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Diff Case Refurbishment

Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 8:47 pm
by Rosc0PColtrane
I'm going to take the slipper off my scrapper soon. The case has some obvious surface rust. I'd like to clean it down and repaint it. Any tips on the best way to approach this?

I'm thinking wire brush, scotchbrite followed by hammerite.

Also thinking about soaking in a vat of vinegar. I'm not a big fan of manual labour, and vinegar is meant to be awesome for removing rust.

The car it's going on is a cheapie, so not looking to spend shit loads sand blasting etc etc, it's got to be DIY-tastic and council to boot!

My thinking is the diff will outlast the car, so wish to conserve it really.

Cheers peeps!

Re: Diff Case Refurbishment

Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 8:49 pm
by march109
How long can you do withought it? winkeye

Vinegar is good, tried it the other day, BUT you need alot of it and time!

Coke is next up, wire brush it first to take the worst of it off and let the vinegar do the hard work.

Re: Diff Case Refurbishment

Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 8:51 pm
by Rosc0PColtrane
TBH mate, no real rush, slippers are just better than open wrongness!!

Re: Diff Case Refurbishment

Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 8:52 pm
by maxfield
^^^ Beat me to it.

Seen it before and does come up well.

Re: Diff Case Refurbishment

Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 8:53 pm
by march109
Rosc0PColtrane wrote:TBH mate, no real rush, slippers are just better than open wrongness!!
You could give it to mne to sort then? I can shot blast it if you want if I can get the compressor plugged in and running.

Re: Diff Case Refurbishment

Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 9:01 pm
by Rosc0PColtrane
You're more than welcome to explore your rust fetishes with it, should you so fancy. Though I have no shekels to rewards your efforts with, our household income has halved with Laura being on maternity and Maisie joining us. To put it into perspective, it's a £400 car! TBH I'm not overly comfortable with extorting your time for no real ends mate, it sounds like a lot of effort for which you'd surely deserve some recompense?

Re: Diff Case Refurbishment

Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 9:18 pm
by E30BeemerLad
if it looks like it has come from the bottom of the ocean and has thick flakes/layers then bash it with a hammer. Then a wire brush on an angle grinder.

or for the armchair method

http://www.bilthamber.com/deoxgel.html

Re: Diff Case Refurbishment

Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 9:33 pm
by march109
Mate I don't care about the money, I want rusty parts to play with. I won't be doing it for free forever though winkeye. I have many many rust killers to test.

Re: Diff Case Refurbishment

Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 9:43 pm
by Rosc0PColtrane
Cheers dude, we'll cross paths at the SW meet, or en route?

Re: Diff Case Refurbishment

Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 9:45 pm
by march109
Both unless one of us gets lost!

Re: Diff Case Refurbishment

Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 9:49 pm
by e30325itourer
march109 wrote:
Rosc0PColtrane wrote:TBH mate, no real rush, slippers are just better than open wrongness!!
You could give it to mne to sort then? I can shot blast it if you want if I can get the compressor plugged in and running.
What do you use to shot blast with?just im looking into this at the minute i have the compressor just need the gun.

Just done my diff with a wire brush on a angle grinder.

Re: Diff Case Refurbishment

Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 9:50 pm
by oze30
The coke trick works better if you can get it concentrated. Freeze a bottle of coke. the water in it will freeze first leavng you with concentrated syrup. Then use this to clean stuff.

job done

Re: Diff Case Refurbishment

Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 9:54 pm
by E30BeemerLad
red hammerite FTW

Image

Re: Diff Case Refurbishment

Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 9:58 pm
by oze30
E30BeemerLad wrote:red hammerite FTW

Image
make sure you chase out those bolt holes!

Interesting.. not sure I'd have done it in red, but each to their own

Re: Diff Case Refurbishment

Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 10:04 pm
by E30BeemerLad
think i must have been smoking solids at the time colin :)

May opt for a conservative black after all, was gonna do the beam and trailing arms red too :o

Re: Diff Case Refurbishment

Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 10:06 pm
by Rosc0PColtrane
march109 wrote:Both unless one of us gets lost!
Get to Yeovil, I'll look after us from there mate.

Re: Diff Case Refurbishment

Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 10:07 pm
by Rosc0PColtrane
oze30 wrote:
E30BeemerLad wrote:red hammerite FTW

Image
make sure you chase out those bolt holes!

Interesting.. not sure I'd have done it in red, but each to their own
I was thinking bright green.

I want something council!

Re: Diff Case Refurbishment

Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 10:09 pm
by E30BeemerLad
green has been a recent thought as it'll match my council dynamics ARB's :)

Re: Diff Case Refurbishment

Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 10:14 pm
by Rosc0PColtrane
E30BeemerLad wrote:green has been a recent thought as it'll match my council dynamics ARB's :)
My only concern is it will bring it to the attention of other magpie-esque council types, who'll think it's a magical green diff.....