines, tires and wheels, bug splatter, dashboards, door panels, consoles, upholstery, vinyl tops, trunks, trailers, RV’s, campers and so much more. Just about any mess, whether you find in the garage or outside. My wife has stolen the bottle to try it out on her worst cleaning nightmare, our 40-year old shower. She’ll share her Spray Nine Challenge with you soon.
These product was really looks awesome. I will check this out
This seems like an incredible product. I have a few projects at home that could use this.
I had no idea you could clean your own car like that! What a shock! I’ll have to try that out!
I’m really surprised it cleaned that well, and I’m totally impressed. This is one to put in the cleaning cupboard.
That is pretty amazing stuff! Sharing this post with my husband who would go gaga for it–we are on year 15 with our car and she is showing no signs of slowing down!
This looks like a really awesome product! I can use it on so many things! And I cannot believe you had your truck that long.
I can’t believe it either. I will be so glad when that truck is gone. 30+ years is too long! 🙂
Wow! That is awesome! My husband works on bikes so this would come in handy!
Spray Nine would definitely be handy for bikes! Great idea to share it with him. Thanks so much!
I can’t imagine keeping my car that long but I think that’s cool that you are going to “retire” together. I love thrift stores- the thrill of the find- so I imagine that searching for car parts in a junkyard would be just as exciting 🙂
I only hope they both make it at the same time…it seems like every day one or the other is threatening to break down 🙂
Wow I cannot believe how amazing that pump cleaned up! I’ve got to look into this product.
Pretty amazing for sure. I thought it looked like a piece of art when it was clean.
Looks like the pump cleaned up nicely! It’s always nice when you can find products that work miracles like that
Definitely! Anything that does the cleaning for you is good for me!
That is amazing your truck still works well. It is all about maintenance.My husband always teaches my son about it!
Wow, now that is some powerful stuff. I need to tell my husband about this!
Looks like it did a great job on cleaning that up. I’ll have to show this to my husband. He works on vehicles, so this would be great to have.
That is amazing your truck still works well. It is all about maintenance. I am trying to teach my kids about this.
Those trucks were certainly built to last. Spray Nine did a great job cleaning your parts.
Spray Nine did a great job cleaning this. I will have to pick some up tomorrow. I know exactly what i can use it for.
Wow looks like Spray Nine did a great job. I have a few things around the house that could use a good cleaning.
I love this story! I truck that lasts forever and ever. That ad is sure a throwback to the early 80s for me!
34 years is impressive. Goes to show if you use the right products and take care of something it will last. Hopefully, my 2007 Civic will make it that long.
Wow, you can see how well it worked. My family is all about cars and though we don’t have one that we are fixing up at the moment, we plan to get one soon. We will for sure be trying this.
I learned to drive on a Datsun B210! It is great that you have had this truck for so long. That is so cool!
Hey I am all for keeping a car as long as it runs! Good for you to be able to keep the car running as well as you have over the last 35 years! I hope that I can do that. Most of the cars we have had I ran into the ground as long as I could. None of mine have lasted nearly as long as yours though.
Long may she run! That’s amazing.