How to clean/restore parts

[Loren]

I haven't seen a thread that focuses on how to clean and in some cases restore parts. I was envisioning a thread the focuses on do it yourself, using common materials. I thought I would start the thread off with cleaning fasteners. Over the past 10 years I have collect lots of fasteners and squirreled them away all over the garage. For the past two weeks I have been rooting through the garage on the search for fastener stashes and have accumulated quite a pile, of fasteners that is.

The first thing I do is degrease and clean all the parts. I got some concrete degreaser, but you can use just about any thing: oven cleaner, carb cleaner, Simple Green etc. I tried the chem dip carb cleaner, but it smelled so bad I decided to use the concrete cleaner from my local hardware store. I mixed the cleaner per the instructions in a small bucket and put a load of fasteners in. I let them sit for about 1/2 hour then sloshed the bucket around for a few minutes and let it sit for a while longer. Once I thought they were clean enough I pulled them out and rinsed them off. If any pieces are painted you will need to remove the paint with paint remover.

Here are the dirty fasteners ready to be cleaned.

The next step is remove the rust with muriatic acid. You should be able to find it at your local hardware store in the concrete stain section. It is used for cleaning and etching concrete. The stuff I bought comes pre mixed at 30% acid. Before I clean the rust I remove any fasteners that don't have rust, pieces with nice chrome, aluminum pieces and pot metal pieces. The acid will etch the fasteners so I don't like to etch the pieces without rust, the acid can effect chrome and some pot metal pieces can dissolve in the acid. As far as I know the acid does not effect plastic or bakelite. I put the pieces in a small plastic or glass container and pour the acid until it completely covers the fasteners. Be sure to do this outside and wear rubber glove and goggles, this stuff really burns and smells bad. I put the fasteners in for about 1/2 hour to 1 hour. I think the least amount of time you can get away with the better.

Here a few of the fasteners after they came out of the muriatic acid. Be sure to dry them off or they will get a coat of surface rust.

Here are two seat panel clips. I dipped one half in the acid so you can see how well it works.

Once the parts are dried I put them in a Harbor Freight vibrator/tumbler with crushed walnut shells. I bought the tumbler on sale at Harbor Freight for $50 and the walnut shells for $20, be sure to use those 20% off coupons! I run the tumbler for about 12 hours at a time. The walnut shells will not hurt the materials being cleaned. It will make a nice polish on aluminum and brass. I tried using the green triangles at Harbor Freight that supposedly remove rust, but they don't work worth a damn and they make the tumbler really noisey. Using the walnut shells the tumbler runs quiet and I put the tumbler on the garage floor so it won't work its way off the counter and break. BE SURE TO TIGHTEN THE WING NUT ON TOP OF THE TUMBLER TIGHT, I JUST ADDED A LOCK WASHER TO MAKE SURE THE TOP DOES NOT COME OFF. I woke up this morning with walnut dust all over the garage, the wing nut worked loose and the top came off

Just a quick update. I have been running the Harbor Freight tumbler for 100s pf hours now with no problem. I do have a few tips that will help you get the most out of your tumbler, a few are listed above, but here is a complete list:

1. Most important: add a lock washer under the wing nut that secures the top and make double sure you tighten it down before running the tumbler. The tumbler does not come with a lock washer and with out it the wing nut will eventually work its way off and you could damage the lid.

2. Keep the tumbler on the floor when running it. If left running on a counter top unatended it could vibrate off the counter and break.

3. Don't over load the tumbler. I use a digital scale to make sure I keep 5 lbs. of material or less in the tumbler.

4. If you are using glass media let the tumler sit for a few minutes before opening the lid. This will let the dust settle and glass dust is especially bad for you. I actually do this with any media to keep the dust down in the garage.

Here is what I use. It holds up to 5 pounds of material at a time.

Into the walnut shells with you dirty fasteners!

Here they are, all nice and clean! Even the chrome bumper bolt took a shining to the process Once they are clean I sort through them and toss any damaged pieces and run a tap or die to clean up any dirty or uneven threads. I also check for any pieces that might need a little file work and file them as necessary. You will needto clean the walnut shells out of some screw head slots etc., but other than that they are ready to use or send off to the plater.

[Loren]

Here is another post with some great tips on cleaning 36hp engine parts and rebuilding a 36hp engine. I suggest reading the whole post, if you haven't already. Very well written with great photos and though it is not Ghia specific it still has great information

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=419739

[Paul_Revere's Ghia]

[Russ Wolfe]

After they are clean, maybe your other half will help sort them.
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[richardfry19]

will a rotary tumbler do the same job?
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[70 140]

There was a thread a good while ago about a guy using sand in a cement mixer and getting similar results.

In my experience the more parts, and the more you get them moving around, in the case of hardware you increase the potential to damage the threads.

[Loren]

A rotary tumbler will do the same job, though they are often small. The one I have only holds 3 pounds of material. They are great if you want to use wet polishing media though, where as the Harbor Freight vibrator/tumbler is only good for dry media. I wouldn't recommend using sand or glass as can really wear down the fasteners. The nice thing about walnut shells is that they only polish the pieces and don't take away material. A cement mixer is a great idea for large batches of fasteners Wish I still had a cement mixer.

[Loren]

Since I was cleaning fasteners I decided to restore my stash of early side trim clips. I have been hoarding these little suckers for 10 years, trying to get enough for my cabrio project. It takes a total of 80 clips for a coupe and 72 for a convertible. It breaks down to: 56 clips for the side trim, 16 for the spear trim on the inside of the doors, 8 clips for the spear trim below the quarter windows on coupes.

My first step was to break the clips into their primary components and remove the rust by placing them in muriatic acid. I was afraid the acid might etch the clips to the point where the spring steel would be compromised so I only left them in the acid for 1/2 an hour. If you can remove the rust in less time that would be preferable. Next it was off to the tumbler to spend a night getting polished by the walnut shells. Once out of the tumbler I cleaned them off, inspected them and threw out any that were overly pitted or damaged.

Here are the clips fresh out of the tumbler. You can see a few clips that are too pitted to save.

After they were inspected I put them on a piece of cardboard and spray painted them with Rustoleum satin black. I placed the V shaped parts of the clips in rows to make spraying them easier.

Here is how you want to place them on the cardboard. They look nice in the early morning light with a fresh coat of paint.

If the V shaped pieces are placed helter skelter you end up moving all round trying to get all sides of the clips and too much paint is applied, fusing the clips to the cardboard. I let them dry for half a day or so before I flip them and spray the other side. If you flip them too soon, while the paint is still soft, they tend to stick to the cardboard. I would also warn against leaving them in the hot sun after they are flipped. The paint can soften and cause them to stick to the cardboard. They only need a light coat of paint, too much paint and they will fuse to the cardboard. After a day or so, when I know they are fully dry I put them back together and they are ready to use.

Here they are with a fresh coat of paint, ready to install.

[sputnick60]

Loren,
Thanks so much for this. I was stumped with how to refurbish many of these small bits and I've already made mistakes on account of my ignorance. I have pot metal bits that I've ruined. But after I replace them I can have a second chance at it .

This is so valuable to know! Hats off to you!
Nicholas
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'65 Porsche 356C Coupe...
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[slafa]

Excellent Thread Loren! If I didn't have a job, wife, kids, dog, birds, headache, backache and overall malaise, I would be doing exactly what you are doing! Nothing like seeing all those pieces you have scavenged over the years come out all shiny and new looking Someday I will use your killer info on the '58....someday.... <dreaming of someday>
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[Gary]

Fair warning - I went through 4 of those Harbor Freight vibrating tumblers before I got disgusted and returned the last one for a refund, vowing to never buy anything from that store again. No matter how tight the wingnut was on the lid, the tumbler would eventually vibrate itself apart. The bowl and lid would start to rotate and the threads on the all-thread center shaft would get flattened.

I've since learned that the best way to clean bolts, screws and such is with a media blaster. I have plans for building a media blasting cabinet as well as a magnetic tumbler. I'll post some links for those who would be interested.

Also, a 1-gallon can of Berryman Carb Cleaner helps with removing gunk from parts as well.
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West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624 (1943)

[slafa]

[Ghiaddict]

Never have tried the tumbler method.

We also use a media blast cabinet.
Small parts being held in a metal basket or similar
allowing the media to fall away and the smaller parts
flipped around to clean all surfaces.

Agreed that Harbor Freight is not the best source for
some shop equipment or hand tools. But the
blast cabinet is the HF bench top model and works well.
It is what it is.
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Karmann Ghia & Beetle parts available.
Convertible tops installed.

[Gary]

[slafa]

[FiremarshalBill]

When I was restoring my 58' BMW Isetta, I cut one side out of a large cardboard box (about 3'x3'x3') and used it as a mini-paint booth for all those small parts that needed painting after they were cleaned up. I cut a 2 ft. square hole in the top of the box to allow more light into the painting area and covered the hole with clear plastic wrap. Also, small plastic Lazy-Susan on the floor of the box also allows for more even painting of parts as it rotates 360 degrees.
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Firemarshal Bill
1970 Karmann Ghia Convertible

www.ACAircraft.com

[shegel]

I bought a hospital surplus ultrasonic cleaner like this one

http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/extras/tools/the-ultra-sonic-cleaner/

this is the actual one i have

it works great for more than just bolts. 1 hr in there and i dont even have to scrape anything off jugs. heads. you name it it does it all

http://websites.labx.com/rankin/detail.cfm?p=1&autonumber=7576
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My stuff with engines
1969 Karmann Ghia
1999 Jetta tdi
1977 Honda gl1000
1993 Honda xr250L

[Paul_Revere's Ghia]

I really like the idea of this thread- It is helpful to learn all these restoratio tips that can be used at home- I have always tried to show as much as is interesting in my build thread but this is one of my favourite bits!!!

A mate taught me this trick for rust removal a few years ago- I was pretty impressed.

First part of the wizard magic is to fill a bowl with water, add bicarb of soda and a piece of (Not stainless)steel. Connect that to a battery charger and connect the other wire to the part you want to remove the rust from...

Can you guess what it is yet??

Yes- it's the brake reservoir- Very rusty and crusty!!

After about two hours in the tank, All traces of rust were gone- converted back to raw steel. A quick brush with a wire brush and it was ready for paint- The results...

One freshly painted reservoir ready for installation
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[John Moxon]

That's a goodie Seth. I take it, it doesn't matter to which item the positive is connected and to which the negative?
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[Gary]

0000 fine steel wool is an excellent parts polisher.

A friend told me that Barkeeper's Friend, water, and an SOS pad work great to polish lightly rusted chrome and dull aluminum. Make a paste out of the Barkeeper's Friend and let sit for a few minutes. Follow up with the SOS pad and then rinse. I cleaned up some nasty Riviera rims that I sold for $160 at Eureka Springs this year following this formula.

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West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624 (1943)