Leanred something about "Metal Etch" this week.


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Posted by chriscase on Monday, July 30, 2007 at 22:43:58 :

I had some medium sized parts sand blasted last week. Fenders, a dissasembled hood brackets, etc. I had them left bare, not primed, because the parts need lots of welding. So I filled my garden sprayer with "metal etch"- ya know, that green liquid that darkens the steel, but leaves a white residue? The bottle says to wash it off after 20 minutes. But I'm not in any hurry, so I leave it on. For days, out in the sun and dew. After a few hours, it was kind of soapy feeling- sticky and slimey. After a coat of dew overnight, and more drying, it got a darker, kind of galvanized look- more than usually happens in the 20 minutes. I figured that's the ticket! But there is also a peeling, black coating, looks like a thin layer of paint. Plus the usual white, chalky residue. So, I figure I'll try soaking the parts to soften the white and black both. Fill up a trash can, and put the fender brackets and liners in to soak overnight. The water got milky looking, I guess phosphate. Not much improvement in the parts overnight though, but no rust, so I let them soak some more. No more improvemnt, I gave up... Until they dried. Now they are a greenish, phosphated color. Reminiscent of WWII era guns- room temp Parkerized! I guess I'll go soak some more hood parts, or whatever else fits in the trash can.

No rust anywhere, after a couple more days in the weather/dew/ Southern California climate.
Plus, I poured five gallons of the milky phosphate water into my washing machine with a load of work clothes. Disappeared a lot of those old stains. Hey, I'll have to dump it somewhere...

I also impressed my self with the repairs to the front fenders. I made a 6" piece for one side, complete from rolled edge to flange. Came out so good I'm bragging. The old repairs were the worst I've seen- everything cut with a torch, even the 28 gauge patch. Rivets all burned off too. But the upper row of holes were good, under the patch, which was just lapped over the hole. And tack welded, very poorly. Then everything covered with bondo. And the brackets tacked to the inside. One good bump and the fenders would have fallen off! So now I also know that the upper row of rivet holes are 4 1/2" up from the bottom edge of the fenders, I saved the tail end that I cut off.




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