Acid dipping service

[Greg65]

Does anyone know who does acid dipping for engines cases? Ideally in the West Midlands. Also what strength acid should be specified to remove the oil?

Thanks, Greg

[Trigger]

Not the West Mids but not tooo far >> http://www.prostrip.co.uk/about-us

[MrDavo]

I found the pictures on that link of car bodies after they had come out of the acid bath fascinating, the place that Menno takes his tanks to in Germany sounds like that, he says they have VW camper van shells and the like hanging up to dry everywhere.

I recently saw a 1960's barn find Porsche 911 shell in a bodyshop, primed in red oxide after coming out of an acid bath, that was more a 911 shaped collection of holes joined together by metal lacework, however being one of the very first of its kind (stupidly low VIN number for that type, something like xxx0003, think on the same lines as a very early number sandcast CB750) it was proper weapons grade unicorn poo, so will always be worth £££, and therefore always worth fixing, however rotten. According to Porsche 70% of all 911s ever made are still on the road - not just still exist, but still in use! I'm guessing most of the rest were just crashed too damned hard into the scenery to save.

[royhall]

The other 30% are wrapped around a tree, surprised it's not the 70%.

[haynes66]

is that the company you use, trig?

[Trigger]

is that the company you use, trig?

Nope, the company I use only deal with the trade on dipping and you have to book a tank for a time period  May take a sample over to prostrip and see how it comes out.

[AshimotoK0]

Someone told me about this guy ...  Steve Smethurst (your neck of the woods Oddjob/Mr Davo and not too far from our other Lancastrian buddies on here    )

www.aloh.co.uk

Looks very interesting, evidently does work for http://www.classicbikes.co.uk/

Certainly lots of information on his processes on aluminium alloys on his website.

In the 90's, he evidently imported 750 K0/ sandcasts and  Z1's by the bucketload before anyone over here really knew about the sandcast 750 vs diecast bandwagon

Incidentally .. I have used this stuff De-OxC for years, as we have a heated bath of it at work, but never tried it on a fuel tank. Not so sure about really bad tanks but I recently tried two CD175A tanks with it that had a fair amount of surface corrosion inside and it worked brilliantly ...and that was at room temperature. Not too pricey either and non-toxic.

https://www.bilthamber.com/corrosion-protection-and-rust-treatments/deox-c

I won't tell you how I remove varnish/ liner from tanks ..it's too mad scientist and non PC to discussed on these ramblings.

[Orcade-Ian]

I can certainly recommend Steve Smethurst, he’s done a few Ducati engines and a Norton Single for me.  They come out looking like they’ve just been knocked out of their sand moulds and spotless. Not cheap but very fair on price for the amount of time spent.
I also use Deox - C from Bilt Hamber, they also do a gel version. Be careful googling that company, the first entry is for their products but via another company who charge a premium. Look a bit further down the list.
Ian

[Laverda Dave]

I saw some of Steve's work at a show a few years ago and it really was top notch, amazing quality. I was going to use him for the 250RSA engine cases but as I was going to repaint them I just had them vapour blasted. No doubt I will use his services when I come to restoring the CR750.

[Greg65]

Thanks for all the links it’s greatly appreciated.

Happy bolting one and all.

Greg

[Greg65]

Have been in contact with Prostrip, been quoted £40. Just need to get it apart now.

[Nurse Julie]

Have been in contact with Prostrip, been quoted £40. Just need to get it apart now.

Greg, what exactly do you get done for the £40?. Is it all crank cases, head, barrels, rocker cover, breather cover, alternator case, sump, clutch cover and sprocket cover?. It seems incredibly cheap up against what we pay and does it include all the parts being de greased before and acid neutralised after?

[Trigger]

You have to be very careful with any type of acid stripping on these old alloy engines. I would give them the breather cover first and see how it comes out, any blacking to the alloy, then do not continue with any other parts.

[haynes66]

ive had some stupid prices off some companies, although to be fair the cases need the paint stripping first. i might strip the paint myself first to keep costs down

[Nurse Julie]

The stripping process we have done also removes the paint and varnish. I wouldn't fancy trying to remove the paint/ varnish manually, just the thought of trying to remove everything manually from in those fins makes me want to cry.