Vinegar

Discussion in 'Wrenchin' Secrets' started by steverw, Oct 24, 2019.

  1. steverw

    steverw Well-Known Member

    Some of you may know and some may not.
    Plain vinegar works great to disolve rust. Vinegar around here has 5% acidity. In Central Tx. HEB food stores have 9%.
    So approx 20 years ago i aquired the bucket seats out of a 72 Monte Carlo. The drivers is electric. Its been waiting for me to get the right car to use them in. That would be the 71 350 GS i recently aquired. The drivers bucket was a mess. This Monte Carlo sat out in the country for no telling how long. I think the drivers seat was the bed for no telling what rodents. Springs are no good but the frames are still very good. They had tons of nasty rust but no rust through. After a week in vinegar the rust was falling off, pressure washer made the steel look like new steel, no rust! But they will flash rust slightly after the cleaning. Then came the seat tracks, the electric one.
    Again some of you may know this, but it never occured to me. Pot metal and vinegar do not mix. at least not for a week. I soaked the track in vinegar for a week. It almost completely disolved the pot metal gear assemblys on the electric track. The steel gears inside are fine. I destroyed the gear assemblies.
    So sorry for the novel, but i hope this will help someone in the future. Now i have to try and find replacement gear assemblies, or a different track, or a manual track.
    Anyone have the pot metal gear assemblies? Its a 4 way electric seat.
    Maybe i can find a bench seat, the gear assemblies should be the same i think.
     
  2. Donuts & Peelouts

    Donuts & Peelouts Life's 2 Short. Live like it.

    That's all true and good but you have to add baking soda after you apply vinger. The science behind it is that it stops the chemical reaction of the vinger. If no backing soda is added the reaction will continue past the rust. Thanks for your post.
     
  3. Bens99gtp

    Bens99gtp Well-Known Member

    Man that totally stinks
     
    Donuts & Peelouts likes this.
  4. 69SkylarkGS

    69SkylarkGS Well-Known Member

    Be careful with vinegar you can definitely over do it. Oxalic acid works great but there is a proper procedure in using it too.
     
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  5. Lucy Fair

    Lucy Fair Nailheadlova

    Or just buy Evaporust and save yourself a lot of trouble.
     
  6. 69SkylarkGS

    69SkylarkGS Well-Known Member

    Evaporust is great too! I just find buying a ton for a large project is really pricey. I use powder oxalic acid and warm water on larger items bc it works well and is cheap. I use it primarily on old bicycles , last time I did it I used it on a disassembled Schwinn Stingray.
     
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  7. Mike B in SC

    Mike B in SC Well-Known Member

    But the Evaporust is reusable. I have been using the same five gallon pail for years.
     
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  8. 69SkylarkGS

    69SkylarkGS Well-Known Member

    Does it work as well after you use it several times? Last time I used it, it seemed less effective after being used several times. It’s definitely good stuff though I still use it.
     
  9. Mike B in SC

    Mike B in SC Well-Known Member

    It slowly loses it effectiveness. The more it is used, the longer you may need to soak the parts. Plus, you have to remember, it works best when it is hot outside. It does not work good in cold weather. Use it inside where the heat is...
     
  10. Lucy Fair

    Lucy Fair Nailheadlova

    I like to put bucket with parts into bigger one, filled with hooot water or if it's impossible just heat it with electric heater.
     
  11. 69a-body

    69a-body Well-Known Member

    Heating helps tremendously. It definitely speeds it along.
     
  12. NZ GS 400

    NZ GS 400 Gold Level Contributor

    Search for my post regarding citric acid. Works as well as evapo rust and 3 dollars a pound for the powder. The solution that I use is 1/4 cup per gallon of water.
     
    bostoncat68 and 2dtrak like this.
  13. NZ GS 400

    NZ GS 400 Gold Level Contributor

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