Roland suggests a couple of alternatives for stripping paint and rust from
parts before painting:
> The first method is to soak the parts in warm TSP (trisodium phosphate)
> solution.
I've also used this method, and it works well even for cutting through
industrial strength road goo on suspension bits and such.
> Unfortunately TSP isn't available in some states ...
By the way, "Spic-n-Span" is just expensive TSP with some green color and
fragarance added... Works just as well as straight TSP in a pinch.
> Just as an experiment I tried out something else I had read in CLASSIC
> AUTO RESTORER magazine a year or so ago. Muriatic (hydrochloric) acid.
> Muriatic acid is used in swimming pools and it's also available at many
> hardware stores. I found it works very fast on rust but I did feel
> uneasy using the stuff.
I wouldn't worry too much about muratic acid. I've had a lot of experience
with the stuff from a previous life maintaining a pool. The only dangerous
thing about muratic acid is its pH - not to make light of the severity of
acid burns, but realize that dilute hydrocholric acid is what is manufactured
in your stomach to digest food. And as anyone who has ever experienced a
"Technicolor Yawn" can attest, hydrochloric acid isn't pleasant, but it's by
no means deadly.
("Technicolor Yawn" Now there's a British saying that hasn't come up yet -
or is it Australian?? It was a Brit who I first heard it from anyway.)
Pat Vilbrandt John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc. Everett, Washington USA
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