Easy rust removal & prevention

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thundermax

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New to Vmax. Bought a 98, kind of a project, in shop right now, first is de-rusting gas tank and sealing. Then to starting and tuning. Anyway, my thread is rust on the bike. Am posting pics of the rust I am talking about. I would like to have a rust remover I can spray on and remove the rust. Is this available. Looking for experienced comments on this. Have studied some of the products out there. Lot of them out there. Please, if you have been down this road, advise me.
 

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Rust can really be shit and come back fast no matter what. Not sure there is any magic trick tho. Stilk hoping ;-)

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk
 
I have had some success with a product called Naval Jelly to remove surface rust. I used it on the lightly rusted chrome bolts on the valve covers and the steering stem nut(compare pictures below).
IMG_2771.jpg IMG_0646.jpg
It really cleaned up the rust and made the parts look great, applied 2 years ago and have not had to reapply.
Looking at your pictures it seems that you should do a bit of dissasembly in order to thoroughly remove the rust. I would look at replacing the rotor bolts for possible safety reasons.
Good luck with cleaning up your Vmax and welcome to the Forum! Merry Christmas!
 
The right way to do this is disassembly and physical removal of rust, then thorough cleaning before coating w/your choice of finish, powdercoating, paint, plating, & anodizing.

My observation is that your results are inversely-proportional to the amount of elbow grease/technology with which you attack corrosion. Wire brushes, media blasting, and chemicals all have their places depending on the metal being cleaned, the end result of finish you want, the $ you have to invest, and your timeframe to accomplish this.

You may make use of all three mentioned methods of blemish removal prior to your finish, on any one piece. Good results take more time, "scraping the barnacles to a rough finish" may give you a serviceable 'rat bike' look, most people here do not care for that look on their V Maxes. People frequently spend the value of their rides to modify the suspension/motor/looks and this is $$$ which is never going to be recovered in the marketplace, but it makes the bike more-suitable for their use and meets their individual aesthetic needs. You have choices to make.

Is there a "Matrix-style" spray-on which will magically clean pock-marked, rusted chrome, corroded aluminum castings losing their factory clear-coat to an encroaching cheesy coating of smegma, scratched paint returning to factory like-new finish? No. Live in the reality that you are either going to invest a lot of sweat equity or a lot of $$ to achieve a factory finish on your deteriorated parts.

You may find that with some prudent shopping you can more-cheaply replace some parts than it will cost to refinish them. This takes time, a computer, and knowledge to sniff-out deals, and time to accumulate them. My advice is to 1) get it running, 2) make it reliable and safe, 3) then spend your time riding it and doing cosmetics as your wallet and time permit. That way you get to enjoy your ride, you learn more about the bike, you are more exposed to other ideas about in what direction you want to go w/your mods, and can still exhibit a reasonable degree of fiscal prudence. Buying a $2K set of Carrozzeria wheels when your car needs four new tires and a brake job, and your kid needs braces is not the correct order of priorities.

Make it work, make it reliable, and stay within your budget.
 
some of the parts like exhaust covers id look on ebay, might be faster cheaper to get. id be carefull before taking those off,broken bolts, happened to me. soak them first for a while then get some heat in there,run the bike or some other source.

as mentions p/c parts is great, durable great look but good old rustolium will also go a long way.

welcome to the forum, more pics as you go is always appreciated here
 
Thanks for the heart to heart. I will get it running, make sure it is safe, reliable, clean it, paint it, and seal it when I can. Get it looking as best possible then may sell it in the Spring. This bike has been left out in the weather, sitting till the tires went bad and flat. More of a project than I was ready for. Is a 98 with 9,600 miles, bought for $2,500. It started and ran. I can have $500 more into it after the mechanic is through. He is a good mechanic in OKC. He and his wife both have vmax's and he has been a Yamaha mechanic for a long time.

I will look to buy a vmax that has been garaged the whole time, no rust. One that the owner took care of, stabilized the gas, keep the gas tank full, and water out of the gas. In other words, one that is in semi-excellent shape.

Thanks for the advise, keep it coming.

Cushman
 
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