Yet one that most of our spouses know so well.
Dave's 1978 FJ40 long restoration project
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- #222
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- #223
The brass wheel doesn't work that well. I find that the steel wheel and the more aggressive polishing wheel work best.
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- #224
I bought her a new little Mercedes 300 a couple weeks ago. That should be good for a couple of years. 
I like Dave's lab experiments. Great job Dave those bolts are looking new-ish again!
Take yourout for dinner and she'll forgive the messmell. New word!
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- #225
The worst part is knowing that one day all my work will be covered in mud.
I have been cleaning my hardware for years by hand. I kind of got used to it after all the hand work I end up putting into the carb rebuilds.
I, along with @kulangot and several other MUDers spent some time investigating some VERY spendy ultrasonic cleaners [4k and up] a few years ago and I was under-impressed. I visited a manufacturer's facility and recieived a demonstration on their deluxe model [the one they sold to Jay Leno's resto guys] I watched rust flake off of hardware like dandruff from a rastafarian. But it would not lift rust out of the bottom of a carburetor bowl.
Nonetheless, with the task at hand, I threw some $$ at the HF tumbler and green pyramids last month. I was not impressed with that either.During our weekly progress chat last week, I was hand cleaning knuckle nuts with a razor blade for my front axle overhaul. I told Dave they were averaging 5 minutes a nut between the 6 faces, the six bevels on the exposed side and the groove cut into the washer side. Just like everything else, 90 percent of the replating job is in the prep. I now have over a hundred dollars worth of time invested in 16 nuts. OCD at its finest.
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- #228
But doesn't it scar the nut?
I use a bench grinder with a wire wheel and it takes everything off including the old plating but you get clean metal within seconds. Instant gratification!
No scarring at all, but I used a cheap HF wire wheel.
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- #230
Well I can sacrifice a different bolt to see how that works. Brass wheel?
Thanks
Dave
Thanks
Dave
I keep trying to tell my wife that gear oil smells like a thousand cloves of garlic. She's not going for it.
Brass will work.
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- Jan 6, 2012
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What about muriatic acid? It cleans off rust really good on bolts
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- #234
Will it pit the bolts? I have to plate them. I know they dip them in acid before plating.
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- #235
I have a friend in the hot rod industry that said the more you polish out the item you are plating the better the result, especially big flat areas you plan to anodize.
I made up a screen basket from hd window screen , toss in a hand full of bolts/nuts and start blasting away in the cabinet - time well spent and it goes fast . All the old plating , rust and grease is gone , nothing but bare metal without pitting - using 150/400 mesh glass beads from McMaster . I used their super fine mesh grade years ago to blast carbs clean and pre-treat the die cast aluminum for a re-zinc process - worked great . That cabinet takes up a lot of space in my shop , but wouldn't trade it for nothing - except maybe a bigger one 
. Doing tig work on old parts makes owning a blast cabinet a near necessity - not sure how I'd live without it .
Sarge
. Doing tig work on old parts makes owning a blast cabinet a near necessity - not sure how I'd live without it .Sarge
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- #237
I had considered that but with only a couple of handfuls of nuts and bolts, I'm not sure it's cost effective for me.
I made up a screen basket from hd window screen , toss in a hand full of bolts/nuts and start blasting away in the cabinet - time well spent and it goes fast . All the old plating , rust and grease is gone , nothing but bare metal without pitting - using 150/400 mesh glass beads from McMaster . I used their super fine mesh grade years ago to blast carbs clean and pre-treat the die cast aluminum for a re-zinc process - worked great . That cabinet takes up a lot of space in my shop , but wouldn't trade it for nothing - except maybe a bigger one
Sarge
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- #238
Much to my surprise, I found one little gremlin lurking in my box of misc. bolts. I wish I could just buy these like this again.
They used to come in boxes like this. Not sure how many to the box, maybe a hundred. Th seal on this box is not broken. When I am done with my re-resto, we will talk.
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- #240
