I've been cleaning up and painting suspension parts for the last couple of
days. I think I have arthritis now. Tonight I was using my oxy-acetylene
cutting torch to gently heat (not cut) some stuck bolts on one of the A
arms. While I was doing this, some grease that was packed into an
inaccessible area caught fire. Not a problem, since I had moved the part
away from anything flamable before I lit the torch.
Rather, I found out something neat, which I thought I'd share with you all.
As I said, the grease was in a hard to reach area. Basically I was going to
have to scrape out as much as I could and sand blast the rest. Any of you
who've tried to sandblast grease will know it really doesn't work well.
What I discovered is that you can use the cutting torch to melt the grease
and use the oxygen stream to blow it loose. As it cools, it does not stick
to the metal, but becomes dry and crumbly. Easy to remove with a blow gun
or a small paint brush dipped in laquer thinner. Wait till the metal cools
before you brush it or the bristles will melt.
The grease melts at a much lower temp than the steel, so without too much
care, you can avoid cutting or warping the metal. Obviously, you wouldn't
want to do this near sheet metal.
What looked like a hard, ugly job became quick and painless. I'll have to
remember this next time I'm tempted to ask God why everything has to be
difficult.
Hope this is helpful to someone.
Regards,
Grant S.
54 3100 (mostly all there)
54 3100 (mostly not there)
55 1st 3100 (mostly rust)
Los Angeles, CA
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