That horrible computer foam

As I have been collecting computers, I have noticed that some pieces of equipment like printers and the like, contain a lot of this awful foam stuff, most likely for noise deadening. Time has caused this foam to break down and turn to gunk, or at least a soft, squshy material that does not spring back. It also crumbles. IBM foam seems to be the worst, along with the foam used on Zenith PC's, turning into a tarry goo. On the CDC drives I just picked up, the entire inside of them is covered in this foam, some of it is starting to come off, or has stuck to cables and such inside. A couple smaller chunks of it literally fell off one part of the cover, the glue only holding the particular particles of the foam to which it was attached, and the rest of the foam falling away. What is the best thing to do about this, especially in something as sensitive as a disk drive? Should I remove it? What's the best method? Is there something I can use to replace it? Also, for instance, inside the cover of the PDP-11/84, there is a thin slab of foam that has turned to crud. I plan on removing this entirely - vacuuming away what I can and cleaning the rest off with something - what will dissolve this? I know that trying to get the gunk from IBM foam off your hands is nearly impossible. Any ideas? Thanks! -Ian