The spiuserforum.com is a very good place to learn about anything to do with paint. Plus a lot of other things also.

 

Evap O Rust is a great product. My Shovelhead sat up for 10 years with fuel in the tanks, I know. I looked for something to clean them that would not harm the paint. I filled each one with with Simple Green to remove fuel, then put in some Evap O Rust with a hand full of 1/4" nuts, Soak, shake, turn and repeat each tank for a week and the results were great! Its hard to get pics through the bung.

 

Its hard to get pics through the bung.

Truer words were never spoken!

 

Evaporust is great, but after using about 30 gallons or so over a couple years, I switched to Rust911. Works the same, but Rust911 is concentrated by a factor of 15. Smaller package size and weight, easier to store, just add water when a batch is needed. The kicker - much cheaper also.

 

So far, so great with Ospho, too!
I let a hood pin, nut and aafety latch bar, the two bolts for that and two bolts for a trunk latch, the thin metal trunk lock sleeve and five bolts for a driver side door hinges soak overnight. Wow. ALL the embedded rust is gone, and all the parts have a nice grey phosphate coating on them. I plan to replicate some plating on the hood parts and soak the bolts in oil to preserve their original type finish.
It is noteworthy this stuff releases some hydrogen gas bubbles from some parts, and some stinky smelling fumes so you don't want to do this at the wife's make-up counter.
Also, I would use EvapoRust or Rust911 as stated above for any parts that are intended to be painted with any water-based paint or any epoxy unless the epoxy were absolutely neutralized, and I would definitely use Ospho for any pieces that are intended to be left natural, phosphate-and-oil, painted with an oil-based top coat, or pieces that were going to be stripped and left bare for a while before working them again.

 

+infinity for Evaporust. That plus a section of 4" PVC pipe and a week sitting over in the corner of the shop did amazing things for my driveshaft. All I had to do after was (sorta) re-create the stripes and laid on a matte clear.

 

Soaked mine in a 2x6 box with a trash bag liner. I promised myself I'd use PVC pipe next time.

 

I had no idea stuff like this existed. I've always been that guy with a wire wheel, emery cloth and elbow grease. I'll be remembering this thread next time I have a project, thanks VMF.

 

You won't regret it! My seat tracks after an overnight soak:

 

I did my stock intake, exhaust manifolds, and rocker arm covers using Evaporust, and * avoided the need to sandblast these items. As someone else noted, I have now switched to Rust911 with identical results.

One note on the Ospho. I had mine sitting on a shelf in my garage and I am not sure what happened, but the plastic bottle cracked or was defective, and it drained out onto my garage floor, eating a good portion of the concrete where it spilled. I now set the jug in an additional plastic bin to prevent something like this from happening again.

Thinking about it a bit more - I also used it on the fold down seat metal and my radiator fan with great results. The big cost was finding a plastic bin that would hold parts like that.

 

I used Ospho one something in the past couple of years...for the life of me, I can't remember what it was. Anyways, I remember it coming out a lot nicer than when it went in and I'm happy. I'm so glad I could contribute such pearls of wisdom to this post.

 

Thanks to and upon the recommendation of some of VMF's finest ambassadors such as @Woodchuck @22GT @Israel @GypsyR @Huskinhano @LeeFred @patrickstapler @LSG @Lizer @CHOCK
@Russstang
@Nailbender @196667Bob ....the list goes on and on...
I have gotten to learn a lot of things and try new products I otherwise may not have. My car is better and my sons' cars are on the way, many thanks to the VMF family and your willingness to share.

I tried EvapoRust and was very pleased!
Amazed, even! I've used it on some rusty car stuff, tools, and various ferrous things around the house. Time for a new jug.

Today I got my first jug of Ospho and plan to use that for refinishing a ton of original bolts and hardware - please post your list of things to use it for on a vintage Mustang in case I have forgotten...bolts, nuts, clips, hood hinges, brackets or whatever.

In the near future, I'll be finishing body work on this project 66 and hopefully spraying a sealer and some SPI epoxy before laying down paint on the car. I understand Ospho may not play well with some epoxy finishes and has to be neutralized very well between but I think all my hardware will be bolted on after the finish and reassembly takes place.

Any additional guidance is appreciated, my gratitude is eternal, and I'm sorry I can't credit any of you for telling me about POR-15.

View attachment 977976

Cool pic.

 

That's my older son on his second trip to Nashville, disappointedly looking at the now-closed Ernest Tubb Record Shop with the poetic "Thanks a Lot" for all the years on the sign.

 

Just FYI: A few months back this popped up in my youtube recommendations. Haven't tried it but it looks interesting. He does a comparison vs evaporust.

 

I've got to try this one! Impressive results. I really like Evaporust but as he says, it is expensive.

 

Just a note for those with bad memories, I used Ospho, I believe, to soak some rusty parts and forgot about it for a few days. I did not elevate the parts and they were sitting on the bottom of the container. Some of the solution must have evaporated and I had dried, previously removed, rust stuck to the parts on the top (where exposed to air) and bottom. Parts looked worse than when I started...

I need to find a perforated tray to put parts on so the rust can drop to the bottom AND set a reminder on my phone.

 

Is Ospho the same as POR-15's Metal Ready?
I don't know how it compares to the other products. It sounds very similar. I think it's a zinc phosphate based product.

 

It is not exactly the same, but I've used both and they work almost identically. I eventually started using Klean Strip Concrete and Metal Prep as it was available at Home Depot and much cheaper. All three seem to do the same, but have different colors (and smells).

 

Something to remember with EVAPO-RUST. You can pour it back in the container (less the dregs) and re-use it again and again and again...

 

Yes I've done that so many times with my current gallon I probably could remove more rust by urinating on something. I decided to try the ospho and that stuff is pretty amazing. Using it full strength I just keep taking stuff out of the pan and putting other stuff in and it's still working. I have almost a whole gallon still.

 

I used my 5-gallons of Evaporust so much it turned into syrup. When I heard about it I thought of those infomercials and was very skeptical. But that stuff is PFM!!!!! It was amazing stuff. Got it so clean that you can literally see the metal flash rust real time unless you get it dry quick, and even that is not quick enough especially on cast stuff.

PFM = Pure F-ing Magic

 

I used my 5-gallons of Evaporust so much it turned into syrup. When I heard about it I thought of those infomercials and was very skeptical. But that stuff is PFM!!!!! It was amazing stuff. Got it so clean that you can literally see the metal flash rust real time unless you get it dry quick, and even that is not quick enough especially on cast stuff.

PFM = Pure F-ing Magic

With the Ospho, there's no flash - it's coated. That's the cool part, like a factory finish when treated with oil or clear coated. It's great for stuff you need to strip down and get back to later. It's just not the right thing exactly for things to be epoxy coated and not for water based top coats.

 

I'll share some insider information with you. There's nothing special about Ospho except the expensive price--it's just a 43% dyed phosphoric acid solution, and phosphoric acid is phosphoric acid. There's a bazillion different phosphoric acid based products.

If you want cheap phosphoric acid then just use milkstone remover from farm or hardware stores (like TSC), it's 56% phosphoric acid and is half the price of Ospho for a stronger acid solution. Ospho costs nearly $40/gallon, milkstone remover is about $20/gallon, so you could make 1.4 gallons of 43% phosphoric acid solution by mixing a single gallon of 56% phosphoric acid stock solution with 0.4 gallons water. Now you have 1.4 gallons of 'ospho' at half the price of 1 gallon of ospho.

The only metal prep I'm aware of that's special and different is the Mastercoat Metal Prep, which is what I use. It is phosphoric acid, zinc phosphate, and a strong detergent. The significance of this is it cleans parts while it's derusting them, and it leaves a zinc phosphate coating on the part afterwards which phosphoric acid alone will not do. The significance of the zinc phosphate coating is it's a sacrificial coating so it will corrode instead of the metal itself, acting as an additional anti-corrosive for the metal (this is why we zinc plate things and eventually the zinc plating will take on a chalky dull appearance as it corrodes, and then eventually the metal will rust). The second benefit of the zinc phosphate layer is it's porous and this is what holds oil molecules when treated products are soaked in oil so they won't rust.

I created a poor-man's parkerizing method using the Mastercoat Metal Prep and you can truly only do this with the Mastercoat stuff, because the other's don't contain zinc phosphate.

I made a thread on this method here:

https://www.vintage-mustang.com/threads/make-your-bolts-look-beautiful-with-poor-mans-parkerizing.1206205/

and this is the video itself on how it's done

The hardware I've parkerized with this method are on year 2 or 3 now and still look new. Some have even sat on the vehicle in a 3-sided shed for a winter.

Additionally--I use the Mastercoat Metal Prep as a metal preservative to keep bare metal from rusting if I can't get to it for awhile. I just wipe it on the metal with a damp rag. I have some bare metal parts sitting around for 5 years now that still haven't rusted.

One very important thing to know about phosphoric acid is it can cause hydrogen embrittlement, and one thing that should never be soaked is a spring of any sort; the acid takes all the strength out of the spring and they break. If they're not already broken when you remove it from the acid solution they might readily break afterwards. Especially for tiny wound springs like you might see in a hood latch.

Evaporust works by chelation and is not a chemical conversion process like acid conversion. Evaporust is safer for metal and doesn't eat it away like phosphoric acid will do.

Additionally, phopshoric acid rust conversion is a chemical process and like most chemical processes, progresses faster with heat. So the warmer the solution is the faster the rust dissolves. If you're doing it in a cold garage it will take a long time.

 

I love chelators like Evapo-Rust, Rust911, and the others. I find it gratifying that so many guys are finally starting to use it. It certainly has its drawbacks, like cost and how to apply it, but if you want to remove rust down to a microscopic level without destroying the metal around it, then this is your ticket.

You are probably thinking- how do I get the parts (especially chassis and body parts) in the stuff? You can dip it, or give it a shower. The temperature of the room is the key factor here. The chelator will work at 45°F but it will take a long time. The warmer it gets the faster it works, but it should not be heated above 120°F. If the room temperature is above 70°F you can use a sump pump to spray it. You need to carefully position plastic sheets to catch the chelator and drain it back into a catch basin where the pump is positioned to recirculate it on the parts until they are rust free. For a good idea of how this works follow this link: Restorations, and click on “1976 Lincoln Mark IV Rear Suspension”. The results are amazing.

The main problem is temperature. Most of the country doesn’t have a garage that is above 70° for half the year, and heating the garage may not be a good option. I looked at this as an engineering challenge and developed a method to heat the chelator. I wrote an extensive paper on how to do it a couple of years ago, but decided that the world just wasn’t ready for it. But given the current interest, use the link to my Google Drive page and open the file named “Removing Rust2.pdf”. Any of the files up there are free for the taking:

forum pdfs - Google Drive

drive.google.com

 

And the above, folks, is why VMF is great.

 

I use Evaporust for all my restorations.
Here is a tip for minimizing usage…
Take the object you want to de rust, and place it in a heavy duty black trash bag. Make sure if the object has sharp edges, they are protected. I’ll use a USPS flat rate padded envelope As added protection against puncturing the trash bag.
Before you add the Evaporust, place the trash bag into a large container of water. Then add the Evaporust.
The water compresses the Evaporust solution against the item and you‘ll use a fractional amount of Evaporust.
I do this for seat tracks, rear diffs, driveshafts, etc.

 

Great video on using Ospho covered with epoxy primer and filler. 4 test pieces. The only one that failed was the first one where he did not rinse off the Ospho. Rinsing off the ospho improved adhesion, and reapplying Ospho and rinsing (per manufacturer instructions) improved it also.

 

Evaporust is great, but expensive.

I use white vinegar for removing rust- cheap, biodegradable, and mostly reusable. It's great for removing rust from motorcycle gas tanks.

 

Evapo-Rust is a godsend. I use it often. Especially since I'm doing a resto now. I actually have a great YouTube idea using evapo-rust but I'm not sure I can convince CRC to give me several hundred gallons....

Gemplers rust convertor is another product I swear by. i first started using it to preserve iron artifacts I would find metal detecting civil war sites. Ive used it on my resto several times now. And it's paintable.

KBS coatings is another product I love. Specifically the gas tank coatings. Wonderful stuff.

Caswell plating products. I love that stuff. I've used the black oxide solution to restore my hardware. It's fast and easy to use. I want to try some of their other plating products but I'm not ready for that yet.