rust (gone!): car battery, steel wool, elbow grease

Hi All,

just as an FYI....

i had that rusted rack (and was not making much progress with cleaning it up)...

someone here suggested connecting it to a car battery (in a vat of water&baking soda)...

long and short, it worked like a charm!

before i put it in, i did use a wire bruch attachment to a drill, but that only removed to "loose" stuff...

after letting it sit in the "vat" (for ~4 hours on each side), i used steel wool to clean it up.... then i polished it with some chrome polish....

worked out quite well (see below).....

here is another "view"

- prime

See you spent a lot of effort restoring the rack but the rust WILL come back and come back quickly. At this point, you should consider spraying the rack with some clear coat paint. I use acrylic for this purpose in my shop. If you decide not to put the spray paint on, use wax or WD40 very regularly. I have cleaned too much chrome and steel of rust and it just comes right back once it has started.

Primover, could you post the directions for this process? I have a little rust that could use this typed of treatment. I would like to know the details.

Wiredgeorge, you mention that you use acrylic clear coat after removing rust from chrome. Does the rust ever show up after getting the clear coat?

The following link was posted by "Kent"

www3.telus.net/public/aschoepp/electrolyticrust.html

i just followed them....

thanks for the tip....

will prob use "clear coat"....

- prime

what do you guys think about doing this to a rim with some rust on the spokes. Also if it would work should I remove the tire before doing it?

I rebuild carburetors for a living. If I clean a set of carburetors, I don't want them to rust quickly since the customer would have stuff on his bike that didn't look good and it reflects on me. There are parts on Mikuni VM style carburetors that just tend to rust. For instance, you can clean the rust off the steel choke arm but the rust will come back very quickly. After cleaning the rust off, I hit the part with acrylic laquer... very thin coat and it seems to keep the rust at bay as well as anything I can think of. I have sets out there for a couple years now with the rust staying away.

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As far as the spokes rusting on older KZs, ALL OF THEM TEND TO DO IT! The best thing I can think of after removing rust is to paint the darn things or get them chromed although that isn't all that durable since the spokes flex some. Probably powdercoat would be a better solution but rattle can will work OK. Do them in a color you can match using a Testors paint stick. That is, paint the majority of the spoke with the spray then touch up the ends with the paint stick. I have used flat black which works pretty well. It holds up decently and only needs retouching every couple years.

stainless steel spokes are kinda pricey,but a more permanant fix! goodluck,happy wrenching!

Hey...

a couple of you mention "...acrylic clear coat..."

could you recomend a:

vendor and brand??

thanks...

lots of parts on that KZ400 are rusty, so i better start off RIGHT!

thanks...

- prime

id go with whatever you can get at your neighborhood auto parts store!goodluck,happy wrenching!