What is the best chemical to clean parts that are rusty greasy or just plain old and have lots of dirt. I want some kind of acid chemical that I can keep in a 5 gallon buket submerge my part then remove after a while and have it clean. Any opinions?

Carb cleaner would work. Also, although I haven't yet tried it on car parts, there is a cleaner called Greased Lightning that really did a good job on my greasy floors. We used a citrus smelling solvent in the mining industry that worked well straight but it will also remove paint. I can't remember the brand name but it was industrial grade and a lot stronger than supermarket stuff.

Yea I am looking for somthing alot stronger than carb cleaner or any thing the Wall Mart sells.

A solution of Muratic Acid and water mixed at least 4:1?

I agree with old man, muriatic works great at cleaning meatal parts. 4-1 is about right for the mix. You can use a stronger ratio, but keep an eye on your parts!

I just cleaned some seat springs, and they came out as good as new!

Always test first, and watch it on plastics! Good luck, and wear eye & hand protection!

Yea I am looking for somthing alot stronger than carb cleaner or any thing the Wall Mart sells.

A bucket of carb cleaner is hard to beat. It's never failed to make any and all metal parts come out looking like new. Are you referring to the cleaner in a can perhaps? It isn't the same stuff as what comes in a bucket.

5 gallons of parts washer solvent can be bought for about $35 and will do a good job. Let the parts sit in it for a day or two and then brush the crud and let it sit another day. Then get a blast cabinet to clean off the rust after you get rid of the gunk. They will be as good as new.

Leonard

Red Devil Lye - I container in a 5 gallon pail - will remove grease, paint, crud and rust that's not super-heavy. Do NOT use it on aluminum parts! It reacts with aluminum and turns it soft.

Mineral spirits works great for greasy parts then use acid.

5 gallons of parts washer solvent can be bought for about $35 and will do a good job. Let the parts sit in it for a day or two and then brush the crud and let it sit another day. Then get a blast cabinet to clean off the rust after you get rid of the gunk. They will be as good as new.

Leonard

I went this route.You can buy 5- gal of parts cleaner from NAPA for about $40...dont know if its the same as parts washer solution but I had or found a wire basket that I could put my parts in and drop them down in the solution...hell I left them in there so long sometimes i forgot about them...which was actually good because it cleaned and/or loosened everything on the parts and they were easy to clean-up after a little dry time

I visit my local Saf-T-Kleen vendor and purchase used filtered solvent.

Where can I get one of those baskets made to fit in a 5gal bucket?

Where can I get one of those baskets made to fit in a 5gal bucket?

I have no idea where I got it.but I have a buddy who took an aluminum cake baking tin...it you dont know what that is...think about a two layered round cake,each one of the levels of the cake is baked in a tin about 8-10 inches in diameter,about 1 1/2 in tall. Anyway he took one of these and drilled holes in it,put a long makeshift handle on it and it worked fine. Mine was professionally built for some application somewhere and how I came about it I dont know

A basket out of an old deep fryer ought to work just fine.

In high-school my shop teacher had a basket made to fit a 5 gal bucket, it was not hand made. I guess I will weld something up so I can soak lots of small parts and retrieve them as needed. Im going to try the dollar store first, good tip on the cake pan.

I bought 5 One gallon cans of the parts cleaner solution, got a 5 gallon steel bucket, transferred the solution to the bucket. Then, this is where it got dangerous, I snuck into the pots and pans cabinet in the Wifes work shop and stole an old colander. Drilled 2 holes on top on opposite sides then bent a coat hanger and made that as my handle, so i put my parts in that and dip it in the bucket. Works pretty good for those small parts.

You can help the soak process sometimes with air by making an agitator with a needle valve and a piece of 1/4" copper tubing. Make a coil at the bottom of the bucket and pinch open the needle valve to get the agitation you want. It doesn't take much stir to accelerate the process from sitting.

20+ years ago you could buy 15 gallon barrels of carb cleaner with an electric motor in the lid to oscillate the bucket. I wish I had one. That worked gentlemen.

I'm sure you can get the cleaning basket thru Napa.

Will any of these chemicals eat through the pastic 5 gallon bucket or are you guys using a metal bucket?

Metal, steel is good, stainless steel is better.

Will any of these chemicals eat through the pastic 5 gallon bucket or are you guys using a metal bucket?

Muriatic Acid is stored in clear plastic bottles.

Muriatic Acid is stored in clear plastic bottles.

So is Lye.

Don't mix the lye in a plastic bucket. The reaction gets hot and might melt the plastic.

TTFN
Mat