I've washed things with hot soapy water with good results. I've also used just water then wiped things down with acetone then painted with good results as well.

Baking soda will neutralize acid, but you need to use enough of it to do a complete job. Mix it into a super saturated soloution (keep pouring powder and mixing in to water until the powder no longer disolves and piles up on the bottom) then rinse it several times, a soak for 15-30 minutes is even better. Once it's clean and dry again it will start to rust IMMEDIATELY so you'll need to treat it appropriately. I final treat all bare metal with Ospho before other coatings get used, it leaves a phosphate coating after a brief water rinse that will prevent flash rust for a few days while you prepare the parts for paint or whatever.

The solution to pollution is dilution (read: hot soapy water and elbow grease go a long way). The headers I showed a picture of way back on 12/25 are still sitting just like they were in the box with no more rust on them now than then. I left for 3 weeks and didn't get to them. I used cold water and an acetone wipe down. But if you don't get the stuff cleaned off, it'll rust like crazy.

My recipe as far as acids go is a fairly mild acid bath.. Metal prep would be the same as if you were using evaporust which also has a low enough ph to be considered a acid and produce the hydrogen smell you smell on the metal parts when you remove it from both solutions.. The ph in normal tap water is actually high enough in my area to neutralize the acid on its own but adding baking soda will raise the ph and neutralize the acid . A bucket of soapy water "I like to use a little dawn dish water soap" and add some baking soda in.. 1 cup in a 5 gallon bucket will spike the ph out! .. no need to go overboard! Solutions with a pH less than 7 are said to be acidic! both my home-brew mixture and evaporust fall into the acidic category "even though evaporust claims to not use acids their material data sheets claim otherwise" Both products work great! Both require prep after a bath & before painting! I would treat them both the same and use evaporust if your working on old wristwatch mechanical internals/delicate stuff. My mix will work just fine for our mopars!!! & save you some cash!!!

bringing this back up ...

Anyone that dipped any bolts for an extended period notice the the threads getting eaten away ? I haven't used this particular mix, just white vinegar itself, on a set of lower control arms and left them in for over a week, the threads on the exposed part of the t bar adjustments were eaten to the point of the bolts being junk.

The bolts weren't very rusty , if at all , I have a senior moment and didn't think to remove them before dipping, I'm going to run them thru one more time to get the surface rust that has happened since I did these a couple years ago before I prime with etching primer and then paint them.

I have left assorted pieces in the mix (not just vinegar) for over 2 weeks and not noticed anything but the rust being removed.

what does the vineagar do to other parts such as brass, alum. copper??
if one of them metals were mated to steel that you was de-rusting?

That's pretty good. I'll have to try this myself.

i have the perfect thread test
rusty adjusters on 4spd shift rods
and a silver chain for the heck of it.
the adjusters are frozen solid and will not move.
i just dropped them in the solution
and i will post my results tomarrow night

no guido/piney here!!!
at least i think its silver?
i even tossed in a crusty fender tag also to try out
after 9 hrs
the adjusters are still frozen solid on the threads..
the rods do have nasty residue on them
but look like they are cleaning up
the fender tag is looking better
i guess i will let it soak for another day
and see if the adjusters will free up

iv been messing with some over last week or 2 even thou you got it soaking take a small brass brush pull the part out and lightly brush it you will see a film come right off
may be a couple spots size of a corn flake that may need some extra soaking
iv learned you have to have the whole part submerged as i had a tail shaft housing off a 4 speed and had enuff to cover half way up (laying down) well you cant roll it over and do the other side but the side that was in worked very good as this thing looked like its been outside in the weather for years lol

here are my findings
the shift rods cleaned up like new
but the adjusters are still frozen
i'm soaking them in pb blaster now

the fender tag came out nice and clean but
it now has some holes in it that it didn't have before
i threw in a tag i didn't care about
but i don't think i'm throwing
any tag i care about any time soon
overall some pretty good results,
but i would be real careful
about what i would put into this solution

Evaporust , I found some last night but it was just a small bottle , is this a concentrate , it didn't say anything on the bottle so this is probably a stupid question. If it's not I'd have to spend $100 to get enough to put anything like a valve cover in it

Quote:

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Not to be a D!cK, but super saturation refers to elevated saturation levels due to conditions other than normal, for example: increased pressure or temperature. What you are referring to is merely a saturated condition.

Ok, yeah I'm a nerd. Carry on...

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My 9th grade science teacher, Mr. David Bowman, tought me wrong then.....I digress.....

simple soap and water doesnt nuetralize it, at least the water i have in central NJ. i put something in for minutes decided to test on something else rinsed it off and within hours it was covered in heavier rust than befor ei put the part in.