• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

TR2/3/3A Old school penetrating oil?

Share this page

K

karls59tr

Obi Wan
Country flag
Online
I found a rusty carb link rod in my parts bin that I think is salvageable. I want to soak it for a few days to free everything up. Seems to me I saw a post here once about an old school concoction that may be just the thing for the job. I believe it was a mixture of acetone and ATF? Does anyone know if that sounds right?:unsure:
 
Karl - the original article said 50/50 acetone and power steering fluid.

There are a couple posts here on BCF with details and comparisons.

Machinists Workshop.pdf

drive.google.com drive.google.com
 
Testing has proved that acetone and ATF are top of the mark. You can spend bucks on sprays , but for a good soak
use the mix. If that doesnt fix it, to the scrap heap it goes. This is GREAT for stuck pistons also...
Mad dog
 
A local restorer showed me his old method as he put it, I will put it to the lemons. He had a 44-gallon drum 3/4 full of water and about a bucket full of lemons into which he placed anything rusted and it would eventually come out like new just like cleaning the lime deposited out of an electric kettle cut up two lemons and put them in the kettle with water and turn it on. An hour or so later it looks like new. Instead of lemons, you could just use citric acid, same thing

Graham
 
mctriumph said:
Testing has proved that acetone and ATF are top of the mark. You can spend bucks on sprays , but for a good soak
use the mix. If that doesnt fix it, to the scrap heap it goes. This is GREAT for stuck pistons also...
Mad dog
Click to expand...
There are still those who will ignore test results and spend their money on the various heavily advertised "wunder-stuff".

Let 'em.
 
+1 for 50/50 acetone/ATF. Done me wonders. Keep a jar of it on the shelf in the garage.
Bob
 
50/50 acetone/ATF does wonders for old rusty parts and I've used it a lot, but I keep a bottle of Mouse Milk on the shelf as it works also if you don't have a mixture of 50/50 made up. It's just a little more expensive, but handy. Aircraft Spruce sells it. PJ

Mouse Milk.jpg
 
For small rusty parts, nothing beats a bead blaster. For larger parts, the sand blaster. I hate using both, but nothing gives you a better surface to paint or re-plate.
 
Karl in my experience most cases the oil never really penetrates much. I have found heating the parts works best. What I do is get a 6 point wrench or what fits best and covers the most area of the frozen part. If the nut/bolt cracks open just a fraction STOP then apply the oil and let sit for at least a day and then work the bolt off slowly back and forth while soaking in your favorite stuff. Sometimes it takes days to get stuff apart, go slow.

I have soaked stuff for days and weeks and then when it finally snapped lose the threads were dry, so I do not think anything gets inside, but again my experience.

Steve
 
I understand the attraction of and have used penetrating fluids no telling how many times over the years. However, if the parts can take heat without damage, a little bit of "low cycle fatigue" by taking advantage of the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) differential between the base metal and the corrosion product works well and in relatively short order compared to the soak only in penetrating fluid approach.

Heat up to something in the 200° to 250° F (you can go higher with most steels) range and let cool, repeat a few to several times and the bond between the base metal and corrosion products will be broken plus it has the advantage of making easier for the penetrating fluid to get in there as well if you want to take a hybrid approach.
 
NutmegCT said:
Note that the pdf of the original comparison article refers to 50/50 acetone and power steering fluid, not ATF.

Just sayin' ...
Click to expand...
Moot point. They're basically the same.
 
Well, here goes folks. Just bought equal amounts of ATF and acetone. I'll be soaking a Sprite differential and some small parts. I'll post photos of the results.
 
See post #18 here:

Please confirm MW article on Penetrating Oil - Page 2

The material below has been making the rounds of the internet for months. Could someone look up the Machinist Workshop issue and confirm/debunk as appropriate. Also, could someone fill in the gaps on what the test was attempting to demonstrate? Does it apply to seized engine bolts and rusted...
web.archive.org

Lloyd Bender explains the error in the original article.
 
i use a batery charger and a bucket of arm and hammer washing soda,
put sacrificial rebar in the corners of the tub connect them together put positive connector on the rebar
and negative on the part you want to derust. switch on the charger, and watch it sizzle for a couple of hours,
all the rust will transfer to the rebar, will not effect any good metal in any way.
then a quick wire brush and rinse off.
 
CARSINC said:
Well, here goes folks. Just bought equal amounts of ATF and acetone. I'll be soaking a Sprite differential and some small parts. I'll post photos of the results.
Click to expand...
It will need to be agitated to emulsify the solution, the two separate if left to sit for short periods. Soaking large parts in a container will not work.
 
Back
Top