Vinegar rust removal on a faux tank cover

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Fire-medic

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I used 6% vinegar, 'cleaning' vinegar' comes in different concentrations, so check what you find. I think the concentration I have is good for me.

The rust got hit with a 3" pneumatic sanding tool & 120 grit paper, I think it was. The vinegar container I used was barely big-enough. I bought it at Home Depot. I didn't have enough vinegar to submerge the entire thing. I did the major part, it had a 12-hour bath, I rinsed it off, took pics and turned it over to submerge the previously-dry parts. The female C-cups for the male rubber plugs mounting the cover are what didn't get immersed the first-time. They are now!

I'm very-happy with how it turned-out. Vinegar is much-cheaper than Evaporust. The vinegar I used was first used months ago to clean a gas tank.
VMax cover before (L)-after (R) vinegar.png
 
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I've been suggesting Vinegar for a long time. Cheap and easy to get and you don't have to worry about chemicals!
 
With the internet at the tips of literally billions of people, its amazing how many people still dont know about vinegar and rust. Back in 1995 when I still lived in NY, I was a kid. The old mechanic who had me help him told me of vinegar and rusty gas tanks. He would buy those 5 gallon commercial buckets of vinegar and let them sit inside of fuel tanks for weeks. When we would swap tanks, you would never guess there was a rust problem in them.
 
I've used vinegar to good effect on a set of Kawasaki ZL1000 Eliminator carbs, they had been sat in a damp garage for a few years and were filled with black residue and all the jets were blocked, I cut a jerry fuel can in half and the carbs fitted in that nicely, I left them for a few days submerged in vinegar (ordinary 'on yer chips' vinegar) and they came out really good, the jets were easily blown through and they worked great when back on the bike,
I told my brother in law about it when had difficulty cleaning some Honda 650 carbs, so he soaked them too but I never got to hear about how they came out, until two years later when I bought the 650 in bits and learned that he had not rinsed the carbs of vinegar before storing them, when I opened them up they were badly dissolved inside, especially the float posts which were completely gone, I had to buy replacement carbs,
don't leave vinegar on for too long :confused:
 
Don't use vinegar on german silver, potmetal or (I've heard) zinc for prolonged immersion.

I know of a CB650 for sale right now, cheap, not running, looks like it's all-there. I believe it's a 1980's model.
 
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the one I did was a great little ride, it went well for an older bike unlike modern 600's where you have to get them into the higher revs for forward motion
 
50/50 distilled white vinegar and water in the sonic cleaner for about 30 minutes did the calipers on my ‘97. Got all the old brake fluid and rubber from the old lines and gaskets for a very nice rebuild.
 

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