Paint/rust removal from cast iron

[mirt54]

Looking to strip the paint and remove rust. I used the muriatic acid soaking method on some wheels with pretty good results. I'm just wondering how it would work on cast iron. Specifically, the lower nose piece on my 149. If anyone has any other suggestions, I'd welcome them. thanks

[Matt G.]

Chemical paint stripper followed by a sandblaster. You can also use electrolysis.

[truckntran]

AN angle grinder with a good cup wire brush will work wonders. Use eye protection and watch out for stray wires stuck in weird places of your body.... I just cleaned a pair of wheels for my trailer using only the wire brush, they came out like new.. it was also the only way to clean cast iron intake manifolds in the engine shop I used to work in.. we were not allowed to glass bead or blast any engine parts but they still had to look nice. Between my angle grinder and a few air grinders/die grinders with GOOD wire brushes the job got done.

[Mountain Heritage]

Ok dumb question time....is there a different blasting sand needed for cast compared to the tin hoods and fenders? My father has a sand blaster for restoring his farm machinery and cleaning up his grain boxes, but I have never used it. I don't know much about it, but does one heck of a good job of stipping the paint and rust off!

[truckntran]

You can get away with coarser sand and higher pressures on cast than on sheet metal. If all you ever blasted was cast iron, you will probably warp your first sheet metal.

My neighbor who restores old Chevy pickups uses fine silica sand and proper respirators to do all his blasting... Myself I prefer black beauty for the heavier stuff.. it is quicker and does a better job on the heavy pieces, like grilles, frames, and axles. I don't think I want to blast the tranny unless it is really ugly and the ol wire brush can't handle it.

[Matt G.]

I would not sandblast a rearend, period. You're going to get sand in places where you don't want it, and possibly destroy bearings and other parts. I prefer not to use a sandblaster at all for sheetmetal if at all possible...on my 100, I used electrolyis, paint stripper, and rust converter to clean the sheetmetal. The only sheetmetal part I sandblasted was the inside of the dash tower. I would particularly avoid hoods with the sandblaster, too...you don't want to warp/pit/otherwise-screw-up that with the sandblaster, as the hood is generally the part you want to spend the most time on getting it as perfect as possible, at least in my opinion.