TAC Tech > Tips & Tricks

Cleaning Hardware and Stuff..

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737driver:
I wanted to share a tip and trick for restoring hardware back to like new condition. I recently removed the bumper frames off my 77 TransAm. The car had been sitting for quite some time and very dirty. When I removed the bumpers (front and back) I wanted to disassemble them and prep them to be powder coated. I removed all the hardware ( nuts, bolts, washers and clips). Normally I would just replace the hardware with new, but this time I wanted to try something different.
The hardware was pretty dirty and seemed to be fairly rusty. I wanted to take the hardware and see if I could clean it up. So I soaked them in Evaporust. Evaporust is a great product for removing rust and corrosion. I’ve used it a lot on many parts and it works FANTASTIC! 
I took the hardware and soaked it for a day or two. No prep work just removed the hardware, put in a plastic container.
When I took them out of soaking them really looked good, almost as new. I rinsed the hardware with water and dried it accordingly. I then wiped all the hardware with Calyx. Calyx is actually a paste type dressing used on exhaust manifolds ( and other cast iron parts)  to prevent rust. The Calyx paste restores a natural finish color  and also protects the metal from rusting as well.  There are other ways to prevent metal and hardware from corrosion but Calyx works pretty good. Whichever prevention method is used , it’s a good idea to apply something to prevent future rust.

On a similar subject I cleaned a set of exhaust manifolds using Evaporust as well. It did a good job, but the rust on manifolds is tough to remove. The Evaporust did remove a good bit of it however I did have to use glass bead blaster to finish them. The Evaporust soak did make the bead blasting much easier and quicker.

Once the manifolds were clean from rust, I used the Calyx dressing on them. The manifolds looked new from the factory!  I was really impressed with Calyx, it’s a product that really works.

Although you can’t always save every piece of hardware and some parts , sometimes it is worthwhile to restore the original hardware. Lately, it seems the prices are going up on everything, especially car parts and stuff. So saving and reusing parts that would be normally discarded can make a difference in project costs.
Additionally, some of the reproduced hardware and parts do not have the quality or fitment of the original stuff.
Hope this helps!
Jim

Savage Larry:
Evaporust is awesome stuff. I wish I would have found it years ago!

roadking77:
Looks good, I too can swear by evaporust. I have not tried the Calyx, will have to look into that. I have started to use shark hide which is a clear spray material that is supposed to do the same I suppose.

I agree with reusing what fasteners you can, even the repro stuff doesnt match exactly.

ryeguy2006a:
Wow, thanks for the tip! I have several buckets of bolts that look exactly like that. I'm definitely going to try that. Wonder if that Calyx comes in a spray?

jugalo:
Ordering the Calyx now!

Thanks

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