Thanks for the warnings fellas. I do try to be careful with any tool in the shop, but especially electricity!

Here is how the intake came out of the vat after 2 and a half days...



Most of the articles I read said something about taking a wire brush to it because all of the rust left on the iron piece would be silt like and come off pretty easily. I can vouce for that. Anything brown on there just wiped off or maybe peeled off in the places. A wire brush with little effort did the trick. It did loosen up all the stuff inside the runners too.

Here is what it looked like after 5 minutes...



And this is what it looked like after I put it in Duplicolor engine primer gray...



I was impressed by what it did to the inside more so than the outside, but it certainly did its work on this manifold. I guess for the "crispy" parts you have this might be a good way to go if you are willing to wait. Of course, this thing was in the vat for a long time, but I wonder how much shorter it would have been to just turn it up to the 10 amp instead of 2 amp setting? I went ahead and threw in 2 headlight buckets in the vat after I cleaned it out and set it up again. Should have done before and after of those too.

I will make another post about the ultrasonic cleaner though. This afternoon, that thing did a great number on a 2 barrel ECG carburetor with just that $ store Awesome cleaner bottle and water. Unbelievable. Wonderful results. What it did not get off after I pulled it out of the tank, the gunk just wiped right off.

Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

aka "The Hot Rod Reverend"
check out the 1955 Ford Fairlane build at www.hotrodreverend.com

DC VOLTAGE. I wonder about how high a voltage DC could be dangerous so I did a Google search. Most answered that in theory 1 AMP might under the exactly right condition kill you it was highly unlikely.

Here is a link to the CDC ,center for disease controll, run by the US Govt. http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/hhe/reports/pdfs/1992-0064-2222.pdf

http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/98-131/overview.html

It lists around 16 mA as a current level where you may not be able to let go.

Around 20 mA can paralyze your respiratory muscles and stop breathing.

100 mA can cause ventricular fibrillation and stop the heart. This is particularly dangerous because even if you get disconnected from the current, your heart won't necessarily restart.

Just thought I would throw that out there. Pete

Since the output of a battery charger, 12v DC, has no physical contact with the input, 120v AC because it goes through a transformer and rectifier I seriously doubt that a GFI would help unless the battery charger itself fell into the water while you had your hands in it.

As for being scared of electricity, let's just say I have respect it and use caution around anything that may harm myself or others.

"The Master Cylinder"

Enjoying life at the beach in SOCAL

I will have to disagree that you have to be careful about dumping the old water/rust/ baking soda. I just pour it out on my lawn. Iron, water NO CHEMICALS WHATSOEVER.

As far as results. To clean inside passages that you can not see into, this works. It is used to clean old iron cannons that have been under the ocean ( salt water) for hundreds of years.

If the electricity scares you get a trickle charger with a GFI or steal your wife's hair dryer that has one on it. Pete

You will also find out you will have a pretty nasty stew left over. Find some gravel parking lot to pour it in. and don't expect to ever grow anything there.

I had mixed results when I tried this. I still ended up having to blast everything. It's still my preferred method. It provides the best (I think) surface for repainting and finishing. my 2 cents.

       A  L  A  N   F  R  A  K  E  S   ~  Tulsa, OK    

Probably goes without saying but just be aware that 200 mili amps (.2 amp) can kill you.

"The Master Cylinder"

Enjoying life at the beach in SOCAL

Here are a couple of photos...





Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

aka "The Hot Rod Reverend"
check out the 1955 Ford Fairlane build at www.hotrodreverend.com

For rust removal, some of you guys may have quite the experience and expertise with electrolysis, but I have never tried it before. Usually I take the mechanical action for rust removal (sand blasting or bead blasting in a cabinet) or the occasional "rust converter" chemical. So... this afternoon I filled a tub with several gallons of water, stole some of mama's Arm and Hammer Washing Soda and put in several tablespoons, immersed a crispy intake manifold, put a positive lead on a scrap piece of sheet metal, the negative lead went to the intake manifold, and I plugged in the battery charger on a 2 amp setting. (after I made sure that the two objects/two poles were not touching )

Immediately I saw bubbles and after 3 minutes you could literally see rust moving across the bucket... NICE! Don't know how long this is going to take, but I do know that this intake had a couple of runners with some rust in them. There is quite a bit of rust on the exterior. I will post photos sometime soon when I get my camera unloaded. For those of you that do this kind of thing with an intake manifold when it has so much on the interior, what kind of results can I expect here?

Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

aka "The Hot Rod Reverend"
check out the 1955 Ford Fairlane build at www.hotrodreverend.com

Ok Ted, so what do you use to clean parts? I'd give my left n&t for a 25 gallon barrell of the old ZEP. Chuck

Y's guys rule!
Looking for McCullouch VS57 brackets and parts. Also looking for 28 Chrysler series 72 parts. And early Hemi parts.

MoonShadow, 292 w/McCulloch, 28 Chrysler Roadster, 354 Hemi)
Manchester, New Hampshire

If considering doing the molasses bit, do it only on rough blocks or castings and not fully machined ones. If done to a fully machined block, it can destroy the fresh cross-hatching or hone job on the cylinder walls. Yes, I get to see it all here.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)