Technical What to soak rusted assemblies in?

For that wrench…after I pulled out my parts, I put 5 or 6 adjustable wrenches in the tub(CA). Pulled them out a week later, rinsed them off. All but one was working fine. I’d suspect you’ll have the same luck with the molasses.

 

FWIW, I got a Ford scripted 'monkey' wrench in an auction box years back. 24hrs in white vinegar, rinse, blow dry, soaked down with W-D, new again.

 

Chelation is just a chemical reaction, I've read use of citric acid referred to as chelation - we'd probably need a chemist to tell us if that is accurate or not.

Evaporust are pretty keen on highlighting the dangers of acids, I would be too if I was trying to sell my product I guess. Discussion over on GJ here https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/generic-rust-removal-solution.69793/ suggests that the main ingredient of evaporust is actually a mild acid. It'd be interesting to see if that is correct and how effective it is in its own right.

Sure an acid will rip up good metal at high concentrations, hence you keep the concentration low. Interesting article here: https://studiovrm.net/racing-secrets/are-evapo-rust-and-deox-c-really-safe/ if you haven't seen the name before Bilt Hamber are a UK company who make and sell a range of anti corrosion/paints and cleaning products. The product in the article (deox-c) is an evaporust competitor, widely accepted to be citric acid with a detergent in it. As you can see, it fairs no worse than evaporust in terms of "eating away" at the item. This mirrors my experience using citric acid at low concentration.

The only other thing to note is deox-c is it is available as granules (which you dilute in water) or a gel. The gel is useful if so if you have something its not possible to submerge you can apply the gel and wrap with clingfilm (saran wrap) which stops it evaporating while it works, same deal coat it up, leave it 24 hours, the gel will turn yellowy / brown / black which you can just wash off.

 

I became a citric acid believer after I reluctantly tried it. Had 3 sbc cranks that were horrible, soaked them in
a 5 gal bucket, turning the upside down after 72 hrs. and they came out perfect. Sold them for 5x what I was
asking before the citric bath. More recently, I took some before after photos of my '64 bumper end to
give you an better idea. I usually mix 2 cups citric acid to 1 gal of water...give or take.....I simply hosed the
parts off, NO scrubbing...

Here is a recent before and after shot....

 

I use a product called Metal Rescue. I got caught in a flash rain unloading some parts into a trailer. Bought a gallon of this stuff and I'm quite impressed. Used it for solid week on rusted parts and it still works although it is getting weaker or takes longer for good results.

 

Not the same chucks.