Kawi2strokes.com Forum

I tried a few different ways of cleaning my fasteners, including bead-blasting and found that for me using muriatic acid this is the easiest and most effective method. I work at a concrete plant and this is the acid we use to dissolve the hardened concrete on the rear of the cement trucks. I notice one day that wherever there was a rust spot on the truck, it was gone after the acid wash, nothing but bare metal, but the spot would start rusting again within minutes because the metal was so clean. I have used it to take the rust off of gun parts before so I thought I would try it on the fasteners. I'm not sure what strength it is because I pumped it out of a big tote at the plant. When we wash the trucks we dilute it in a bucket of water and wash everything including the rubber and the paint and the glass and then rinse with water. It strips the rust and corrosion off completely and leaves pure, bare white metal. Some of the nuts and bolts I cleaned actually look kind of like stainless when they were stripped. The metal is extremely dry when it comes out of the liquid so after I rinse the remaining cleaner off I immediately spray the metal down with WD40. When I start re-zincing the parts I will rinse them in lacquer thinner to get the WD off. I thought the rust was deeper into the metal than it is but there isn't much pitting.
Here is a couple of before and after shots.







The spring arm cleaned up nice.

The speedometer drive cleaned up nice on the first pass so it should detail out very well.


The front axle cleaned up very nice. There is a mottled look where the rust was very heavy but it didn't leave pits, just discoloration in the metal, it appears smooth.


Where the rust was the heaviest there is a mottled effect on the metal but the finish is smooth, no pitting.

The rear brake pedal pivot shaft was the rustiest of all the pieces but it cleaned up well with slight pitting on one end but that part will be concealed. It should re-zinc fine.


The engine is about ready to put back together. The head bolts were rusty too but they cleaned up good.





This is the original piece.

Here is all the bodywork and my NOS parts pile. A couple of the pieces in the parts pile are for other projects.



When the chrome comes back it will be ready to complete. I even found a new set of 3.00x16 wide whitewalls for it(for a measly $800 with tubes ).

I don't know why those pics are at the bottom again.















The bottom shaft was the rustiest of them all, but it cleaned up very nice for re-zincing.

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1969 H1, 1971 G3SSA, 1974 G5, 1973 H2A, 1975 S3A, 1975 H1F, 1973 Z1, 1988 HD FLTC, Captain America chopper, 2000 Excelsior Henderson, 1965 Bridgestone BS90

Looks great and great progress! I will have to try that tip on my fasteners as well. I believe I have some of that concrete cleaner in a jug that I got from Home Depot awhile ago. Thanks!

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"Only cheat the cheaters, boy - you can't cheat an honest man!" Mordecai Jones - The Flim Flam Man.

Use great caution with that stuff, Darrin, including goggles, gloves, old clothes, and good ventilation.

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If it surges, that's normal, upshift.

Most of the Muriatic for sale near me is 5% but there is 1 hardware store that keeps that 30% stuff behind the counter.
It does a great job cleaning white grout but you've got to work quickly and wash it down as I think it will eat normal ceramic tile grouting.
+1 on being careful

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There are only two types of motor sport racing:
Nitro and everything else
(Sometimes referred to as fast and slow)

Available at your local Home Depot. 20 dollahs
http://www.homedepot.com/p/BEHR-PREMIUM ... /202263939

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Bad decisions make the best stories.

(In a Cheech voice)

Hey man; how pure is that sh!t?

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There are only two types of motor sport racing:
Nitro and everything else
(Sometimes referred to as fast and slow)

So how are you going to zinc plate ?
Show us your set up......or are you farming that out ?

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Busy doing more riding than wrenching.......

A B8 resto? Way to honor our ancestors!

I'm getting one of the home zinc kits to see how good it works.

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1969 H1, 1971 G3SSA, 1974 G5, 1973 H2A, 1975 S3A, 1975 H1F, 1973 Z1, 1988 HD FLTC, Captain America chopper, 2000 Excelsior Henderson, 1965 Bridgestone BS90

I put the wiring harness in and am doing some test fitting.

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1969 H1, 1971 G3SSA, 1974 G5, 1973 H2A, 1975 S3A, 1975 H1F, 1973 Z1, 1988 HD FLTC, Captain America chopper, 2000 Excelsior Henderson, 1965 Bridgestone BS90