SteveSGP

So here it is, donated by a friend and in dire need of rescue from a damp basement.

Sadly the chrome fared the worst and had a lot of peeling but inside the bottom bracket was pristine and the original wheels were far beyond rescue but the rest just had a few light spots of rust here and there.

I have a bunch more pics before but you get the idea.







And complete, it's not a total resto but a thorough cleanup and service, it appears that it had a light front end impact at some point as the paint behind the steering head is lightly cracked but it doesn't appear to have really tweaked anything.















I think it turned out really well and it should be finding it's way to a new owner in the next day or so.

TugaDude

Very nice, indeed. You could probably loosen that cable clamp and polish off the rust residue under there. But then I'm picky like that!

Nice job

ScottRyder 

Great job!

Scott

SteveSGP

Trust me, it's better than it was and yes the clamps were removed, the bike was stripped to a bare frame.

I tried several different things to get the rest off but nothing (including rust remover for chrome car wheels) seemed to touch it and I didn't want to damage the paint around it.

I also tried wrapping a paper towel soaked in vinegar around it and wrapping that in cellophane and letting it soak over night and while it did help it still wouldn't remove all of it.

Any other thoughts?

Here are a couple more before pics,

MrEss

That's so pretty! Great job.

I especially like those Sanshin "Sunshine" hubs -- very nice style.

auchencrow

What a remarkable transformation, FORDSVTPARTS! - you really have a lovely ride there ( they do RIDE nicely ) - and it's especially appealing in white.

SteveSGP

Thanks guys, It's not going to be staying though as it's about ten sizes too small for me.

I've got a woman interested in it that had contacted me about a different bike that was too large for her and she picked this one out of four bikes I had in her size so it's just down to her coming to see it in person, I'm pretty sure it'll be gone as soon as she sees it.

It was a fun project though and the big reward for me (other than getting paid) is the satisfaction of rescuing a beautiful old bike like this and moving it on to a new owner that will hopefully love it and treat it well.

nlerner

Great job!

Neal

mixtemaniac

nice work! Did you actually reuse that chain or did you replace it?

SteveSGP

I put on a new chain, I typically put a new chain on all the bikes I do simply because I've had issues on my old bikes with old chains and I want the new owner to be fully satisfied with their bike.

Which brings up the fact that it just left with it's new owner, She seemed to fall in love with it the second she saw it.

JReade

I've done the Naval Jelly on a rag and let that soak for a bit, also OA soaked paper towel will work pretty well.

SteveSGP

I'd be worried that the naval jelly would damage the paint, is OA really paint safe?

mkeller234

I have successfully used OA on 3 full frames at this point with zero paint damage. Use low concentrations, my last frame took 2 days to clean up.

My Mercian was a real rust nightmare before:


After:

JReade

I soaked my pinarello in it, and no problems. I haven't done extended naval jelly on paint tho.

BigPolishJimmy

Wow that Special Road Racer cleaned up nicely.