While working on refinishing the wheels on my '29 Plymouth Coupe I finally worked out a solution that may be useful to others. The wheels were cleaned and striped of paint with media blasting, steel and wood. The process worked very well with no damage to the surfaces. Then wanted to treat the wood spokes with linseed oil, about 10 coats. As the steel was bare metal from blasting, I put a coat of linseed oil on that to keep it from rusting. That also worked well. WELL!!!!
The past month I have been trying to find something to remove the oil from the steel to get ready to prime for paint. Unknown to me but with some research online , found out if you let linseed oil dry (not recommended) it is very difficult to remove. Name all the different thinners and solvents including gasoline, MEK, Lacquer thinner and so on, non of them worked. The internet saved the day again. On one of the forums one of the members made a one sentence reply to a question posted and it said, try PURPLE POWER cleaner/De-greaser he bought at Walmart. Oreillys Auto Parts is where I bought a two gallon jug that I had on hand. Normally you dilute it to use but this time put it in a spray bottle full strength. Spray on and let set for about 5 min. then took off the initial film with a scraper, then wire brush while keeping it wet with the De-greaser. Wet the metal one more time with De-greaser and wipe off with with paper towels. For the final process hose down with water and blow dry. Tools used are, scraper, small wire brush for tight spots, large wire brush for open areas, ice pick used around spokes and tight crevices, soft hair and hard nylon parts cleaning brushes to get between spokes on brake drums. This process worked great! Two wheels done and two to go. Then on to filling the wood grain and getting them ready to paint. How did your wheel project go? - Happy Motoring - Rich
Great stuff...we also sell it at Advance Auto Parts.
Would love to see photos from the stripped down wheels throughout the entire process to the finished product :)
Ted
In the early days of aviation they found that the "loose" engines,mostly radials, were "self changers" and leaked oil all over their nacelles and wings making a great mess. A mixture of linseed oil and a few other things made a water soluble cleaner that didn't hurt any aircraft bits. It was called GUNK and is still used today. I buy it as an offbrand called DUNK because its' a lot cheaper. I run it through my table top parts washer and also spray it on larger parts out in the "back 40". (I live on 3 acres in the country.) And then spray things with a Sears high pressure gas engined washer. ps I used introduced to it in my CAF airforce days. They use it. Or atleast did. (I think I may have been in when the last of the radials were around,P+W R1300 9 cylinders. 1300 is 1,300 cubic inches! Each cylinder was 145 c.i. almost the same as one of our engines each time it fired for a total of 800 h.p.)
Oldman- while in the US Navy for four years I went to school to learn how to work on Pratt Whitney radial engines. They were also used in helicopters that I did a lot of flying in. We are showing our age. They were moving into jet power in the last part of my enlistment. Thank you for your service to your country. - Rich