Evaporust tips & tricks
 

Seeing Steve mention soaking a driveshaft in a PVC tube of Evaporust made me wonder what other tips you folks have used to derust your projects. I'm in the process of derusting my Canadian L78 Camaro and some of the larger parts are tough to accommodate without wasting gallons of the stuff. I'd love to see any inventive ways you've developed...thanks!

I'm getting ready to do my hood hinges. I would probably get a blanket storage container at Target. I purchase a 5 gallon on e-bay. Cheaper & free delivery. It stays better if you can put a lid on it. I did my driveshaft with a 4" pvc & caps on both ends. With new product it was over night & it looked like brand new tubing. It was an Arizona car so that too is different. I have small containers for small items. When the product gets old, I just change it....Joe

Whenever you are done using the product, ALWAYS strain the liquid through cheese cloth to pull all the rust particles and contaminants out of the liquid. According to the rep I talked to, he said that the product will continue to work (and wear out) if it has something to de-rust so eliminating those particles from the bottom of what ever container you are using will prolong the life of it. Same goes for using a sprayer, strain it before running it through the spray nozzle.

Get several sizes of pvc tubing for things from drive shafts to ebrake cables. Also, when using pvc for this process, stand it up in a 5-gallon bucket, just in case you didn't get a full glue seal on your cap - I learned the hard way and had to wipe up $20 worth of evaporust off my garage floor. I've also used heavy 6 mil industrial trash bags as evaporust containers. You can tie them tight to the part to reduce volume of Evaporust needed to do the job. Same as pvc/bucket trick, place it in a large plastic tub before walking away in case your part pokes a hole in the trash bag.

i use it on muncie gears that have gone dry and i love what it does to carbs..

I've been using the stuff like Frank's red hot and put everything in it.

Stainless, chrome, rotors, calipers, suspension, driveshafts, hood hinges, rubber mounts, aluminum parts, die cast, brake cables, hollow hard lines and it's flat out excellent for cleaning seats belts without ever disturbing the ink on the dated tags or printed labels. Just be sure to rinse parts with soap and water right when they come out and blow them off with an air hose or give them a good wipe down.

I've used about 20 gallons of it in the past couple years and I'm ready for a new 5 gallon pail real soon. I buy it from Fastenal and have all kinds of different containers that I use it in. Get your hands on a long shallow goat feeding trough or window planters for those long items you want to soak. As above, you can get creative with 3" or 4" tubing with end caps glued on.

Yup - PVC pipe for soaking a driveshaft ... works well ...

Thanks guys, good stuff!

Trunk floor..as long as no holes!

Oh yeah...the fresh stuff.

I did the same in my trunk, you will find any small pin holes.

So anyone figure out a way to thicken it for vertical surfaces, i.e. Navel Jelly consistency?

What size PVC for the driveshaft? Anyone able to post a picture of their system for Evaporusting a full driveshaft? I assume the entire shaft is submerged, or do you rotate it 180?

You will want it fully submerged. If not you will get a liquid parting line on the metal which is hard to make look good and/or disappear. Within the PVC tube, once the shaft is put inside it will not require a lot of Evaporust to encase it. My tube is 59" long (I disassemble u-joints before soaking) and 4" inside diameter white PVC.

^^^^ Make sure to measure your driveshaft and add about 2 inches. Glue one end cap on and make sure you can remove the other end cap. You may have sand the pipe some. Make sure you have all the grease and other contamination removed before soaking. I left my driveshaft in over night and it looked brand new the next day. TAZ

Awesome, thanks. I'll head to Home Depot this afternoon and grab a 4" PVC pipe.

The original paint marks on the driveshaft might remain unless its soaked too long. I'd check it after 10 hours or so. More than 24 hours will likely dissolve them away. Lots of variables and luck involved here.

These are one trick ponies. I'm not sure what to do with it now??


Attachment 175165

Here’s an idea

https://www.artofmanliness.com/artic...potato-cannon/

I had a little rust coming the the yellow zinc coating on my fuel pump. Soaked it in evaporust and forgot about it for a couple of days. All the yellow zinc was gone so beware of soak time on certain platings.

https://www.camaros.net/threads/time...4#post-1566535
Much of this seems so familiar when I documented this process over a decade ago in our build thread. 5’ long pc capped at one and two gallons will submerge your driveshaft. I had ours in 24 hrs checked it and soaked another 24 for a total 48 hrs and then documented the paint markings and there were many including the yokes both ends. If u look at the link posted scan down to the second driveshaft as the first one posted was not off our 68z. Also that link gives some other examples of how well evaporust works. Have fun!

I have done three driveshafts with good results.
I have also done steering gear in a wall paper hanging bucket.
I have basically done three car restorations using this stuff, and some spot work on other cars. What I have found is that if you leave zinc coated parts in ER too long it will pull the zinc off the part. It will also remove paint from parts. This is usually not as big of a problem as the zinc lifting. When you reuse it the color turns black and will leave a residue on parts but it can removed with water and light scrubbing. But when you do that make sure you dunk the part in fresh ER otherwise it will flash rust quickly. I really like to dunk the just treated part in fresh ER and let it dry to protect it further.

Agree

I’ve noted when using it in winter that the results depend a lot on temperature. I’ve heard of some folk using an aquarium heater to speed up the process, but haven’t tried it myself yet.

Agree as once it’s used a few times it looses its effectiveness and when doing larger parts new or lightly used worked best and eliminated the black coloration you mentioned. For protection I’ve had excellent results using Resto Guard Dry, a spray on and it dries leaving part natural looking, and Rust Prevention Magic, where you heat the part and brush on a wax like product that melts shiny on parts but once part cools it’s not visible.

It works better if agitated or using a small pump... even if not spraying directly on the part and allowing to run off, just agitation makes it work quicker.
Also you can buy a CHEAP aquarium heater to make it work faster in the winter.

How is everyone treating parts after removing them from Evapo Rust to keep them from flash rusting? I read that dipping it in fresh ER is good, but not sure I understand that.

T-9 Boashield is what I use

-Get a tube section wide enough to barely fit the driveshaft.

-Buy some plastic adhesive that is designed for that type of pipe and glue one end permanently so it won't leak. It is usually in the same aisle as the pipe at Home Depot.

-This Cuda driveshaft only needed one gallon to full submerge.

-Remember that most driveshafts float since they are welded tubes so you might want to throw the yoke on top like I did, to weigh it down.

-Also buy a cheap aquarium pond heater. The warmer the fluid the more effective it is. 85 degrees is a great temp. If it is cold in your garage it works real slow.

-Pull the object out each day to scrub any residue off so the fluid can attack a new layer.

-Markings such as on driveshafts may disappear if the paint is water based or latex. Or if the paint is on a rusty portion of the object. I had to dip test a GM driveshaft to make sure the fluid level in the pipe was just below the stripes, otherwise they would have been destroyed. They used a really crappy paint to make those ID stripes.

BEWARE USING IT ON POTMETAL ITEMS - THEY CAN DISSOLVE! I really messed up a steering column component that way.

Evaporust recently came out with a gel version for this application.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Evapo-Ru...E&gclsrc=aw.ds

That looks very similar to Bilt-Hamber Deox Gel, which has been around for a few years, although pricey down here. Works well if you cover it with cling wrap to slow the drying.
Hopefully the Evaporust gel will be available down here soon.

I draped a thick towel over ,my old tractor fenders which has some slight to moderate surface rust and soaked the towel with Evaporust. 2 days and it took off all the rust. The downside of doing it this way is you waste the material but it works.

Thanks Steve and others. Will have to try this out! K

If you soak a towel or fiber cloth, you can put a layer of plastic over it to stop it from drying up as fast. Helps prolong evaporation. The same thing applies to putting E-R into a trough to layout longer parts. Again, cover it with plastic.

Here's a teaser. Cleaned, degreased and evapo'd. No repainting or refinishing of any kind. I'll share products and processes once the car is finished.

I have an old Holley carburetor that's pretty carboned up, would Evaporust be acceptable to use for this purpose or no?

It only works on ferric metals. Iron, steel etc. it will remove the colored plating from a carb and might actually eat the carb metal up. I wouldn’t put a carb in evaporust.

We look forward Darrell!

That looks so good Darrell...

Can you give us more detail on the process? Did you clean them in soap and water first? I'm ready to work on the 'cuda seat belt set next...

Axle flanges
 

Axles in Evaporust tub