Rust dip success stories?

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Evaporust is ok. It works good for a short time but it loses its effectiveness pretty quickly. That's been my experience several times and I'm stickin to it.
 
I rigged up a 55 gallon plastic drum with a sprinkler head and a small pump to clean an engine block that had some rust. didnt want to buy enough evaporust to soak the whole thing. it cleaned it up nicely. almost to nicely as several cylinders were etched/pitted after cleaning. was hoping to use it after cleaning but now it will need a re-bore.
 
Evaporust works good for me
I agree, I did not say it did not work, it works great, but Evaporust will remove metal if it sits on it long enough.
Imagine that any derust solution would.
Have also used molasses to derust an oil pan. Took about a week but worked great.
A gallon of molasses mixed with about 10 gallons of water. There are before and after photos in the link attached.
Be sure to see the final photos on the second page of the post.

Molasses soak as a derust agent - Slant Six Forum
 
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I've not tried molasses, but I have tried vinegar with mixed results. I've also used a few different commercial solutions including Safest Rust Remover and Evapo-Rust. Safest seemed slightly more effective, but Evapo's easily obtained locally. I now use Esprit Performance concentrate. Unlike Safest, Evapo-Rust, and others Esprit doesn't dilute their product with water--that's your job. You control how strong you want the solution. The gallon of Esprit mixed with 9 gallons of water is equal to buying 10 gallons of Evapo in terms of effectiveness, but you can make anywhere from 5 to 20 gallons of solution depending on how strong you want it. The gallon I bought 8 years ago is still about half full.

Rust Depot-Rust Removal-Salt Removal

I'm not affiliated with him at all, but I bought mine direct so I've dealt with Lee. He's not a sales pitch in a sport coat--he was quite pleasant to deal with and a very straight shooter. His contact information's at the bottom of the web page if you've got questions.
 
Ill blast chrome right off a wrench too if you have it hooked backwards. Use the chrome wrench as the anode. I did a cylinder head as described and I didn't have much luck with it. Used SS as the anode.
Doing the electrolysis with ANY chrome plated anything is terrible. A friend did some vise grips, and all he did was stick his hand in the water long enough to get them out, and then rinsed everything in soap and water, and it made him sick for days. Like, to the point that he refuse to use electrolysis ever again.


Here is Evaporust pulling rust out of an old chebbie we did.

View attachment 1716011078

Ever wake up in the middle of a wet dream, right before the fun part?

That's what this post is, without the 'after' photo.




I came to this thread hoping to see bodies being dipped. Am disappointed on two levels, now.
 
Molasses Soak as per @my68barracuda
Here is a Head that I did Last winter. Turned out nice. Scrubby with hot water when done. Has been sitting as bare iron in my basement since Feb. 2022... I will try to get some more current sitting in the basement pics..

Not sure if a machined Surface finish on a crank will be acceptable. Prolly will need a good polish.
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20211117_205314 by Hyperpack, on Flickr
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20211117_205340 by Hyperpack, on Flickr
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20211117_205340 by Hyperpack, on Flickr


After Pics:
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20211211_180634 by Hyperpack, on Flickr
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20211211_180651 by Hyperpack, on Flickr
 
Tried the molasses method on some real crusty steel rims. Let them unattened for months. Appears to have worked fine. I did read about leaving castings in the solution too long will make them soft. Want to try an old manifold to see what happens.
 
I did a Manifold too for about 3 weeks. Cleaned it great, but did not free the Stuck Carb Heat Valve.
 
All good. 5 gallons of feed grade molasses is $26 here at feed store, 3 day special order. Ever see the $35 water sand blast tips for the pressure washers? Suction feed out of a 5g bucket of play sand or black oxide.
 
I have been messing with milkstone remover to remove rust. You mix it with water in a plastic barrel. Works nicely to remove rust. First soak the part in another barrel that has a mix of lye with water to remove paint. Picture is a rusty fan shroud soaked in milkstone remover. I had to mail order the milkstone remover. About $19 a gallon thru Tractor supply. I added 10 gallons of water to the 1 gallon of MSR. I ordered two gallons for the same shipping cost.

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I like white vinegar from the cleaning isle. It is much stronger than the cooking version. We buy it in bulk from a food/janitorial supply warehouse.
 
I have been messing with milkstone remover to remove rust. You mix it with water in a plastic barrel. Works nicely to remove rust. First soak the part in another barrel that has a mix of lye with water to remove paint. Picture is a rusty fan shroud soaked in milkstone remover. I had to mail order the milkstone remover. About $19 a gallon thru Tractor supply. I added 10 gallons of water to the 1 gallon of MSR. I ordered two gallons for the same shipping cost.

View attachment 1716030662
Got a link? My search ended up with $76/gal ice cream machine cleaner.....?
 
Evaporust is and will continue to be my go to. It works with many metals and finishes. Just do not leave and forget. Some things in 2 hours or less and some in 48 or more.

I like that it is easy to dispose of when it has lost it potency, Although I just filtered through an old T-shirt and kept using!

I got a 5 Gallon Bucket to start and augmented with 2, 1 gallon jugs later on for my entire resto. Still have about 3 gallons of clean mix for future use.

Easy on my hands and parts! Good stuff, but like anything not a miracle product!
 
Her's a post I made on January 4th to a thread here on the forum entitled, "Vinegar or Molasses to make cast iron look foundry fresh?"


I've used Electrolysis, Farm Grade Molasses & Water, but the best way if you're only doing one block is to just take it to a shop. Much easier and cheaper in the long run.

Now if you intend to do other parts and like fooling around with stuff at home I would highly recommend what my AMC friend Rick Jones does using Citric Acid.

Here's the link to the AMC forum article where Rick posted a detailed write up with lots of photos.

Derusting an engine block

In my opinion the first thing one should do in cleaning a block is to pour the water jackets full of vinegar for a few weeks to let it eat away and loosen the lime buildup that settles in

the bottom of the water jackets. Then a trip to the car wash or use a power washer in all the holes you can get it in to help flush the lime out. After that process you can use any other

method to deal with rust and oil buildup you like.


I should also note that using the Farm Grade Molasses and Water method only eats the oxide (rust) and does nothing to eat on the other surfaces like acids do and does not need

anything other than a simply rise of water when finished with the process unlike using an acid that requires a Baking Soda rinse to neutralise the acid. However it will not attack oil like

an acid will. Another FYI with using Baking Soda is it must be cleaned off really well or it will cause puck marks in the paint every place a particle is left behind. I learned that one the

hard way.

Tom
 
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