I start with white vinegar first for a couple days, then move to the evaporust.

White vinegar is way less expensive.

 

Any acid works pretty well on rust. EvapoRust is basically tannic acid - so red wine or tea if you like. Citric acid, vinegar - even molasses works pretty well, over time. More gentle acids give more 'gentle' results and don't eat the metal. Hydrochloric acid isn't a great choice, as anyone that's replaced a battery tray could tell you. =)

I should add, there are some clever surfactants or detergents in EvapoRust that help it work a little better, too.

 

Automotive batteries do not have hydrochloric acid in them. Auto battery electrolyte is sulfuric acid.

 

Evapo-Rust = Magic!! I love the stuff. I agree that it turns "black" quick but still works. I think it is really more of a charcoal gray at first but trust me it will get BLACK eventually. It starts to get a little thicker and then it was not working so good, but that was a lot of parts for me

 

It gets thicker due to evaporation. Just thin it out with clean water.

 

I've read if you keep the stuff a little warm while using it, it works faster. I've never tried it and have no idea if it makes sense chemically.

 

I've read if you keep the stuff a little warm while using it, it works faster. I've never tried it and have no idea if it makes since chemically.

Any chemical reaction is accelerated by heat. You want evaporust at room temp or slightly above. I find 70 to 80 deg perfect.

 

If you have time the white Vinegar works very good. I have used it a lot lately and my seat tracks came out really good…After a couple days wire brush the parts and put them back in the solution,, Total time 5 days..Before and after..

 

I'll add, don't make the mistake of using an aluminum pan (turkey pan etc.) for long term soaking. It'll eat through the thin aluminum. Ask me how I know? Rustoleum makes a good product too. "Cleaning Vinegar" is slightly stronger than the White variety too. I use Cleaning Vinegar on weeds too and it's lot friendlier than Roundup.

 

I soaked my entire drive shaft in Evaporust for about a week. Turned out great.

 

Did you repaint the stripes? It looks like there used to be two stripes further up the drive shaft.
Virginia Classic Mustang blogged about how they cleaned a driveshaft in evaporust. It cleaned up just like yours and the original stripes were clearly visible. They used a piece of gutter with caps glued at either end. They filled it with Evaporust and set the drive shaft in it For a couple days.

 

What did you find to soak that drive shaft in?

 

That's what she said...

 

WORKS!!!!!! Ha.

I wish there was an evapo paint too to go with it or even an evapo paint additive you could get to add to it.

It may just be my imagination but it seems that it does a lot in the first couple of hours you have something in it and then it seems like it shifts modes to a longer term like over night or actually I'm not sure because I just started it today. Maybe it is just knocking off the light rust and then any that is a bit heavier takes longer.

If you buy a plastic storage bin you should probably get a good one and not a Dollar store one. I already busted a hole in the bottom of mine and had to pour my evapo back in the evapo bucket. The bucket does have a handy little inner basket too though that you can use for smaller parts so I sunk my other 4 rods in it to percolate over night. I have the 3 1/2 gallon size.

Some instruction I read somewhere says use it until it turns black and then replace it. Well, I don't think that is the right instruction because if you put anything significant in it related to the number of gallons you have it will turn blackish quick. My 2 somewhat rusty heads turned the 3 1/2 gallons blackish and I'm not completely done with those. I am planning to keep using it until it stops working.

In the post evapo phase you do have to do some clean up. It leaves a darkish blackish flim on the surface of the metal. I could move it around with my hand and it comes off with a small wire brush but the whole reason I got this is there are some places even a small wire brush won't go. I am going to try some of my chemicals and see if it will come off like B12, acetone and most likely the 2 cans of Aircraft paint stripper I have when it still had dichloromethane in it. I need to strip paint anyway so maybe it will clean up the after evapo too.

Sometimes Evapo Rust and similar is the only item that'll get the job done economically.
Not on a Mustang, or a car at all, I had to use it on a pair of aluminum bike rims where some enterprising engineer thought that reinforcing spoke holes should be done
with steel "grommets" permanently crimped in place. Looks like hell in a few years and not easily cleaned.... STUPID

 

Sometimes Evapo Rust and similar is the only item that'll get the job done economically.
Not on a Mustang, or a car at all, I had to use it on a pair of aluminum bike rims where some enterprising engineer thought that reinforcing spoke holes should be done
with steel "grommets" permanently crimped in place. Looks like hell in a few years and not easily cleaned.... STUPID

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I used Vaporust on 50-60 year old chrome bicycle rims and they turn out respectable. Wasn't seeking shiny new, just clean and rust free.

 

Been loving the stuff for years now. I keep it in a big plastic bin with a lid.

The black: yah that happened to me a couple times where I ended up disposing of it and starting again. I never figured out what it correlates with, or whether it is only certain metals. My current batch I have used for about a year and a half and still works great without blackening. I think but can’t prove it had to do with how clean parts were going in. Since I’ve been cleaning parts better before putting in it hasn’t happened again.

How fast: I’ve found 2 things really speed it up. First, giving the whole part a light brushing with steel wool before going in seems to remove the top of the rust and get the reaction going faster to the bare metal. I use steel wool because it doesn’t impart a brushed texture on a natural finish part. Second, after an initial few hours of soak, I pull the parts out wearing clean gloves and wipe them down with either a clean cotton cloth or just some clean paper towels, then drop back in. That seems to remove the initial smutty film that forms and then gets better/faster results from there.

 

The key to making the evaporust last longer is to degrease the parts first.

 

I used evaporust in my shovelhead tanks because it's safe on paint. It only "eats" rust. It's great on tools too.

 

I have found that it can lift paint if left too long. Probably a case or poor paint adhesion in the first place.

 

Drive shaft
I got a 4" plastic drain pipe at lowes and 2 fernco caps
put a cap on one end. put in driveshaft and fill with evaporust then put on the other cap.

only took a couple of hours be sure to have a camera ready when you pull it out to record the stripes and stencil.

ken

 

I don’t know where the information comes from that the active ingredient in EvapoRust is tannic acid, because they are quite tight-lipped on that, but this will suggest otherwise. Tannic acid is also naturally occurring and not synthetic.

“How does Evapo-Rust work?
Unlike other rust removers that use some type of acid to remove rust, Evapo-Rustworks without acid. It will not attack the base metal, and it is safe to use. Evapo-Rust works through selective chelation. This is a process in which a large synthetic molecule forms a bond with metals and holds them in solution. Most chelating agents bind many different metals. The active ingredient in Evapo-Rust bonds to exclusively to iron. It will remove iron from iron oxide but is too weak to remove iron from steel where the iron is held much more strongly. Once the chelating agent has removed the iron, a sulfur bearing organic molecule pulls the iron away from the chelator and forms a ferric sulfate complex which remains water soluble. This frees the chelating agent to remove more iron from rust.”

 

lizer
you must be a chemist
i dont know how it works just that it does not work below 60 degrees works best around 80 degrees

ken

 

Evapo-Rust is a chelating agent, meaning that the chemical solution attracts the ferrous oxide (rust) away from the base material to be carried away at disposal. It is different from converting agents, such as phosphoric acid, which turn ferrous oxide into ferrous phosphate, making it inert.

My rust-remover of choice, especially for large items, is electrolysis as it's the most cost effective as water and washing soda is relatively cheap.

I DO like Evapo-Rust, though, for small items, especially those which can be put in a basket and submerged and, for these projects I "rescued" our old GE slow-cooker which, when filled with Evapo-Rust and turned on "low" does a very good job. It also works well on carburetors with Pine-Sol.