[Frozen Tundra GT]

I removed my headlight rotator mechanisms and was pleasantly surprised that besides overspray and road grime, my headlight mechanisms were in excellent shape and were still zinc colored. they rotated well, but I was replacing the headlight cable and wanted to check this off the list, and refurbish them and grease them.

I put them in evaporust to clean up the mild oxidation that was there, and it was working very well so I left them in for a few days......

The evaporust ate up the springs! and removed the zinc. they are now bare metal. Being a garage queen i'm not too terribly concerned in regards to the bare metal, but I need springs now!! I would consider getting them redone in the zinc coating if I could get my hands on the bushings that go in between the sections. OGTS does not sell just the bushings...

 

[kwilford]

The EvapoRust likely didn't "eat" the springs. It's chemistry won't dissolve steel or iron. But those springs can get very rusted, and if the RUST is removed, and there isn't much steel left, well, then, yes, the EvapoRust ate the springs.

I have seen Evaporust remove the zinc chromate coating (the "yellow"), but I have not seen it remove the actual zinc galvanizing. Acid will though. Quite neat to dip rotators in muriatic (aka hydrochloric) acid, as that causes a lot of action. And some chlorine gas, so need to be careful of that.

I have rebuilt a couple dozen headlight rotators for our Calgary Opel Co-op top date, and am currently rebuilding and re-galvanizing another batch with zinc and zinc-chromate. Gil from OGTS shipped me 8 pretty rough rotators and the Co-op Parts GT provided another pair, and I am almost finished them. Way too much work, but it keeps me busy during our long winters, in between skiing and pickleball

 

[Frozen Tundra GT]

The EvapoRust likely didn't "eat" the springs. It's chemistry won't dissolve steel or iron. But those springs can get very rusted, and if the RUST is removed, and there isn't much steel left, well, then, yes, the EvapoRust ate the springs.

I have seen Evaporust remove the zinc chromate coating (the "yellow"), but I have not seen it remove the actual zinc galvanizing. Acid will though. Quite neat to dip rotators in muriatic (aka hydrochloric) acid, as that causes a lot of action. And some chlorine gas, so need to be careful of that.

I have rebuilt a couple dozen headlight rotators for our Calgary Opel Co-op top date, and am currently rebuilding and re-galvanizing another batch with zinc and zinc-chromate. Gil from OGTS shipped me 8 pretty rough rotators and the Co-op Parts GT provided another pair, and I am almost finished them. Way too much work, but it keeps me busy during our long winters, in between skiing and pickleball

yes, the springs integrity must have been compromised with oxidation to begin with, but they seemed to be in decent shape. now they are just a couple pieces and the rest is particulate matter in bottom of bucket now.


What are those newish looking springs in the ziplocs?

Gil mentioned to me that someonehas a home zinc chromate setup and its working very well!

 

[kwilford]

What are those newish looking springs in the ziplocs?

Gil mentioned to me that someone has a home zinc chromate setup and its working very well!

Those are original rotator springs that I also "rebuild", by soaking in EvapoRust (which is why I know about that process), wire-wheeled, acid-dipped and zinc-chromated. But sorry, they are all spoken for, as the rotators I am rebuilding need them.

And yep, that is me Gil is referring to. The zinc chromate is the finishing touch to the rebuild process, as it applies a very corrosion-resistant coating to all the otherwise bare steel. I split the halves, remove the rack and centre gear, remove the broken bolts in the gear (which is inevitability the case, and can be the most difficult part), EvapoRust everything, then glass-bead blast, dip in 15% muriatic acid prior to the zinc chromate process. I do the springs, the flex strips, and the levers, and replace the M5 bolts with nickel-plated Gr. 12.9 socket head cap bolts.

The photos I posted here earlier are from today. I have been doing this for a bit over a year, and have also plated calipers, heat shields, distributor clamps, hundreds (thousands?) of bolts and nuts, and various fittings and brackets.

As I said, WAY too much work to do commercially, but, hey, old guys need winter hobbies...

 

[MattsAwesomeStuff]

calipers

What?

When you did my calipers you... painted them.... spit

How am I supposed to impress my friends, now that everyone has cooler calipers than me?

They look great btw.

 

[LynnB]

I never soak things more than overnight in Evaporust.

 

[kwilford]

What?

When you did my calipers you... painted them.... spit

How am I supposed to impress my friends, now that everyone has cooler calipers than me?

They look great btw.

Because that was before I lost my mind and started zinc chromating everything I could get my hands on. Such as your headlight rotators...😉

 

[zippy7575]

I love Evaporust. I bought a 5 gallion bucket of it before I started the current restoration. Whenever I remove any rusted parts or hardware, they first get a trip to the wire wheel to remove any dirt/grease and then thrown in the bucket overnight. Things come out looking like new. I just wish I had a 50-gallon drum of the stuff for really big things like bumpers.