molasses and water

[chimp koose]

IT WORKS ! I just took my door out of the molasses bath and it is really clean. The door has most of its original paint and primer on the outside but what a relief to see bare metal on the inside of the door. This was a 12 to 1 ratio mix and it took the rust off well . I still need to pressure wash the parts to rinse everything off but everything on the inside of the door is basically a rinse away from getting a coat of primer or POR15  to keep the flash rust at bay . I want to install bear claw latches so I will probably give the doors a quick shot of rattle can primer now and POR15 them after the latch install. I think I might add a couple gallons of molasses to the mix to decrease the ratio as I read that 10 to 1 is a better ratio before I toss in my trunk lid for a month ! My trunk lid has no rust through  , just surface rust and a big dent . When it comes out I will weld up the key hole , bang out the dent and POR15 the insides .  While it is soaking I will try my hand at shimming the body to get the doors to fit better and do the bear claws . For my next experiment with the molasses I am going to try soaking towels in the mix and laying them on the car with plastic wrap/duct tape  sealing them in place to see if it will work on the main body . The plastic wrap trick sure works well for paint stripper so lets hope this works .

[enjenjo]

I have some molasses here that I was going to try, but I have not done it yet. Years ago I used Oxalic acid to remove rust and it worked well but I have not done it lately. I have also looked at electrolysis but have not tried it.

[Bruce Dorsi]

A few months ago I had a u-joint on a PTO attachment where the splines were so heavily rusted that wire brushing or glass-beading had no effect. ...Replacement joints or halves were not available.

I dipped only the splined portion into muriatic acid.  ....In approx. 5 minutes the rust was dissolved.  ...Then a bath in water with baking soda to neutralize the acid.  

Then dried & painted.  ....Still looked rough & ugly, but the splines now fit on the PTO shaft with no excess play.

[chimp koose]

I have my trunk lid in the bath now , its at 1 week and you can see progress . My shop has a slight feed lot smell

[enjenjo]

Do not use molasses for cast iron, it eats it.

[chimp koose]

Thanks enjenjo did not know that

[grazza]

Give Citric Acid a go as well. I have used Molasses, but the smell, plus the little comments from my neighbours, drove me away from it.  Mix it in the same quantities as the Molasses and it'll work just fine and it's a little quicker than the molasses as well. I get my Citric acid off ebay if I'm making a big mix, or if only wanting a small amount, from a Home Brew shop or Hardware shops (It's used as a concrete scrub/etcher)

[enjenjo]

Has anybody tried washing soda electrolysis? I have heard it works good but have never tried it.

[Crosley.In.AZ]

Has anybody tried washing soda electrolysis? I have heard it works good but have never tried it.

With a battery charger and anode ?  Yes.  Used the process several times. Works well.

the water gets real skanky as the rust is removed.

[chimp koose]

The molasses really did a number on the plating on my headlight reflector :oops:

[50 F1]

Found a pair of needle nose vise grips in a gravel parking lot. It looks like they were there for a long time. They were a ball of rust and nothing would move on them. I put them in a pan with white vinegar for 2 days. I rinsed them off, wire wheeled them, beat on them a little to free stuff up, oiled them up. They are not pretty but it is a working tool now. I was surprised how much the vinegar was sizzling when I first put the vise grips in.

[chimp koose]

There is a site I visited years ago on restoring old stationary engines that has a lot of info about different ways of rust removal . Another way is with a battery charger and a container of water/borax wash soda. This method can also be used to electroplate