A SURE WAY TO REMOVE FLAKY RUST FROM EXHAUST MANIFOLDS AND BRAKE DRUMS
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Posted by Ken McWilliams on July 21, 1998 at 09:50:41:
Back several years ago when I was restoring '60's muscle cars, a car restoration company called "The Eastwood Company" carried all kinds of tools and supplies for auto restoration. They had a chemical that would remove all rust from steel or cast iron. I used it, but it was expensive.
I found that if I would take muratic acid, the kind sold in paint stores for etching concrete, and diluting it about 4 to 1, I could soak rusty steel or cast iron in it several days and remove all rust down to the gray matte finish of the iron or steel.
I cleaned exhaust manifolds, brake drums, head light housings, brackets, linkages, etc and the object would be bare steel or cast iron after soaking. I would use a new 30 gallon garbage can for my chemical tank and let the parts soak for days in the muratic acid. Any aluminum, copper or brass, however will be readily attacked and be eaten in a few minutes or few hours with rather vigorous foaming. So don't put any of these metals into the muratic mixture. I would remove the part from the muratic and have to immediately rinse/neutralize, dry and give it a coat of paint, because you could see the part literally turn orange from new rust forming before you. This solution could be used many times and be restrengthened with additions of muratic as the old was depleted. There is a limit, but it's after lots of parts. In our county, there is a semi-annual chemicals collection and disposal where you can take cans of paint, cleaning chemicals etc. Try it, you may like it, but be careful acid burns are very painful. KRM
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