Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Penetrating Oil on Rusty Joints

We have lots of rusty parts to disassemble.  Before touching any of them with a wrench the joints need to be soaked with penetrating oil to try loosening them.  It also provides a lubricant as the mating surfaces move to prevent scratching and galling parts or breaking fasteners.  If you've been following my WACO NINE project I'm now hooked on Corrosion X for all these tasks.  It is nothing short of amazing and I've tried everything the old car guys have recommended.

The stuff does stink somewhat and I work in my attic so I bought some totes with latching lids to reasonably contain the mess and smell while parts soak.  All my past uses have freed up parts in 1 hour but I'm not in a hurry to get the engine done, lord knows I have enough work to do on the rest of the plane, so I'm letting parts soak for a few days before trying to loosen parts.

The first parts are the rockers for M2573.  They are standard Curtiss rockers.  I've squirted oil in all the oil holes and brushed it on all the fasteners and joints.  I bought squirt bottles instead of the aerosol cans so I get every drop.  Also the aerosol easily sprays more than needed. A flux brush works fine for oiling most joints without much waste.

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