Folks Of Interest Do 100% of hambers clean crusty parts?

My next project,the engine and half a frame..
The axles are as dirty as the frame.

 

I asked a how much for 4 steel 15' wheels..$140.00..I don't know if thats fair or not..

 

more and more as time goes on, i get cleaner and cleaner. to me, cleaning parts that get older and weirder every year is part of the technical process -- inspection for wear, cracks, mods, features and problems and all. it takes a lot of time, but i'm finding that in the long arc of a project car, it's actually "faster" to do it right, once.

i don't have media blast here. i have a 2400 psi power washer, a tub, 5 gal of purple degreaser, gloves, wire brushes, sandpaper. some low VOC solvents. then everything gets painted in Eastwood Chassis Black Satin. it's $15/can, but if you get things clean, it sticks like crazy and lasts for ever.

an hour or three getting intimate with 60 year old suspension parts is time well spent. it's also a lot cheaper.

this is for chassis and general stuff. engine internals etc are a special case.

 

I spend a lot of time cleaning and painting, maybe too much but it's for me. It really does depend on what I'm working on though. The car in my avatar has had the undercarriage cleaned and painted at least twice, parts of it more often. The car I'm working on right now, not so much, but it's a work in progress that has taken a change in direction.

 

That stuff is pretty clean as is, I would scuff it to knock off the loose stuff and paint it with semi black rust paint. Then down the road you can touch it up. I get anal with body parts or at least in the crevasses where they rust, if I can slow the rust down I'm happy. I drive my cars in rain, gravel and on the debris ridden freeways here, so high gloss frames don't work well (I touch up with spray can when needed). Besides it's not lazy when you have a fleet to build or service.

 

Depends on how deep you want to get .

I clean and zap everything with some rattle can black at the very least.
Most stuff will only ever be seen by me, so it’s not for show
More just so I can see exactly what I’m working on and what condition it’s in.
And if I ever have to take it back apart it “ should” be easier.

My Lincoln everything got blasted or cleaned new everything and painted with single stage. Probably my one of the reasons I started disliking that car, everything was expensive and took too long !! LOL

 

I like things clean and painted, makes the assembly process cleaner and I get satisfaction out of it. I tend to use new hardware whenever possible.

 

Hate doing it but wouldn’t be satisfied without it being cleaned and painted.

 

I did my chassis and drive train, but I’m afraid to say body will stay as is for quite a while. Too many $ to finish. And too much fun as is to tie it up for more years. Maybe one day.

 

I do. I hate working with nasty parts. I wash my hands before I eat and I clean my parts before I use them.

 

Citric acid and a wire wheel have been my go to lately

 

A big reason I clean parts is because all that crud build up can hide things

I have had a couple model A frames that looked perfect, however as I cleaned them I found cracks and pitting. All fixable but if I or someone else started to build without cleaning the frame first there would have been a much bigger headache latter.

 

Citric acid is great stuff... I have tubs big enough to soak almost anything. I wire wheeled the front of my chassis down to clean steel, wiped it down with lacquer thinner and shot some VHT paint on it. Every front end part was acid dipped and looked new when they went on the car. The back side of the bumper was very rusty, wire wheeled that and shot some leftover argent sliver on it.

 

True, but Dad had a bad habit of sandblasting in the middle of the summer in the heat of the day with a full hood on. Too hardheaded to stop and Mom was worried about his health. She put her foot down, so this is what we had to do.


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When I was at the Dept. I had a vat to soak parts in, I used Dymamic100, a local product. After a day in the vat, the most greasy of parts were ready to paint after being rinsed off.
Every part got cleaned and painted.
Now retired, no vat, not so much. Like said, depends on job, time, and here inOklahoma temperature.
But in the end, flattie,.. do what your comfortable with, it’s your project.

Bones

 

I clean and paint parts but not 100% of the time.

It depends on the part in question, and if it already a functioning part or a part that everyone sees. For example, I will probably take a cup brush o the floorboards in my Crosley and paint them, but I doubt that I will put it up on a rack and wire brush the underneath of it. If the body was coming off anyway that would be a different story, but I am not one to disassemble a car in order to paint or chrome every last little bit of it.

Nowhere is on that will make you crazy. I polished the inside of an engine everything I could reach, so we are talking the throws on the crank, the rods the inside of the block which got painted with armature paint, *the whole 27 feet. But when I assembled the engine I never bothered to paint the outside. It ran just the way it came from the hot tank so it had some residual paint (in several colors) on it. Why you may ask? Well I am a mechanic.


*the whole 9 yards for those of you who are a little slow on the draw.

 

I don't want to get greasy or filthy while working on a car, but I'm over the hyper-detailed perfect chassis build thing. I want to be able to drive it without worrying about what may damage it. With that said, yes I clean my parts as I am working through a car, and I get them protected with paint or a coating of some sort.

It does matter what the build is about. The last car I built for a friend had a certain style that required us to not over clean things or polish things, but I was not putting up with leaky or oil covered stuff. We did not clean or coat what we did not touch, so it's a mix/match of clean and less clean underneath. That is what he wanted and it fit the build. I just had to adapt a bit with my finish habits.

 

Elbow grease is free and just a little effort makes thing go together and come apart much better. With a little more work it can make a nice car into a great car!

 

Ive been guilty of just cleaning the gasket surfaces and putting stuff back together. When we did in frame ring and bearing jobs the crud on the sides of the block remained there. If my pressure washer don't knock it off I can live with it. Now the insides of an engine or transmission need to be clean enough to eat from. Ive seen folks take a used engine and clean and degrease the outside and paint it. and never pull the oil pan.

 

No it aint. The most valuable thing anyone has is their time. Many of us by necessity sold our most productive years to someone else in order to make a living. And are now in the winter time of our lives. Me im not gonna spend time on a manicured lawn or keeping the place spotless. not interested in car shows or impressing anyone. I will clean and paint when it makes me money or makes something easier to sell. My 55 wagon I threw it together in a few days. Pulled a good running 283 from a 65. and the flywheel clutch starter from a 66 chevy truck. 56 bellhousing and that trucks 318 Muncie. Didn't clean nuthin just bolted it together. then ran a wire brush on a drill over the body and flat black primer. installed tracton bars and fixed brakes. 3 days and done went to George rays and had the most fun. Everyone liked the beater and lots of people asked if it was for sale. Ive yet to have a $1000 in my ole wagon.

 

That is a good point. As a home builder working out of my garage I have more time than money. I think it all comes down to how fussy a person is. Some want everything spotless and accept nothing less. others don't mind if it is a dirty and greasy. I am in the middle of that range. some things matter and others not so much. No doubt its nice to have a beater that it doesn't matter if you get caught in the rain or get mud on it.

 

Re: the thread title,
100% ?
I'd say.... No.

 

When i stared this thread,i was expecting pictures of rods with a bit of crust but i guess we're overrun by goldchainers haha jk.
I wanted guys like this to show up

 

I have a crusty ole Dodge six in my latest project, Its getting a wire brush job and some Bill Hirsh engine paint brushed on and a few new gaskets.

 

There's a tire store chain in the Northwest that sand blasts wheels and powder coats them for $22 each. "Les Schwab Tires"

 

Thats more like it¡¡¡¡¡¡¡

 

Seriously?? This is what the HAMB has turned into? A f'n guy can't even decide if he wants to clean parts without advice?

 

I dont remember asking for advise..maybe ideas..
Getting laid is free,u know?
Is good for u..

I spent my stipper fund money on sanblasing cabinet and this

 

Ok its back in the late 60,s or early 70,s. And Im working by the job. and todays job is the rear main seal replacement on a Y block ford. Im laying on my back loosen the engine mounts. jack up the engine and pull the oil pan. this thing is oily underneath. the oil pan when I get It off is full of sludge. I get paid $20 if I clean everything and take ten hours to do the job. Or if I just clean the gasket surfaces and remove the crud from the oil pan and screen. I always did the latter.

 

I'll echo the citric acid idea. Works great. Non-toxic. Rinse with water and baking soda to neutralize the acid and wire wheel to easily get the blackish residue off.
For grease and crud, the best tool I ever used was a big BAD-ASS steam cleaner that a friend let me use. Used it to clean a nasty gooey engine compartment. Man...took everything off...even some paint.
I kinda like cleaning and de-rusting and refinishing parts. Taking crappy stuff and making it look good again.