Good Evening Gents,
So there I was no $h1+.
Standing in my garage this weekend really thinking hard on this Citric acid box.
Having been an Army planner for several years I knew there was only two options, a plan that wont work, and a plan that might work. I was trying to scheme up a plan that might work. Then after thinking long and hard and ginning up this elaboarte box on wheels and drain and lined with flex seal and yak yak yak.... I remembered "use the KISS method" when planning or it will usually fail. I kept staring at the large blue thing standing in my garage and finally had my "here's your sign moment"!
Boss Forum member "Bossssssss", laid it all out in the beginning threads when he said plastic trash can and citric acid, dip and flip etc.... Thanks Bossssss, that's what I did, executed your plan that might work instead of building mine that might not.
I have pics of process and results so far. It works great! I will post this same thread with pics on the Concourse Mustang Forum so you can view before and after pics of the rear end housing plus what supplies I used. See link below.
Bigger trash can from Menards may be better but you have to weigh volume of water and citric acid needed to fill it may be wasteful. Hence why building a box is a material saver and good for oversized pieces. If I were doing a door, hood or decklid. Then I would absolutely build a box. My trash can in the picture was 42" high so it more than covered the half way mark on my rear end length.
This stuff is safe once diluted, doesn't smell, can be disposed of down the drain, no acid burns and can be stored really easy. Paid $22 on ebay for 10 pound bag with free shipping.
I mixed 4 cups of powder to however much water up to about three inches below top of can. probably have 75% of bag left for future stuff.
I recommend not wasting money on trash bags as all they did was rip due to sharp edges and heavy metal.
In this one batch I have the rear end housing, two lower control arms and two really rusty front fender side marker retaining brackets.
The pics show only the first half of the housing after sitting for 20 hours in solution.
I did not sand or scrub anything, just wiped it down with #00 steel wool and rinsed, it will not take off paint (white blobs in pic) but does get rid of the rust and oil/sludge.
When done I will, spray inside with WD-40 as Doug recommended and I will metal prep outside with PPG SX520 before spraying housing with DP-90. At least that's the plan for now.
Ill post more pics as I go on the Concourse forum.
Thanks for everyone's inputs and comments.
Proudly wearing my "stuck on stupid" sign here in balmy Kansas.
Merry Christmas,
Dan
