Richie's Mk1 Restoration

[RichardT10829]

Thanks Colin, i am getting there slowly. i have all my wheels re bearing''''d and are ready to go back on....suspension is ok... need to drop my cam plate out and rebuild it and do the linkages... of which i need the cam linkages,footbrake linkages, and park brake bracket.... i have the lever from George.

[Aidan]

How much you want to bet they used that hole(that Broke) to hook up to move that piece around. Aidan

[RichardT10829]

Aidan it is not that heavy matey i can lift it around and i am a weed weighing in at 11.5 stone...... even the main block was not that heavy Martyn and I lifted mine into the trailer which i was shocked at.... the only other thing which i want to do for the box is to put a large magnet onto the sump plug....straight cut gears tend to leave a healthy amount of swarf in the oil.......well that has been my findings on race box's anyhoo.

once i have got the block linebored and the crank done it will be built up again. My holley carb is totally screwed so another will have to be sought out.......unless i go downdraft 45 DCOE with a blower......hmmmm tee hee.

[Aidan]

Richard why not use a Stromberg 97 carb, What is wrong with the Holly ? is it warped. Aidan

By the way you have done a great job with your crash case mate!

[RichardT10829]

Cheers Aidan the carb is one solid peice of rust the casting is chipped around the intake lip.. to be fair it is strippable..... just me being a tart again, i may well rebuild it.

[RichardT10829]

right I have been thinking for a while regarding seized track and I don't like manual labour..ie hard work ! I did some research regarding acid dipping at galvanising plants but the costs were astronomical, i dont think grit blasting was a good idea, and another issue with acid use is through my research unless you are really clued up and know what concentration to use and amount of time required at the flushing stage you could end up making your metal brittle.

so whats left...

HEAT:- no thanks

ELECTROLYSIS:- Hmmm al give it a go.

i set up a test bed last night using two rusty frozen links.

basically for those that dont know electrolysis is a process which involves passing a current through an electrolytic solution. the anode (positive terminal) is attached to some sacraficial steel and placed at one end of the tank. the cathode (negative terminal) is attached to the peice you wish to save / treat and placed at the other end.

the power source comes from a 12v DC car battery charger pushing around 3 amps. (however you can use arc welders etc if you have large bits of steel, and cooling for your electrolyte)

the electrolyte is simply tap water mixed with baking soda or washing soda (arm and hammer is good for those in the USA who can get it) the ratio is one table spoon per gallon of water.


in the simplest of terms the process works by attracting the rust particles from the negative terminal to the positive....(there is a lot more to it but give me a break ) the good thing is it does not remove any good steel, just the iron oxide (rust)

right then i setup a small tank with an old engine timing plate from a 1960's mine (of which i have stacks of) as my positive, i then placed the track section into the tank suspended in line of sight of the positive terminal (important has to be line of sight for best results)

8 hours later i returned and took the track out 30 seconds with a wire brush and dried...and the link was free'd and free of rust granted i had to give it a few light taps with a small hammer....... for best results you should leave the item in the tank for at least 24 hours pending on severity of the rust itself.

here is my results after 8 hours.



first and foremost important bits !!! eye and hand protection the solution is on whole harmless but the soda is an irritant and best be safe than sorry !!!



my first tank is a basic one with one anode however you can have multiple anodes so you can get line of sight to all bits of the track / peice. the tank needs to be non conductive so plastic / glass / wood. the anode and cathode should not get any closer than 7 inches to protect against any arc'ing or shorting out (the former if using a arc welder unit or big power supply)



results after 8 hours ! note the gaps between links you can see they are actually two parts now the after shot is after i had rinsed the black oxide from the metal.



*********NOW A WORD OF WARNING... IF ITS IN RED LET IT BE SAID !*********

SAFETY CONSIDERATIONS YOU MUST KNOW

1) the occasional Dick Head may tell you to use stainless steel as the anode...DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE use stainless or galv'd or any treated steel as your sacraficial anode as it creates toxic gas and the solution will turn into a carsonagenic death soup !

2) do not use aluminium as the anode as it will dissapear before you can sneeze

3) This process creates HYDROGEN GAS as the water breaks down into its constituent parts.... so unless you want to be in peices all over the garage or garden make sure you do this in a well ventilated area away from naked flames and ciggies !

3) only use baking soda or washing soda (the latter must be free of petro chemicals) DO NOT USE SALT !!! or you will create Chlorine gas !

4) Keep the positive and negative at least 7" apart or you risk short circuit, mixed with hydrogen gas = BOOM

5) Keep the positive dog clip from your power supply out of the solution otherwise it will get corroded.

if you follow the safety rules you will have success and wont damage the environment the solution that is left behind in my case is water, some rust, and soap suds.....

i have now setup a plastic bin vat capable of taking the sections of track suspended which i will leave on for a couple of days per set...so we shall see how they come out...my expectations are good. Oh the whole setup cost me 67p for the soda crystals... and remember mild steel for the anode !!!!!! does not have to be clean, just needs to be able to conduct and the bigger the surface area the better.....however Re bar is very popular for this process


have fun guys

[horsa]

Very nice. Its more or less the same process (different chemicals though) for etching brass plates. Was researching it earlier in the week to see if I could fabricate my own data plates for another project.

If you were to soak a much longer track section in a larger vat, would it simply take longer due to the current in a bigger volume of solution, or would you need to increase the electrical charge to maintain the load?