Rust Removal and Prep CITRIC ACID

[Mudgy]

Well this stuff is pretty good!
27 hours or so later.

Rust off with citric acid Master cyl. 002.jpg

Rust off with citric acid Master cyl. 004.jpg

Rust off with citric acid Master cyl. 005.jpg

Got the reservoir in there now, and a couple of old Whitworth spanners. Gotta admit, the plastic parts cleaned up where solvents (of all types) just wouldn't do the job.

I also rinsed the parts, and chucked them in a bowl of warm water mixed with bi carb soda. I know this mix takes all the scunge off dirty battery terminals.
read; acid + base = salt + water. rinsed again, and got a big hit of WD 40. When I'm ready to fit new seals, I'll clean the innards with a wad, kinda like cleaning a gun barrel.

[ekdave]

finally set up my 1000 ltr tank for de rusting the 41 chev
24 hours in the tank with 1000 litres and 25kg of citric great results

pre dipping


finished door


anyone in geelong need a few items dipped for surface rust removal for a small fee give me a pm

[302-coop]

nice result Dave, did the door fit in the tank ok? or did u have to turn it over half way thru?
Gerry

[ekdave]

it fitted fine on an angle from corner to corner,i tried 12.5 kg in 1000 litres 1st but was not happy with results so added rest of bag

[fargo]

sweet looks the goods and not overly expensive either goodwork guys .

Cheers
Dean

[UteWorks]

How did i miss this thread. Stickyed and all

[oztinbasher]

Has anyone found a place in brisbane that sell bulk citric acid?
Cheers Steve

[choppmyride]

Doing my scintific test on citric acid with various ratios of citric acid with water or vinegar
All tests have a patch of a rusty sun visor , all same size and same rust with No stamp and containers numbered
1st test was soaked for 25 hours , then rinced in clean water then scrubed with 3M dish washer pad

Test 1 350 ml water with 2gr of citric acid
Test 2 350 ml water with 4gr of citric acid = to 25 kg / 1000 liters
Test 3 350 ml water with 8gr citric acid
Test 4 350 ml water with 16gr of citric acid
Test 5 350 ml water with 20gr of citric acid
Test 6 350 ml water with 30gr of citric acid
Test 7 350 ml water with 40gr of citric acid
Test 8 350 ml white vinega
Test 10 350ml 1/2 water 1/2 white vinega with 8gr of citric acid
Test 11 350 ml white vinega with 8gr of citric acid

Day 1 results
Test 1 rust starting to move but least effective
Test 2 better than No 1 & = to No 8
Teast 3 better than 1 & 2
Test 4 better than 1,2 & 3
Test 5 better than 1,2,3 & 4
Test 6 better than 1,2,3,4 & 5
Test 7 Better than 1,2,3,4,5, & 6 almost clean
Test 8 = to test 2
Test 10 almost = to test 7
Test 11 = to test 5
Rusty patchs No stamped
Uploaded with
Patchs in cups with MSDS, good reading
Uploaded with
Patchs soaked for 25 hours
Uploaded with
Patchs just scrubed
Uploaded with

[Mudgy]

Thanks for taking the time out to do that test.

[Gojeep]

This is great you did this.
Stronger is still working better it seems.
Easy way to remember is roughly a 10% ratio. 10 litres of water with 1 kg of citric acid.

[Mudgy]

Very interesting. Does this stuff only work by immersion? How would you go about doing large panels? The rear guards from my Wolseley have quite a bit of active rust on them and I'm thinking they will need something doing sooner rather than later.

Thanks for sharing a great idea!

Andrew.

I Think phosphoric acid? Hotrod andy Used on his surface rust, seemed to do the job.. Must admit i havent tried anything myself as yet.. but need to do so soon.. roof interior, front & rear guards

Phosphoric acid will neutralise rust, not remove it.

Acids like hydrochloric, citric, acetic (vinegar) will attack ferric oxide, to leave behind the ferric metal (Iron) and a chloride or hydride in solution ; whereas phosphoric acid reacts with ferric oxide (rust) to produce ferric phosphate, which is inert. Remember, iron is found in its natural state as an oxide (ore) and will always want to return to this state, unless treated or coated to form a barrier against the dreaded oxygen.

Now there's some grey matter coming from the woodwork, must be 30+ years since I studied this stuff!!!!

[jailbar joe]

interesting stuff happening here....and i'm not sure where this fits in the puzzle but will add it anyway.....

the glove box lid on my ratrod was pretty scungy with rust and so I decided to immerse it in phosphoric acid....well it came up a treat and I should have left it at that
but no....thought I would leave it in the phos acid until I had time to prime it.....when I came back to it I found that it had completely dissolved the hinge pin bugger
and was starting to do the same to the hinge... double bugger

so I guess what I am saying is that if something is rusty enough the phos acid will eat it away to nothing as it did with my poor old hinge pin
just another lesson in life I have learnt

cheers joe

[choppmyride]

Test results for second day

No 1 Still some left
No 2 Still some heavy spots left
No 3 Some heavy spots left but less than 2
No 4 Some heavy spots but less than 3
No 5 Some heavy spots but less than 4
No 6 4 heavy spots about 2 mm dia
No 7 rust completley gone
No 8 all light rust gone but still some heavy spots , almost same as No 2
No 10 rust completely gone
No 11 All light rust gone but still some heavy spots like No 3

Test No 10 with small amount of citric acid & vinega gives same results as No 7 with 5 times more citric acid , so work out the cost for quicker results , update again tomorrow.

Next test will be like No 10 with 1/2 the citric acid and water / vinega to compare to this test

Todays photo result
Uploaded

[Gojeep]

Glad to see the vinegar at least doing some thing.
My solution I have been using converted to the same quantities would be:
350ml white vinegar with 3.5 grams of citric acid.

[choppmyride]

Test day 3
No 1 still has rust
No 2 clean but lots of sopts of heavy rust
No3 6 spots of heavy rust
No 4 few spots of heavy rust
No 5 2 spots of heavy rust
No 6 completley clean
No 7 Completley clean
No 8 6 spots of heavy rust
No 10 completley clean
No 11 2 spots of heavy rust

2 days 7 & 10 completley clean
3 days 6 completley clean
3 days 5 & 11 almost the same

I will up date in another week and let you know which No is clean on which day
I will check every day and note details

By the time I build a soaking tank this week I will know what ratio of citric acid to use

Today's photo results

Uploaded