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Squiggle Dog · #**105** 09-07-2019, 10:40 PM

Thanks, all!

Quote:

Originally Posted by vwnate1

Thank you for the informative and detailed post .

? Could you elaborate on the evaporust stuff a little bit ? .

I've been using a dilute Phosphoric Acid mix of a few decades now but I've seen the Oxalic Acid and wondered if it was too strong, if you're using it in aluminum I'd think not .

? Can't you shim the rattly lower tabs with thin rubber or something ? .

I get Evaporust at O'Reilly Auto Parts. If you soak something rusty in it for long enough, it will come out rust-free; usually this is only a few hours, and scraping and wire-brushing helps accelerate the process. But, it's expensive, so if you have to remove rust from large parts, oxalic acid (Savogran Wood Bleach) is more economical, but slightly less effective and kind on finished surfaces.

Oxalic acid does work pretty well as a rust-remover, though. I've soaked things like copper heater cores in it, too. It cleans aluminum nicely as well, but I've found that sometimes if you mix metal types, the metal particles of one type can plate themselves to the different metal.

Oxalic acid is what was used as an effective cooling system cleaner for decades until the laws changed. Evaporust would work well, too, but it's a lot more expensive. Maybe half a cup of oxalic acid powder in a cooling system, run for about 15 minutes and then drained after the engine cools tends to be effective, though if the system is very rusty, it could be left in for longer. I always neutralize it by running Arm & Hammer Washing Soda (soda ash, NOT baking soda) with water in the cooling system before I run water a couple more times to rinse the system.

The lower radiator shroud tabs that are rattling can be shimmed, but I don't know how to do it yet in a way that the shims won't fall off.