Getting the ‘57 beetle back on the road in 2024

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Cleaning up the shoe adjusters.
 
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I’m sure most here will know this tool, a cat’s paw. Invaluable in woodworking and home repair, but has been very handy in this project. Great for prying, but the newfound use is rust removal. Great as a scraper and the curved end provides leverage when picking at heavy rust. I’ve had this one for over 20 years and haven’t broken it yet.

Back to rust.. the surface of this plate is irregular because of rust and pitting. When removing rust with a wire wheel I find sometimes the raised rust surface gets polished and shiny, looking like good bare metal but if you pick at it there will be rust underneath. I think this backing plate will be the guinea pig for the electrolysis and I’ll see if these bumpy surfaces will be reduced by the process.

Putting more work into this piece is strictly for experimental purposes because a coat of rust paint now would be good enough to put it back into service.
 
I’m sure most here will know this tool, a cat’s paw. Invaluable in woodworking and home repair, but has been very handy in this project. Great for prying, but the newfound use is rust removal. Great as a scraper and the curved end provides leverage when picking at heavy rust. I’ve had this one for over 20 years and haven’t broken it yet.

Back to rust.. the surface of this plate is irregular because of rust and pitting. When removing rust with a wire wheel I find sometimes the raised rust surface gets polished and shiny, looking like good bare metal but if you pick at it there will be rust underneath. I think this backing plate will be the guinea pig for the electrolysis and I’ll see if these bumpy surfaces will be reduced by the process.

Putting more work into this piece is strictly for experimental purposes because a coat of rust paint now would be good enough to put it back into service.
👍!!!
 
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I pulled the brackets from the Evaporust after 24 hours. I was a bit disappointed in the results as most of the heavy rust remained. Maybe if I left it in for 2-3 days it would have done the job but I’m not that patient. Rust in some places was 1/16 - 3/32 thick. I scraped the heavy rust off and back into the bath.
 
OK it's been a few days since question was asked back in post #47 about the thingy in brake drum.

So I'll make what my thought is about the thing with the drain pipe. I'm guessing it's there to catch any oil leaking from the axle seal and drain it away from the brake shoes. Not sure if they still had them in 1966 as that is the oldest VW I think I ever worked on.
 
OK it's been a few days since question was asked back in post #47 about the thingy in brake drum.

So I'll make what my thought is about the thing with the drain pipe. I'm guessing it's there to catch any oil leaking from the axle seal and drain it away from the brake shoes. Not sure if they still had them in 1966 as that is the oldest VW I think I ever worked on.
You win the prize!
 
Well, I made an attempt to use electrolysis today to remove more rust from the beetle parts. In general I wasn’t happy with the results. I think it’s a deficiency of my power supply. I found a 12V, 3.0A power supply in my stash and attached a pair of clips. Attached it to my bucket and let my backing plate have a bath for about 1 hour. When I removed it, not much had happened. While it was cooking, I had voltage readings just under 3.0V. Disappointed, I hooked up my lawn tractor battery and that got things going. I only left it on for about 10 minutes and when I removed the same part, quite a bit more rust was missing.
I was watching a YouTube video last night and the guy was using a battery for a power supply to clean his bike tank. His tank seemed to clean up quickly. I also tried a “smart” battery charger that has a 15A quick charge and 3A maintenance charge. Trouble is it was too smart and once it put the high charge into the bucket, it went to maintain, then decided it was a 6V battery. That’s when I disconnected it.
Im searching for a used old school battery charger with a fixed output. There’s some out there but still quite expensive. Do I bite the bullet and buy a power supply where I can set voltage and amperage? Hopefully one of the electrical guys will chime in. A used battery charger is about $50 and I can buy an Amazon power supply for $70-$75.
 
use your smart charger AND the battery that'll fool the charger.
I have and use an old school 2/10/50 charger for electrolysis. usually the 10 amp setting, it'll warm up the bucket over a couple hours. Warm water really improves the rust scrubbing action too.
True with Evaporust also I leave the part in a bucket near the wood stove in winter. Out in the sun in summer. About 60F the action is very slow.
 
use your smart charger AND the battery that'll fool the charger.
I have and use an old school 2/10/50 charger for electrolysis. usually the 10 amp setting, it'll warm up the bucket over a couple hours. Warm water really improves the rust scrubbing action too.
True with Evaporust also I leave the part in a bucket near the wood stove in winter. Out in the sun in summer. About 60F the action is very slow.
Will the battery supply too much current? I liked how it was “cooking” but thought maybe it was too much. I did notice the electrolyte was warm ( the bucket was outside in 3C temps), but I started with very warm water too.
 
Will the surface area of, distance between cathode and anode figure in also?

More area would be akin to larger gauge wires... yes, that'll increase current. Actually, more area would need more current and would allow more current flow at the same time. That make sense? :umm:

More distance is like a longer wire... the longer equals more power loss.

But I'm guessin' both of those are minimal variables. The biggie is the resistance through the water.
 
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