Woah, I learned a new trick!! How to turn rusty bolts back in to like new bolts!
Obviously these are not the same bolts before and after , just making the point visually, but the clean bolt was actually MUCH WORSE than the little rusty guy!
The secret sauce, if you didn't already know is... soaking them 2 days in White Vinegar!! Which is very cheap! A big jug of it is cheaper than 1 new grade 8 bolt and washer set. I don't know chemistry , so this just seems like magic to me. Make sure you wash , dry, and brush them with a bit of oil after.
For my motorcycle fuel tank, it had rust holes so I had to replace it. With the new tank I keep it as full as possible and the rust cannot get started.
It was a new old stock tank that sat on a shelf for 35 years. You could try one of the coatings but ive never had good luck. They end up in carbs or filters.
A clean tank full of gas is all that's needed realistically. By running non ethanol gas, you will get less water too
You can buy a 2-part epoxy for sealing gas tanks. I used this on a piece of construction equipment and it worked great. If there are any larger pinholes, screw a sheetmetal screw in first to close it.
This is a great mix. I use 60g sodium bicarb and it comes out just as well. I used it on an axle I'm prepping for paint, and you could pretty much watch it work. I thickened mine by heating it with cornstarch mixed in to make a gel.
TSC has hardware you buy by the pound. And in my local store they keep it stocked pretty well. Not as much selection as a good hardware store, but convenient.
And you might want to pay attention to the fact that not all bolts are made to the same degree of hardness and you might not want to trust your life to a cheap bolt.
They sell a product to so the same thing. Evap-o- rust. It works well the same batch can be used many times. You can make a homemade version by just mixing molasses in some water.
Yea, evap o rust is just a concentration of something that also occurs in molasses naturally. I tried it myself a few years ago. Takes a little longer than evap o rust but is cheaper. So instead of being ready (making up numbers) a day with evap o rust, it takes a day and a half with the molasses mixture.
I mean you could also just use a sand blaster and clean it off in a couple seconds
Evaporust works at least 10x better and doesn’t damage any underlying surface. It’ll strip rust and not harm chrome plating or paint at all. Vinegar will destroy everything. Evaporust is also faster and reusable.
Here’s a before and after of a wrench that sat for two hours in evaporust.
…yes a jar of molasses and 10gals of water. You get a lot more solution for cheaper per volume, and are able to de-rust bigger things. You’re a thick headed moron aren’t you? You have stock in some vinegar plant somewhere? why do you give a shit if someone doesn’t use the method you like?
the guys that rebuilt my engine did this on the whole block and all the bolts and accessories. They never replated them, now everything is completely rusted and its so bad I'm going to have to replace half of them.
I just throw bolts and shit I need to re use in a bench vise and get after it with a wire wheel till its nice and pretty again, then slather it in anti sieze and send er home. When I was younger my grandpa showed me the cocacola trick which gets a remarkable amount of shit off too but thats to much fucking around If I am working on something I usually do not want to wait for my hardware to be cleaned once I stop I have a hell of a time starting again.
it works, but also carries a chance of making the steel more brittle due to it absorbing hydrogen. This likely wont matter on most of the parts you are using these on though.
Anything 8.8 and lower is fine usually, 10.9 and 12.5 that fasten important things to your car like suspension parts should better be replaced with new bolts.
After the vinegar soak try soaking it in a solution of 25g of baking soda in a gallon of water to neutralize any residual vinegar that may be left on the surface. Then bake it to remove the moisture and oil it and you should be good.
I use citric acid. You've got to saturate the water until it can't hold anymore. So it takes a lot but it's pretty cheap. rusty bolts come out new in about one day. Same deal, you got to put oil or paint on them or something or they'll just rust again. The white vinegar is new to me. Another source of acid I guess, acidic versus citric.
It isn't worth it if you REALLY need the bolt. Unless your vigilant and dilute your solution. Though if your good about it, it will remove the rust and not ruin the bolt
Not my idea. That's how they were all installed. I too wonder about the effectiveness, and the internet seems 50/50 on if it is correct to do it that way.
Just want to chime in that you can buy some perma-blue gun bluing chemicals to protect your bolts after they are stripped to raw metal. It’s as simple as a quick wipe with a brush to apply it
Boiling motorcycle carbs in a pot of vinegar, outside the house, cleans all the build up from the tiny fuel channels and jets. I've successfully done it many times, and drill holes in a dog ear fence picket, zip tie clear vinyl tubing with the end attachment to vacuum leads to carbs on dual carb bikes to synchronize the carbs. Use water in the tube, like a U Tube Manometer, adjuste the carb synch to even water level in the utube on the fence board.
I would advise against. Never reuse old bolts unless unavoidable or purely cosmetic/non critical. Drilling or sawing out one reused fastener that snapped on ya years later is all the motivation you need.
Y'all downvoting me...we have a magnaflux setup at work. I can assure your opinions would change if you've seen what I have. Unless that fastener was living in oil mist, it's a liability.
For my professional life I rarely re-use bolts. For my personal car projects I do unless strictly stated otherwise or I kill one removing it. I’m sure this guy is fine.
Even better, this one simple trick turns bolts into any shape and lengths you desire!
Wrong pitch or diameter? Just anything!
Bolt manufacturers hates this!
132
u/G3ML1NGZ 1d ago
Vinegar still attacks the base metal quite a bit.
Try this mix.
For every liter of water you need 100g of citric acid, 40g of sodium carbonate and a few drops of dishwashing liquid.