Landracing Forum
Tech Information => Technical Discussion => Topic started by: Bruno on April 10, 2009, 12:29:03 AM
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how does salt and aluminum get along?,
what other supprizes should I be looking for once I drag my shinny new race car on to the salt?
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Bring something to cover the nose of your racecar if you are towing it on the salt. You aren't going to believe how much salt gets packed everywhere. Without exaggeration, I estimate my truck brought home 50 lb of salt. I'm going to bring a large air compressor this year to blow heavy salt deposits off the truck between runs. Water would make a huge mess.
There is a product called Salt Away. I'm going to spray everything down this year before leaving for the salt.
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what worked very well for sheri and i was a garden sprayer and water willie buchta
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If you do it enough you will have damage no matter how much you clean it or protect it. Given enough time all aluminum will look like Alka-Selzer. If you get a chance look at the alternater of any pick or car that's been there. It's in the air as a vapor and it attacks everything. The salt during Speed Week or any other time is wet and the water is evaporating all day long.
If you live in So-Cal your house has termites and if you go to the salt you will have corosion damage of some kind.
Good Luck
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As I mentioned on Keith's site a friend said that baking soda blasted bare steel stays rust free for months in his shop (humid NJ) . Looked this up and learned that rusting requires oxygen and acid . Co2 in the air and water form carbonic acid . Baking soda dust neutralizes the carbonic acid so no rust . Haven't learned yet whether salt water corrosion works the same . Wouldn't be surprised if Salt_x and Saltaway are slightly alcaline .
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spray the bottom of your car with the hot wax from a coin opperated car wash and dont rinse....let it dry. When you get your car back spray it with hot water and it melts the wax and salt comes off easier.
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I'm with JD....it happens...period. Try to plan ahead for your clean-up in the pits. For example, a shop vac is really useful before you dive inside the car or engine bay to start working. If you are still in the building stage, try to plan for easiest possible disassembly. That is what gives you the edge, when it's time to start fixing everything that is corroding. Think twice about hidden bolts or fasteners with difficult access. You'll have to fix everything; try to make it easy on yourself.
Oh yeah...almost forgot... NO floor mounted electrical. After a hard lesson in '97, I kept everything that counted (on the 797 roadster electronics) in a bracket mounted Tupperware box. I passed the wiring through a right angle cut in the bottom, then glued the cut shut. I kept the lid tight with nylon straps and buckles from the sporting goods store (dont use bungee cords, or it'll squeeze open gaps). The computer, relays, etc. are still in good shape after quite a few passes over the years.
A trick I used on my ocean racers (sail) was to mount a Tupperware lid (with a hole cut in it) to a bulkhead (on washers to keep it flat). I used the box as the removeable lid. This was for the back side of gauges and intruments that had to pass through a panel. This method leaves easy service to wiring, knobs, adjustment screws, etc. while keeping the back side of the instruments dry and corrosion free. Leave enough wire coiled inside so you can pull the "box" off to get at the item, without breaking the sealer around the wire pass through.
Regards, JimL
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not sure how or why but I was writing a post and it posted itself......what I meant to say is below...........
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spray the bottom of your car with the hot wax from a coin opperated car wash and dont rinse....let it dry. When you get your car back spray it with hot water and it melts the wax and salt comes off easier.
That's a good idea , another one that I haven't yet tried is to use "pure and simple" the cooking spray stuff....everywhere. An old water extinguisher is better than a garden sprayer you just charge it up with your compressor.However I'd be very careful washing stuff at the salt , air is better to get rid of the bulk of it....water shoves it further into places that you can't get at it.
I thought I'd got everything on the bellytank pretty clean after the meet....went out this morning after there's been a bit of rain and the air has been humid to find droplets of water all over stuff......oh oh :roll:....a dab with the finger and the taste test showed it to be more salt..... it's a crap job , where I am you're not allowed to use a hose because of the water restrictions.....All the fasteners I take off go into a plastic compartment box and get doused in Kunnox( :evil:) , I mean Innox spray....... and they'll be staying there....All the polished alloy is looking a little worse for wear and tear......I'm worried more about what I CAN'T see..........
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We used cooking oil in 2007. "Pam" is the brand name here in the US. It hardened into a brown coating and it was really difficult to remove.
We do something a bit different than most folks, but it works OK. Lots of duck tape. The mummy method. I put overlapping strips on the underside of the rear fenders and I try to cover all cracks and crannies where salt can get into the works. I also tape the spokes where they enter the rims. A belly pan helps too. This is for a bike, but it might also work for a car.
This year we are trying a spray called ACF-50. It is an aviation product that is developed to stop corrosion. It is expensive and we do not know if it works. We will find out.
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The garden sprayer works well because it has low pressure and tends to dissolve the salt rather than drive it into places you can't reach.
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i have used a product on my GTO when I restored it. I was called POR-15. http://www.por15.com/ website explains it all, it is a rust preventative and i assume (you know what that means) that nothing should be able to eat through it to easily. Just my .02 I used it on my GTO and it sits outside all of the time and i have not had any rust issues. Thats in the humid sticky Ohio Valley in Indiana.