Who's Got Rusty Nutz???

[kkim]

Didn't know where to place this as it covers pretty much all our bikes, so here it goes.

Friend at work is always finding stuff to make keeping things from being destroyed from rust here where we live. Humid, hot temps make for an excellent environment for rust to set up easily. Leave things out for a couple of months/years and you end up with a rusty mess. Worse for those that live near the seashore area.

Anyway, he has for years been using the traditional methods of dealing with rust and recently showed me his latest find. It's a liquid that eats rusty metal, is non toxic, leaves other parts such as rubber, zinc coatings, etc. alone, can be used over and over and is relatively cheap.

You need to have the rusty piece covered with this solution, but its uses are seem endless if you can imagine a proper application for it.

Throw a couple of bolts in a cup with the solution and it supposed to come out devoid of rust within a day or two, depending on the severity.

For our use on bikes, this can be a God send. I've ordered a gallon and will be testing it in the coming weeks. Working on restoring an old dirt bike, so finding rusty bits will be easy enough.

One interesting application that I found most useful for us, is that they were using it to remove rust from vehicle cooling systems by filling the cooling system with it and then draining it out. Imagine filling an old rusty gas tank with it and having it remove the rust from the interior of your tank.

Previously, the other options were less than satisfactory with coatings (that many times fail), sandblasting or cutting it open, cleaning it out, then rewelding.

Here's a link to the product. Do a search and you will see many have used it with great results for varied uses. Hope this helps those with older bikes on the forum.

http://www.evapo-rust.com/

[spooph]

sweet, I've heard lots of good things about that...

lol, when I first read the title, I thought this would have something to do with geriatrics... I guess my mind is in the gutter...

[kkim]

Originally Posted by spooph

lol, when I first read the title, I thought this would have something to do with geriatrics...

hmmm... and why would you think that?

[spooph]

You know.. old, rusty, nuts...

Sometimes I'm a teenager....

[Live2ride]

I am a teenager, so no, my nuts haven't gotten old and rusty yet. I may have one or two of them loose at times but that's about it.


p.s. Thanks for posting this, I've been trying to remember the name of that stuff for weeks.

[Flashmonkey]

Rust? No..but it looks like there are barnacles gro-....wait...what's this topic about?

[CZroe]

Originally Posted by spooph

You know.. old, rusty, nuts...

Sometimes I'm a teenager....

Clearly, so is kkim.

[Yasko]

Thanks for the tip...I was wondering what to do about my old rusty nuts...Now if I can find something for that dang rash....I have road rash on one nut....

[Sailariel]

Kelly, Thanks for the post. I can see where that stuff would be great for treating a rusty gas tank, nuts, bolts, etc.

There are a couple products that you should also have in your arsenal: Corrosion-X, Available in Marine Supply Stores, and Ballistol, available online.

Both products do an excellent jon at prevention. For example: The screws that hold the ignition switch tend to rust. The hexagonal bolts for the handlebars tend to rust. The muffler bracket for the stock muffler tends to rust. An application of Ballistol or Corrosion-X stops that from happening. I live on the coast of Maine. Salt air is normal here.

I use the stuff extensively to coat the inside of chrome molly bicycle frames. Old bike restorations is my hobby.

I will get a gallon of Evapo-Rust. Thanks, Kelly.

[indr]

ACF-50. Used in aviation too. I sprayed down all the exposed metal on my bike before winter. Left a black/purpleish film on. Penetrant. Attracts dirt.

[wyckedflesh]

Previously, the other options were less than satisfactory with coatings (that many times fail), sandblasting or cutting it open, cleaning it out, then rewelding.

Many Radiator shops can "Hot Tank" your fuel tank in the same method they use on the cores of older radiators. Works wonders and runs about $15-$25 depending on the shop. At the same time, they can Pressure check the tank to see if any of the rust has created holes.

[speedgsx98]

I looked into this stuff when I bought my POR15 Cycle Tank Repair Kit last week. Problem is that if you remove the rust and especially if you use some drywall screws to break loose the bulk of the rust...you'll have a tank that will be succeptable to rust in rapid fashion. If one was simply looking to fix up a bike on the cheap to sell, then this method would work. But unless one wanted to remove and de-rust the tank often or deal with running problems related to rust re-appearing in the tank...it needs to be coated.

The key with the coatings is to follow the steps properly and make sure the tank is completely dry before applying the coating and then giving the coating enough time to cure. In my case since my parts order got mixed up by the dealer, my tank will have had 10 days to cure.

Whether or not EVAPORUST is a better rust remover than what comes with the cycle tank repair kit who knows. What I will say is that the POR15 kit when spilled on the tank didn't eat away at the paint. Not sure about EVAPORUST or any of the other methods.

[kkim]

Originally Posted by speedgsx98

I looked into this stuff when I bought my POR15 Cycle Tank Repair Kit last week. Problem is that if you remove the rust and especially if you use some drywall screws to break loose the bulk of the rust...you'll have a tank that will be succeptable to rust in rapid fashion. If one was simply looking to fix up a bike on the cheap to sell, then this method would work. But unless one wanted to remove and de-rust the tank often or deal with running problems related to rust re-appearing in the tank...it needs to be coated.

The key with the coatings is to follow the steps properly and make sure the tank is completely dry before applying the coating and then giving the coating enough time to cure. In my case since my parts order got mixed up by the dealer, my tank will have had 10 days to cure.

Whether or not EVAPORUST is a better rust remover than what comes with the cycle tank repair kit who knows. What I will say is that the POR15 kit when spilled on the tank didn't eat away at the paint. Not sure about EVAPORUST or any of the other methods.

as far as I know, gas tanks are not painted on the inside from the factory. All you are doing with this product is removing whatever rust you have in the tank to end up with a rust free tank exactly like you would if you bought a new bike. correct me if I'm mistaken here.

[speedgsx98]

They're not painted but I would guess that they have some sort of cosmolene or some general rust inhibitive coating. Once the rust process starts and you're now down to bare unprotected metal...the process of rust buildup will be much more rapid than stock. Again, if I was just fixing up a bike to sell it, than no biggie. I guess if one doesn't mind pulling off the tank every so often to de-rust it..that's fine too. It's not really all that hard of a job. I just now that from the amount of flash rust I got from the time I drained the acid bath to the time I poured in the coating, that I wouldn't want to leave it uncoated. BTW, the coating by POR15 is meant to bond with the flash rust after the acid bath.

[kkim]

the gas tank interiors are not treated in any way... they are bare steel when you buy them off the showroom floor. what keeps them from rusting is the gasoline in the tanks preventing oxidation of the metal, which is why if you store your bike during the winter w/o gas in the tanks, they rust.

[speedgsx98]

Ok, I'll give you that much...but I will say that once your tank is rusted already and you shake around a bunch of drywall screws in it and pour some rust remover in there...it's going to rust much quicker than a stock tank in perfect condition. Hence the need for coating it. Plus, remember that rust is like a cancer. Even with the rust removal process, by the time you get the tank dried out and back on the bike, you'll have a fair amount of flash rust that has already started in the tank. The coating has the effect of putting that protective barrier between the evil rust waiting to contaminate your gas and fuel system. For me, the coating was the easy part of the process anyway. And for $40 for the kit, I wasn't sweating the $$$ aspect either. It turned out great!

I personally thought about chancing it and just going with a rust remover without a sealant. But, decided to play it safe and just do the entire 3 step process.

If someone does just do the rust removal...update us as to how things go down the road! It's kind of one of those things that I guess isn't too concerning though until your fuel system becomes clogged. With the 2 filters on the petcocke and the 3rd inline...doubtful that it would be too problematic unless the rust got out of control.

[kkim]

I'm just the opposite, if I had a rusting problem, I'd get rid of the rust chemically and not chance a botched lining job and causing some real fuel system problems.

once the lining starts to delaminate, you are never going to get all of it out, no matter what you do.

[AMMOCAN]

Outstanding! Thank you!

[Momaru]

Definitely curious to hear your results Kkim. I've seen this stuff a few times in the local hardware store, but couldn't find enough to do with a whole gallon (in the foreseeable future anyway) to take the plunge.