Over the holidays I figured for sure I'd get the driver's side door
stripped and maybe even remove the the windscreen and strip the area
under it too. As usual life intervened and I only managed to strip and
partially de-rust a few minor pieces.
Since these were small parts I used my favorite stripping/degreasing
technique of soaking them in a heated TSP solution, which worked quite
well. This will be followed with a phosphoric acid bath to remove the
remaining surface rust.
While these pieces were "brewing" I got to wondering what commercial
places use to do this job. When British Wire Wheel rebuilt my wheels a
few years back I understand they let them soaked in some chemical
solution for several days to remove the old paint, dirt and rust. How
neat to be able to do everything with one soak. But in what? Caustic
solution are great for removing paint grease and dirt, but hardly touch
rust. Acid is good for rust but doesn't strip paint. A caustic/acid
solution might be just the ticket; unfortunately the laws of the
Universe don't allow that. What magic combo of chemicals do commercial
stripper/de-rusters use, anyway? Is this something that can be concocted
at home? What do radiator shops use to boil out radiators? Presumably
this stuff is safe for brass and aluminum. Would it work for steel and
cast iron? What about places that dip whole car bodies and frames.
What do they use?
Roland
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