1984 silver series 3

[codge]

Thought you'd been quiet for half a day Ian! Great Stuff mate.

[A7RXY]

Looking good Ian ................ now I wonder how long ago that old racing bike on the wall saw the light of day .............

Dibs

[ian65]

cheers guys... it's slower than I would like due to other commitments and the weather but it's getting there. Another box of goodies from RockAuto today... it's like christmas!!



I've done about 5 miles on that bike Dibs in the last 4 years, last time about 4 months ago. I used to take my daughters out down the lane when they were little..... these days , their bikes are long gone and if the destination doesn't boast wifi and boys, they're not interested.

[RX7SA]

Hi Ian,

great work on that axle, it looks amazing, factory fresh. Can I ask, how did you acid clean it? Did you do it yourself or send it away. I would love to do this to my own axle on the SA when I strip it off the car and fit my new bushes etc.
Glad to hear that there wasn't any rot underneath the car, I unfortunately am not so lucky lol

Looking forward to the next update
Simon

[ian65]

Got the rear underbody of the car complete now to start building it back up again...







































The axle, fuel tank and fuel lines are ready to go back on so I should be able to build it back up over the next week or so.

[ian65]

Hi Ian,

great work on that axle, it looks amazing, factory fresh. Can I ask, how did you acid clean it? Did you do it yourself or send it away. I would love to do this to my own axle on the SA when I strip it off the car and fit my new bushes etc.
Glad to hear that there wasn't any rot underneath the car, I unfortunately am not so lucky lol

Looking forward to the next update
Simon

Hi Simon,

I cleaned the axle myself. I used a wire brush on a 41/2" angle grinder to get the bulk of the rust off and then gave it a good coat of a solution of brick acid ( hydrochloric acid). Finally I gave it a spray of 'metal ready' from Frost which is the recommended prep for POR15 and then washed it all down with clean water.
It then looked like this....


The axle was then dried with a heat gun ( or carefully with a blow lamp if you don't have a heat gun) to dry out any moisture and it was then immediately painted with POR15.
I used the same procedure on the suspension arms etc.

[A7RXY]

How did you spend Christmas then Ian ................

Looking good.

Dibs

[RX7SA]

Thank you Ian,
That is good advice. I have cleaned the subframe of my Jetta with a wire brush and then I painted it in KU-RUST which prepared the metal surface spot on for painting. However I had it sand blasted back to bare metal first which I am not keen on doing with my axle. I was going to use KU-RUSt on the RX7 when I get chance but if it doesn't come out as clean or as well as before, it is good to know what else I can do.
Its a great project Ian and you are doing a good job

[ian65]

the best stuff for your axle is POR15.... this stuff prefers to bond to rust, not loose rust but general surface rust. It also completely seals the surface so further rust can't develop.... it saves having to remove all rust by sandblasting or using a rust converter.

[RX7SA]

Great advice thanks, I will set about getting some supplies of POR15 then. I have read that thread you put up about using it. Definately a must have for the garage and resto.