More Electrolytic Rust Removal and Hudson Terraplane Content

dculberson wrote: Is it even nasty stuff? Seems like it would be iron oxide, baking soda, and water... what nasty stuff would end up in the water?

Exactly, it's not nasty stuff at all. Arguably, it can even be considered good fertilizer.

Woody if you deside you want to sell that head let me know. Love to clear coat it and hang it on the wall.

I was actually thinking about putting it on eBay so feel free to make an offer. I can ship it for about $20. It's heavy but it would make a nice piece of wall art.

Oops, correction to my post, it's not baking soda, it's washing soda. Still not nasty chemicals, I think. (But please do correct me if I'm wrong!)

That is really cool, even if it's hanging on a wall. That bucket of electrical awesome did a great job at cleaning it too. Definitely going to be trying that someday.

In reply to Wonkothesane:
I haven't started on mine yet so let us know how it works on the suspension bits. I'm thinking of taking everything off mine in the spring and painting it before putting in all new bushings.

Wonkothesane wrote: If I can find the washing soda ratio to water,

It's in the link someone posted earlier.

The ratio is not critical. I use about two cups per five gallons, but I just dump in a few shakes.

Find washing soda near the laundry detergent in your grocery store. I had never heard of the stuff before I started doing this.

I think the biggest factor against doing suspension stuff would be time. I leave each part in for about 12 hours.

Woody wrote: The sacrificial metal needs a direct line of sight to the piece that you are trying to de-rust.

You know, you sounded like you knew what you were talking about until this. Cummon man, we all know metal doesn't have any eyes and can't see!

Thanks for the post. I've been wanting to try this for a long time.

Isnt there an electrolytic process for removal of paint and grime? I thought I read about it somewhere, but google-fu is failing me. Maybe borax instead of sodium carbonate? Something more caustic like an acid or something?

To follow up on this awesome thread, is there a DIY electroplating method or do you just paint with POR or similar. Actualy does POR work on DE-rusted parts?

Standard electrolysis will remove much paint and grime.

Yeah I know you can do copper. Vinegar and copper just put the positive on the piece and the negative on the copper.

Also, does this work on aluminum? I mean I know there's no rust, but will it take corrosion off of aluminum?

One thing of note. You can't use a fancy electronic battery charger for this (unless you actually have a battery on charge while you do this) because the electronic charger needs to "see" the load to charge it... Find a old fashioned "dumb" 6 volt/12 volt charger that is on as soon as you plug it in...

noddaz wrote: One thing of note. You can't use a fancy electronic battery charger for this (unless you actually have a battery on charge while you do this) because the electronic charger needs to "see" the load to charge it... Find a old fashioned "dumb" 6 volt/12 volt charger that is on as soon as you plug it in...

And here I was being so smart and replacing my dumb chargers for the newer ones. I hope I've still got one dumb one left

16vCorey wrote: Also, does this work on aluminum? I mean I know there's no rust, but will it take corrosion off of aluminum?

NO. There are diffrent chemicals for Alum but there not lung freindly...

Adrian_Thompson wrote: To follow up on this awesome thread, is there a DIY electroplating method or do you just paint with POR or similar. Actualy does POR work on DE-rusted parts?

I let the copper positive lead into the solution and copper plated a manifold by accident. It isn't pretty.

In reply to Woody:

How much would the thing cost I mean the head

In reply to Apexcarver:

I started a thread for my nasty tank and there's great info on that process.

I used pure vinegar and about 7 days and was amazed! Check out the pictures.

I don't want to take away from the meaning of this thread however.

I think that head looks amazing.

Edit: Photobucket sucks

Beware of using electrolysis to remove rust from chromed parts or tools. IIRC the reaction produces penta or hexa-valent chromium compounds that are very,very toxic

Sebbz wrote: In reply to Woody: How much would the thing cost I mean the head

I gave the head to a Hudson collector.

Right after this thread was started I did use the process to restore my suspension arms on my Miata. Worked like a charm. I repainted them and installed all new bushings at the same time.

The guy I bought the bed for my truck from was doing this for a truck cab, he had a huge laundry dump bin on wheels with half of the cab stuck in it. He showed me the hood all done and it was amazing. Glad this got bumped back up.