240 General: New (to me) 1980 Volvo 244

[Othen]

An update, on the Pholus wheels:

I have spent a good time cleaning all the caked on brake dust and crud off the wheels - lots of de-greaser, copper wire brushes in the electric drill and scrubbing with nylon kitchen brushes. I was pretty happy with the result this morn so I thought I'd see if they fitted into the washing up machine, and I'm delighted to report that:



... the wheels do - quite snugly, almost designed to take a 15" Volvo wheel. I tried the first wheel on a 'quick and shine' 60C wash, it has come up very nicely:



... and also very good on the back:



I'm really pleased with the outcome, but I think the wash was a bit more thorough than was really required, so I'm trying the second wheel on a fast 35C programme, which will save time and energy if it cleans well enough.

Whilst waiting for the washing up machine cycle I finished the Morbidmobile thread - fascinating. Did the chap fit the Penta engine in the end though? I can't wait to find out.

Bis spaeter...

[john.wigley]

Very innovative, Alan, but I somehow feel that Linda would not approve were I to do likewise!

Many, many years ago and in similar vein, I incurred the wrath of my Mother by degreasing my clutch plates in her oven - she was not a happy mummy!

Around the same period, we were allowed (unofficially) to take small parts into work on Saturday mornings overtime to degrease them in the 'tric' tank.

All went well until the manager came in unexpectedly one Saturday and checked the tank. First component checked - OK, second - OK, third - 'Foreigner' and so it went on. He said nothing, just allowed the 'Foreigners' to drop to the bottom of the tank, turned around and walked out. We had to wait another month until the tank was drained for cleaning to recover our (very clean) parts!

What memories a simple post can evoke!

Regards, John.

[Laird Scooby]

They've come up really nicely Alan! Bit of corrosion still to deal with on the inside but that will be much easier now they're clean.

A useful tip for cleaning the brake dust off the wheels is a strong solution of dispersable/soluble Aspirin - half a dozen or so of the strongest (300mg?) mixed with about a pint of hot water, spray/brush it on and watch the rust turn red then wash it off with water. Agitating with various brushes helps as well.

In case you're wondering, the rust is contained in the brake dust, combination of friction material and minute parts of your brake discs!

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by john.wigley

Very innovative, Alan, but I somehow feel that Linda would not approve were I to do likewise!

Many, many years ago and in similar vein, I incurred the wrath of my Mother by degreasing my clutch plates in her oven - she was not a happy mummy!

Around the same period, we were allowed (unofficially) to take small parts into work on Saturday mornings overtime to degrease them in the 'tric' tank.

All went well until the manager came in unexpectedly one Saturday and checked the tank. First component checked - OK, second - OK, third - 'Foreigner' and so it went on. He said nothing, just allowed the 'Foreigners' to drop to the bottom of the tank, turned around and walked out. We had to wait another month until the tank was drained for cleaning to recover our (very clean) parts!

What memories a simple post can evoke!

Regards, John.

Aaaaahh!! The good ol' days before trichloroethylene (trichloroethane?) was outlawed! Very effective degreaser/cleaner and a favourite of dry cleaning establishments!

Managers like that don't help workforce/management relations, where i did my apprenticeship anything went as long as you asked and it was a reasonable request. Cleaning your own parts would certainly have been a reasonable request.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by john.wigley

Very innovative, Alan, but I somehow feel that Linda would not approve were I to do likewise!

Many, many years ago and in similar vein, I incurred the wrath of my Mother by degreasing my clutch plates in her oven - she was not a happy mummy!

Around the same period, we were allowed (unofficially) to take small parts into work on Saturday mornings overtime to degrease them in the 'tric' tank.

All went well until the manager came in unexpectedly one Saturday and checked the tank. First component checked - OK, second - OK, third - 'Foreigner' and so it went on. He said nothing, just allowed the 'Foreigners' to drop to the bottom of the tank, turned around and walked out. We had to wait another month until the tank was drained for cleaning to recover our (very clean) parts!

What memories a simple post can evoke!

Regards, John.

Good story John,

I can only get away with cleaning wheels in the washing up machine because I don't have a Linda :-)

Alan

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

They've come up really nicely Alan! Bit of corrosion still to deal with on the inside but that will be much easier now they're clean.

A useful tip for cleaning the brake dust off the wheels is a strong solution of dispersable/soluble Aspirin - half a dozen or so of the strongest (300mg?) mixed with about a pint of hot water, spray/brush it on and watch the rust turn red then wash it off with water. Agitating with various brushes helps as well.

In case you're wondering, the rust is contained in the brake dust, combination of friction material and minute parts of your brake discs!

Hi Dave,

Cola does exactly the same thing (as will any acid) - I use the 2L bottles from Aldi that cost 17p (yes, really, that must be a loss leader). It works fine though - also good for cleaning the driveway.

Alan

[Othen]

... the good news is that the 35C 'mini' programme for the washing up machine produces a perfectly good finish. It take less than half the time and must use a lot less energy (I never like wasting fuel - says the man with 3 cars and 3 motorcycles, but I never drive or ride more than one at a time).

Wheel #3 is in the washing up machine now.

:-)

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

Hi Dave,

Cola does exactly the same thing (as will any acid) - I use the 2L bottles from Aldi that cost 17p (yes, really, that must be a loss leader). It works fine though - also good for cleaning the driveway.

Alan

Doesn't cola leave a sticky residue Alan? All the sugar in must surely leave something behind?

The aspirin (salicylic acid) seems to be more concentrated as in that's the main ingredient and i know Phosphoric acid is a main ingredient in things similar to Kurust and Naval Jelly (Jenolite) and other products - they mainly turn the rust black but that's more to stabilise it on steel/ferrous compounds rather than clean it on alloy wheels.

I'm still trying to perfect my nickel plating technique, i've learned a few things and improved over my first attempts but it's still not great. That's obviously to treat steel once it's been derusted of course.

If my electrolytic rust spot remover kit works as i hope it will, it will also form the basis of nickel (and possibly zinc) plating for small areas. An extension of this is copper plating (that's probably the easiest so maybe i should have started there!) which can be done on alloy. Solder can then be used to fill deep gouges etc (not structural, just cosmetic) which can then be copper plated to seal it and either painted or if i ever work out how to do it, Bright Zinc Plated which would make a seriously shiny set of alloys!

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

Doesn't cola leave a sticky residue Alan? All the sugar in must surely leave something behind?

The aspirin (salicylic acid) seems to be more concentrated as in that's the main ingredient and i know Phosphoric acid is a main ingredient in things similar to Kurust and Naval Jelly (Jenolite) and other products - they mainly turn the rust black but that's more to stabilise it on steel/ferrous compounds rather than clean it on alloy wheels.

I'm still trying to perfect my nickel plating technique, i've learned a few things and improved over my first attempts but it's still not great. That's obviously to treat steel once it's been derusted of course.

If my electrolytic rust spot remover kit works as i hope it will, it will also form the basis of nickel (and possibly zinc) plating for small areas. An extension of this is copper plating (that's probably the easiest so maybe i should have started there!) which can be done on alloy. Solder can then be used to fill deep gouges etc (not structural, just cosmetic) which can then be copper plated to seal it and either painted or if i ever work out how to do it, Bright Zinc Plated which would make a seriously shiny set of alloys!

... always diet cola Dave (which is the cheap stuff at Aldi) - no sugar.

I think you mentioned the electrolytic nickel plating kit previously Dave - how is that coming along?

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

... always diet cola Dave (which is the cheap stuff at Aldi) - no sugar.

I think you mentioned the electrolytic nickel plating kit previously Dave - how is that coming along?

That would be why Alan - i never look at the diet stuff, full of fat and aspartame!

After trying to nickel plate over chrome and it blistering like an acne-ridden teenager, i gave up for a while to research some more.
It seems the chrome and/or one of the base plates between the chrome and the pipe reacted badly with the nickel, hence the blisters.

From what i can glean, it seems a copper isolation plate would have been the way to go over the chrome first before the nickel. It also seems a copper base plate is needed, even on steel.

I've been busy with other things recently, mainly refurbishing the anti roll bar drop links for my Rover :



New ones are hard and expensive to find and don't last long, partly because of the original design. I've reworked that design, beefing it up slightly and using cold-cure polyurethane as the rubber. So far they're a vast improvement on the originals but time will tell. If they last more than 6 weeks (after i get it back) then i'll call that a win but i'm expecting (hoping!) they last a lot longer!

However, now i've got the drop links sorted, the plan is to return to the electroplating (as well as a few other projects and a couple of new ones) and look at nickel plating the other drop links i've got for refurb.

Always something to do!