<VV> Gas Pedal / idle problem

[Tony Underwood]

At 08:16 hours 07/22/2004 -0500, Delta Inc wrote:
>> ----- 
>> Hi, being as how I have found I have the same problem now on one of my
>> 'vairs that has set for a spell .... I wonder if a guy could just pour
>some
>> coca-cola on the pivot bracket/shaft and soak for a while, then neutralize
>> it with water, then displace the water with WD40, then put on a good
>> anti-rust,  maybe Ballistol .. oops, that stinks .. forget that one down
>by
>> the heater and all ....  maybe spray never-seize moly type ...
>> Regards, Ken Campbell, sticky throttle in Iowuh.
>> oh, the acid in the coke eats rust ...    


But not very well...   and the caramel and sugar in Coke turns into glue.     


I occasionally give a shot of PB Blaster to the pivot bushings to chase
away moisture and keep them unrusted (read: loose).   If they actually
begin to stick it's usually because the shaft has started to  rust and is
swelling (rust swells the surface of whatever it forms on) inside the nylon
bushing.   Lube usually won't help, nor will much of anything else except
removing the pedal assy, unscrewing the nut and removing the pedal from the
splined shaft and sliding the shaft out of the bushing housing and sanding
it smooth, greasing it up, and reassembling everything.   It still takes
less time than waiting on penetrating oil to loosen things, which usually
seldom works in any event.    

...I think I've had to do this to just about every Vair I ever owned at one
time or another.    

By the way, giving a rusty piece of steel a quick bath in muriatic acid
(aka 28% HCL) is really good at removing rust without harming the unrusted
metal underneath as long as it is FERROUS metal and you don't leave it
soaking for an hour.  It won't take long for hydrochloric acid (HCL) to eat
rust, trust me.   Don't get it close to galvanized or zinc plated materials
or brass or especially aluminum.   It also will stain stainless steel...
talk about  a contradiction in terms.     However, for plain cast iron or
steel with rust on it, dilute HCL will work pretty well at removing rust.
 You *will* need to thoroughly clean the part afterwards and put something
on it to keep it from rusting again.    Some people don't much care for HCL
as a rust removal agent for whatever reasons (such as claims of hydrogen
brittling etc) but I've used it for many years with  common sense and had
good results.      By the way, hydrogen brittling can be eliminated by
applications of heat via torch (no glowing red, too hot) to the acid
cleaned pieces if it worries you.   A good shot of butane torch style heat
to the raw steel/iron surface long enough to slightly discolor it will do,
although in the vast majority of instances hydrogen embrittlement is never
a problem except in stressed flexible pieces like springs or cables etc.    


It goes without saying that it's best to use HCL to remove rust from
relatively small pieces rather than large objects.     Don't try to derust
your floors with the stuff.    Also, the part needs to be oil and grease
free, since the acid won't penetrate oil or grease.   Serious chemical
cleaning/derusting involves a pickling solution (strong alkali) to remove
oils and grease etc followed by an acid bath like HCL or phosphoric acid,
resulting in a spotless piece with no paint, rust, grease, nothing.   

Another trick with HCL solutions is too mix a little dishwashing soap into
the solution so as to help get past any oil or grease on the work.   

HCL even in solution is aggressive and works fast, but it can sometimes
etch the surface of steel if left soaking for too long.   Once the rust is
gone (won't take long) the work should be removed from the solution and
cleaned, then oiled up to keep it from rusting again.   Phosphoric acid
isn't as quick and it's not as rough on the base metal, although HCL can be
diluted further to derust things slower.    HCL/Muriatic acid is also cheap
and easy to find, while phosphoric acid takes a bit more time and trouble
to chase down and usually is more expensive in my experience.   


It goes without saying that chemical safety precautions and common sense
should rule the day.   


tony..