How could I fiddle with old, rusty Z's for 15 years and not know about Electrolytic Rust Removal? Someone else mentioned it here, I Googled it and studied these articles:

Electrolytic Rust Removal

http://www3.telus.net/public/aschoepp/electrolyticrust.html

http://www.buchanan1.net/rust.shtml

Electrolysis Rust Removal

http://www.htpaa.org.au/article-electro.php

The process was cheap, didn't require any nasty chemicals, didn't produce any nasty chemicals, and seemed to produce good results, and since I have no shortage of old rusty Z parts lying around, I decided to give it a try.

I went to the grocery store and bought a box of washing powder, which is simply sodium carbonate. Some of the sites say you can use baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) but I didn't find any articles where anyone had tried it. Basically, all the sodium carbonate does is make the water conduct electricity better. Then I bought a sheet of 22 gauge steel from the hardware store (it must NOT be galvanized/zinc coated). Some people use rebar. Don't spend a lot of money on your electrode--it will eventually get eaten away in this process. Also you don't want to use stainless steel because it can create hazardous insoluble hydroxides or oxides. I filled a 5-gallon bucket with water and pulled out the battery charger. Then I selected a nicely rusted brake rotor.

I put roughtly 5 tablespoons of washing powder in the bucket and stirred it up. I bent the steel sheet to fit the curve of the bucket and inserted it so that a few inches stuck out above the water. I put the rotor in the bucket so that it was a couple of inches away from the steel sheet. The rotor just barely fit in the bucket, so I was sure it wasn't going to move. Later I clamped the steel sheet to the side of the bucket.

I moved all of this outside to the garage stoop. You want to do this in a well ventilated area because this process is going to release pure oxygen and hydrogen. Don't smoke around this! I left the battery charger just inside the garage door and stretched the leads outside so I could hook the battery clamps up to the rotor and the steel sheet.

I checked the article once more before I switched on the charger...GOOD THING! Did you catch what is wrong in the picture above? I reversed the wires! You want to put the NEGATIVE terminal on the rusty piece and the POSITIVE terminal on the steel sheet or electrode. If I had left it this way for very long, my positive battery charger clamp would have gotten eaten away. You want your rusty piece to be submerged in the water and it's ok if your (negative) charger clamp is partially submerged. You don't want your positive charger clamp on your electrode (steel sheet) to be under the water.

I put the charger on 6V and plugged her in. Immediately it showed a 2 amp draw. In just a minute bubbles started rising off of the rotor and the steel sheet. The bubbles coming off the rotor are hydrogen and the bubbles coming off the electrode are oxygen.

I left it outside overnight. When I checked it in the morning the water had turned rust-colored and had rust-colored foam on top. I unplugged the charger and unclamped the leads.

I looked at the steel sheet. It was covered with thick black stuff--oxide. I pulled out the brake drum, hosed it off and scrubbed it with a plastic brush. Then I dried it off with a paint dryer. Sure enough, the rust was almost completely gone! Almost, but not completely. So I pulled out my drill/wire disc and worked on it. It didn't take much effort at all to make it shine. Now, it looked a lot better!

It still looks a little darker than you'd expect brand new steel to look. I think part of that is from oxidation in the process. The amazing thing is that it seems like every flaw in the rotor now stands out like a sore thumb.

My now-rust-free rotor is now extremely rust-prone so I applied some Sherwin Williams Ultra Clean and later I might shoot some WD40 on it.

My rotor is rust-free on only one side. This process only removes rust for the parts of the rotor that could "see" the steel sheet. This is because the electrons take a direct path from the electrode to surface of the rusty piece. I'll have to turn the rotor over and treat the other side.

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with this process and I'll use it on as many parts as I can. I want to do some more research before applying this to stressed parts like suspension pieces. I've read that this process can cause hydrogen embrittlement--some of the hydrogen goes into the metal. It's possible that the hydrogen can be released by baking the piece afterwards for a few hours in a 200-degree oven, but don't take my word for that. And I'm assuming you don't want to even think about doing this for internal engine parts.

Next, I have an incredibly rusty oil pan I'm going to treat. Also, I'm going to figure out how to set up the old plastic kiddie pool to de-rust larger parts.

And if I can just figure out who will let me drive my stripped chassis into their swimming pool and how much washing soda it would take to treat my entire car...

Chris, that is so cool!! So now it begins

How do you intend to hold off surface rust from the time the body comes out of dip to the time you prime it? My biggest worry with a full strip is that invisible surface rust will develop before I can get the car home and get a coat of paint on it.

Chris,

Looks like you had her chrome plated-not cleaned!

What a clean canvas!

TomoHawk, in my young and Gene pool challenging days, I pretty much did that with an electric shaver and a sink full of water(fortunately-the sink was fully glazed. Still woke me up and made me fly right!

I don't think I let it sit long enough to clean anything though!

Will

Chris,

This looks superb. That’s what I call a fresh start!! Perhaps I over read it in the story but how do you tackle the hollow spaces of the chassis and the double layers which are welded. Is this bare metal as well?

I put my chassis in an (hot air) oven and it burnt everything off it. I think both ways are good but at the end you have to take another bath or something like that to protection the chassis again. Therefore I like to know what you are going to do about it?

oven

Chris,

This looks superb. That’s what I call a fresh start!! Perhaps I over read it in the story but how do you tackle the hollow spaces of the chassis and the double layers which are welded. Is this bare metal as well?

I put my chassis in an (hot air) oven and it burnt everything off it. I think both ways are good but at the end you have to take another bath or something like that to protection the chassis again. Therefore I like to know what you are going to do about it?

oven

Hi guys!

I didn't want to seem like I was hijacking this thread. The electrolysis rust removal process SuperDave is talking about is exactly what I am doing to 26th and what 27th faces. Those shots were "just out of the tank" and the babe was still wet and full of bits of crap. Her Majesty sat in the tank for about three days however they pulled the car out and rotated it every day. Yes, all the rust in the hollow spaces and layers of metal is gone. These pictures just don't do this process justice. Its just amazing. Rusty areas are eroded like an achne on the metal. Holes are jagged with thin edges. Seams that had rust inside look like an explosion went off and even some holes look exploded like a bullet hole. Then, there are some really interesting things to see in the factory metal.

What I have decided to do is leave the car with welder Dale in Wauchula. He gave me a very optimistic estimate for the metal work and I think this is going to save me a bunch of time and effort as well as provide better results. Actually, I was shocked when he told me he didn't think it was going to take him more than a week. The car will be dipped again after the welding to get rid of the surface rust that is going to happen between now and the end of July.

Then with a clean shell again, there is about ten days time before surface rust. The car gets hauled back to Sarasota, two hours away, and we set the car up on stands to prime it right away. I have these long plastic wands to spray primer up inside the metal sections so that the end result is coverage better than what the factory did 36 years ago. Then, all the seams get sealed again with new sealer. Then the floor tar insulation goes down (I bought factory tar material from Chloe years ago). Then the car gets painted. Sounds like a lot of work by August, doesn't it? Well...I can dream.

Here are a couple of shots I have been sharing around. Factory stitch welding over the front and rear of the tunnel. This demonstrates the hand fabrication techniques of the time and shows how sub-assemblies were connected. The last shot of the front radiator gusset plate shows a welding rivet peculiar to the early body shells. Later shells have nice spot welds.

Thanks for sharing your dip results. It is simply astounding! I am insanely jealous.

So you will prime first, and then apply new seam sealer, correct? What will you be using for the seam sealer?

Thanks--this is all good information and the car looks great.

You are very welcome, SuperDave. You inspired me to get a plastic 50gal. drum and start doing this myself with my rusty parts.

So, another fellow Zfreak was asking me about paint, primer, and sealer products. I really haven't made any selections yet. I'm leaning towards PPG DELTRON paint but I am listening to my painter guru "beautiful body Rick". I was surprised with how good he thought my plastic wand spray idea was. It turns out that a truck restoration place up in Bradenton (Mother Truckers) is doing the same thing. I met those guys in Wauchula at the dippers. They have the same issues with truck bodies. I will use the best seam sealer I can find. And I'll post more as I go along.

...You inspired me to get a plastic 50gal. drum and start doing this myself with my rusty parts.

I can't believe I didn't think of using a drum! That should de-rust your part on all sides at once! Have you eaten through a drum yet? You should eventually. Can you post some pictures?

You're thinking of a metal bin, not plastic.

A metal rubbish can would work, I use a stainless metal bowl for electrolytic greese removal prior to plating and it's ok.

I can't believe I didn't think of using a drum! That should de-rust your part on all sides at once! Have you eaten through a drum yet?

Do you think? I've been doing the ERR on suspension bits (heavy rust coating) with some good success (see gallery).

I did try wrapping my metal anode around some larger pieces (not touching) and but the rust still didn't break down on all sides. My best guess was the path of least resistance (elecrically) between the anode and the part still ran most current in only one direction... am i missing something?

I'd love to suspend the larger pieces into a metal bucket within a plastic drum and get busy...