Break down and cleaning

[tarznatz]

As I await my recent purchase of an old used Falcon to restore, what essential items will I need for the breakdown and cleaning process? What do I clean the parts with, normal cleaning detergents or something special? Is there anything I should NOT use, that would harm any of the parts? Arer there any must have tools that one would normally not have? thanks for any input you guys can give.

[Shodog]

Usual dish washing setergent will work. for stubborn grease I like to use Mineral spirits. It will degrease the parts without harming the plastic.

Stay away from acetone, gasoline and laquer thinner.

[J3cubfan]

From my experience, the best thing is plain old soap and water. Dishwashing soap works the best in my opinion Get an old soft toothbrush to clean in and around the wheels and some of the harder plastic pieces.

Some must have tools:

1. Tamiya Wrench... Like the one you see on the web site

2. A set of allen wrenches

3. Both flat head and philips head screw drivers

4. If you have metal parts, not including the spead controller, get this stuff called Flitz. Its a metal polisher and works wonders.

[tarznatz]

Soap and water sounds good to me. I have the tamiya wrench and a few allen wrenches that came with my 2003 WRC, but I really need to get a full set of allen wrenches just in case. Thanks for the help, I'll keep you all updated on my progress, once it gets underway... Hopefully I won'take any boneheaded errors! Better to ask here and feel stupid than to ruin the project entirely and feel stupid, right?!

[Jeckler]

I just received my two Brat's and Super Hornet yesterday and started stripping them down (the Brats anyway). They look like they've been sitting in a barn for awhile. So, I'm in the same boat as tarznatz.

To J3, as far as the metal parts, does Flitz polish the metal, or just clean it? I'd like to have the parts look original. The tranny plates on the ORV chassis kinda stand out, and a mirror finish isn't the look I'm going for.

The tires look like they're in OK shape. They're pretty dry though, and one is a little deformed. Is it possible to restore them? I heard that for rubber parts, if you put some kind of oil (Linseed? Peppermint?) on them, they'll regain some softness. I was thinking of boiling them with some oil to see what happens.

Bleaching, any thoughts? I read that it can get rid of organic staining. Do you use it full strength, or diluted with water? I'm guessing it doesn't do much for yellowing.

Didn't mean to hijack the thread, but figured it could help others too. Thanks.

[J3cubfan]

What Flitz does is remove any tarnish or oxidization from the metal parts. It will produce a shine. If there appears to be any sort of mild surface rust(?) or corrosion, you can knock it off with a soft wire brush and a Dremel Moto-tool. If you are just wanting to get the metal parts cleaned up, you could use the soft wire brush or some very finish steel wool. If you go the steel wool route, I would get the finest you can find.

Good luck with the BRATs.

John

[tarznatz]

Hey Jeckler, are you the guy that won those Brats on Ebay. There was a blue and a red one, right? I made a half hearted bid on them but figured I'd wait and start on something different for my first restore. My first car was a brat way back in '83, so when I restore one, I want to know what I am doing....

Good luck with your rebuilds.

[Jeckler]

No, mine aren't those. Mine don't have bodies. I think I know which ones you're talking about though. They went fairly cheap I think.

The Brat was my first to. I'm starting over and going in order. Next is going to (hopefully) be a Super Champ. Then a Wild Willy.