47-55.1 rust removal made easy

[evilokc]

I have a set of inner fenders for my 53 that are nicer than my current set. problem is they are covered in thick surface rust. I went at them with a wire brush on a drill and it really didn't so anything. I read that you can soak small parts in white vinegar and it will make the rust come off very easy. I got a large tub that my inner fender would fit in and bought 6 gallons of white vinegar. poured it in only to find it wasn't water tight and a lot of it ran down my driveway. smelled pretty thick. plan B... I saturated a towel in white vinegar and laid it over the fender. re-soaked it before I went to bed and then again before I went to work the next morning. when I got home the white towel had turned rust color from all of the rust soaking through. I went at it with some sand paper and the rust basically fell off. not joking. it fell off. I did the bulk of the fender in about 10 minutes after it had been soaking about 30 hours. if you have rust to remove I highly suggest this. I thought it was fake but it worked incredibly well.

[1project2many]

Looks good.

I have used acid (vinegar is Acetic acid) to remove rust. It works well but for large pieces it may eat away sharp or raised edges before cleaning pitted surfaces that are flat. I have lived in places that are more humid than NM and I have found the panel must be coated with some type of rust preventative immediately after stripping or it will rust again very quickly.

[jwhotrod]

be careful with the vinegar as was said above it will eat at thin sections as well as threads and spines. I destroyed some corvette drive spindles that I left in the vinegar too long. it actually removed the threads for the spindle nut and reduced the drive splines to a point where they were unusable. As to time, just a week.

[evilokc]

wow that's crazy its strong enough to mess it up. I don't think there are any thin areas on the inner fender but I will keep an eye on it just the same. I will be cleaning, priming, fitting, marking and cutting this weekend.

[mr48chev]

If it eats it away it wasn't solid enough anyhow.

I picked up a gallon of Evapo-Rust the other day and it works great on small parts but is pretty expensive to use on bigger items. I poured enough in a plastic container from Dollar Tree that has a lid and put some U bolts and other really rusty suspension pieces off my flatbed trailer (car trailer is a bit of a stretch) and let the stuff soak for a couple of days and it came out pretty well rust free. I tossed some tools that had rusted up because they got left out and it took the rust off. It would cost several hundred dollars to have enough to stick that inner fender in though.

I'll remember the Vinegar as I think you can pick it up pretty cheap at the local wholesale cash and carry grocery store.

[1project2many]

If it eats it away it wasn't solid enough anyhow

Sometimes it won't even touch an area on a flat surface while it will eat up a curved one.

A better way is electrolytic rust removal. No damage!

[joedoh]

i bought some evaoprust from cardboard freight after watching the videos online. it doesnt even hurt the paint, and you can pour it back in another container and keep using it till it stops being effective. it is kind of pricey but everything I used it on has turned out amazing, I found a crusty rusted 12M farm tag from the 50s in a friends field and the evaporust made it almost 100% paint again, white with blue letters. I will try to find a picture. I also used it on a 1942 cowl tag that was higher steel content (for the war) instead of the aluminized tags everyone is more familiar with. it was just a sheet of rust, after the evaporust I was able to read the tag numbers again and even some of the original paint was there.

maybe it could be used like evilokc used it, on a towel. i wish I had a tank of it for some of these cabs.

[mick53]

Originally Posted by 1project2many

Sometimes it won't even touch an area on a flat surface while it will eat up a curved one.

A better way is electrolytic rust removal. No damage!

This is my go to method. I will probably get some plastic and lumber and do my whole frame outside in the spring. You have to watch out for the Hydrogen gas it makes.