Topic

I'm sure that it will buff out.

There is a place in Telford that can test the spheres for me I think.

I got lucky today 😌

The subframe is out and I only snapped 1 bolt.

I think that someone has been here before me!

Why would I have green subframe mounts? Even the rubber has green paint it.

Aquatic camouflage ?

I seem to recall some sort of colour coding of subframe mounts, green being more resilient than standard which I think were black, there are also solid mounts for those who want to negate all the advantages of hydragas. I think we should refer this to David to confirm whether this is correct or whether I'm crackers.

Evening everyone,

I have had a slight change of plan.

Originally I had intended drop both subframes at the same time but I just don't have enough space to store everything and I totally underestimated just how much work it was going to take.

To anyone considering a full front end rebuild...FInd someone who will sandblast the frame ..it will save you so much time and you will get a far better result. (I didn't) I will be sending the rear though.

So everything is now clean, de-rusted, treated and ready for paint. The hubs are having new bearings and joints. The top arm's will be getting the same treatment as will the wishbones and calipers.

Everything that's going back on is going to be new or refurbished. (Lots and lots of new bolts 🔩)

I'm hoping to get the spheres tested later this week so fingers crossed 🤞

It sounds like you’re doing well, are you keeping a diary?

One other thing when you refer to lots of new bolts, do make sure you replace like with like, ie the correct tensile strength. It doesn’t matter if you’re screwing a wing on but it could if you’re rebuilding the suspension.

I have been looking for a way to clean up some of the rusty stuff and I read somewhere that citric acid was good.
I was a bit sceptical but it's cheap so I gave it a go.

I'm very pleased with the results so far 😀

The Mrs won't let me put the subframe in the bath tho.

I use phosphoric acid, it’s teeth are a little more savage & I found they take more of a bite. Your wife still won’t allow you to use the bath unless you take it outside & that’ll create another set of problems.
I also found it makes a really nice job of stainless nuts & bolts etc. whether it take the first few ferric atoms off the surface, leaving more of the chrome behind I don’t know, especially when you consider stainless vessels are used to hold really strong acids so a little bit of phosphoric shouldn’t have any impact.
M

I have used both Citric and Phosphoric acids for rust removal, the benefit of Citric acid is that it is cheap and safe to use. It works very well if you warm up the acid (aquarium heater) and circulate it (aquarium pump), better again if you use a wire brush in a small angle grinder to remove the flaky bits before treating. The advantage of the Phosphoric acid is that it will remain rust free for longer, a small advantage if you are saving all the parts for painting later on.

When I was cleaning up the subframe rust I noticed this

I'm just curious.

A couple of useful tips there, I now have to balance the cost of fish tank hardware against the difference in price between one & the other.
Thanks.
M