Dinitrol; another quack remedy.............?

[frank rabbets]

Back in the day well after 1959 when all the good steel had been used up, the dreaded 1960's rust cars appeared soon to be followed by quack remedies, cures etc. Well nothing worked and I suspect still does not. In the 70's I was working seriously on Astons and Ferraris on ground up restorations. The up to 1959 Astons were unaffected by rust but the identicaly constructed 60's cars fell apart sometimes needing the whole bottom half of the chassis replacing. The low mileage 60's cars were the problem where was rust but only half way through the steel. So I studied on how to eliminate it. Having studied chemistry I knew that rust or iron oxide was a very stable compound and chemically inactive. I tried all the usual remedies on test pieces and nothing worked. I also cut up seveal of rusty pieces and looked at them through a microscope. With some horror you could see that the rust had acted like woodworm and was not just on the surface. My remedy was to sand blast the chassis when warm and spray with acid primer and then with undercoat etc. The box sections were impossible to treat and this was where rust was worst. The only remedy here was to fill them with boiling water to remove salt, drain and dry out then fill them completely up with diluted waxoil then drain this out. Even after this rust came back after a few years even though the cars were never out in the wet.

The only way to remove rust is to dip the entire piece into hydrochloric acid. This does not attack the rust but dissolves the steel, starting at the surface and creeping underneath the rust and even down the wormhole edges. You then have to wash off with hot water and blow dry quickly. Then paint quickly!

I think there are rust remedies etc but there is no cure on the market for our sorts of need.

Frank

 

[adrianr]

Interesting frank. Very interesting and thank you for sharing.

I redo the dinotrol every six months. Does not appear to stop the rust but does seem to have slowed it down a lot.

 

[silvercruiser]

Yes very interesting. Im currently battling rust on my 03 transit but it just keeps coming back, my land cruiser i have no issues with and its three years older.


Joe

 

[Graham]

So generally it is all down to the porosity of the steel?

The general quality, and quality = price?

Gra.

 

[frank rabbets]

Bang on Graham. It all started in early 60's when old experienced steel tappers in the founderies were told to throw their knowledge away and just draw steel off when they were told to. There was massive increase in steel demand but it takes decades to increase in supply at the same quality. Several tappers were interviewed in the 90's for a BBC documentary.{after all the dust had settled and they had retired!}.
Things improved in the 80's. My 1989 Audi Coupe had no rust when I sold it in 2008 with 240,000 miles and mostly sallty winters.. It even had the original exhaust which was not stainless as it was covered in rust but still rang likea bell when you hit it. That must have really good quality steel.

Frank