Cleaning up Galvanised items

[shamirj]

Gday, just wondering how do people clean up old galvanised cappings. One way would be to regalvanise though galvanisers dont make it easy for small frequent calls. They charge $100 upfront for handling then what ever needs gal. Can u clean up the gal at home in another way and get similar results, wire brush, solvents, paint something on it etc to give it that new gal look. Any thonughts apprec. Trying to gal all in one go is a bit harder then doing smaller pieces as you go. thx

[oldyella 76]

I did it a few years ago on a series two where I painted a hydrochloric acid solution diluted with water onto the gal. Watch the action and when you think it has done enough , quickly wash the acid off with water. You will need to try it for the best dilution. Try it on a bit of gal iron first.

[isuzurover]

Galvanising is a sacrificial coating. Any cleaning will remove some of the gal. Steel wool or dilute acid will work though.

When I rebuilt my IIA I just got all the bits galvanised or re-galvanised in 2 lots. Back then the minimum charge was only $60 though.