Sebastian's Bike Restore

[3Phase]

Sebastian, open up the right-hand control and you'll see the Stop/Run switch and the two Red/White wires.

Twist the two Red/White wires together and tape them, then put the control back together.

The two wires have to be connected together, by hand or the switch, because they're the first part of the ignition circuit after the 10A IGN fuse. The Stop/Run switch 'kills' the ignition by opening the circuit so there's no power to the coils, TCI, or the Start solenoid.

[skids]

Sebastian, did you take the kill unit apart and try to clean all of the contacts? If you want to try, be careful because thre is a spring and ball to make it click into positions. I still have original parts and it works.

[Bonz]

From when I was helping him last week: The switch doesn't even rotate, it's just kind of wiggles back-and-forth and randomly closes the circuit. Idle vibration alone will cause it to kill the engine, as when sync'ing...

I did fix one by taking it apart and using JB Weld put the pieces back together on an 80G that I fixed up and sold. I took the one on my SG apart for a model and reference. It took patience and time.

Just get the one I posted (post 56) in that eBay link and be done! You will be happy you did. If you ordered it, it would be on the way to you already!

[3Phase]

That sounds like a stuck, rusted, detent ball and spring. Soaking the whole control in Evaporust will clean it up.

Vinegar will work too but it eats good metal. You'd have to take apart the control and do some light scrubbing to get rid of the rust and pick out the ball/spring. When they're clean, soak everything in a baking soda bath to neutralize the vinegar and rinse with clean water.

[Bonz]

For general reference, you are saying soak the whole switch pod in Evaporust then make sure it's dried out and you're good to go? No "major" dis-assembly required?

[3Phase]

For general reference, you are saying soak the whole switch pod in Evaporust then make sure it's dried out and you're good to go? No "major" dis-assembly required?

Yes, just separate the two halves of the control.

If the spring is completely rusted through, like, really gone and fused with the ball, Evaporust will remove it and leave a couple of metal slivers in its hole but otherwise it works great.


Motoman and I did this with his right-hand control and I've been using it ever since to clean switchgear. We dropped the control in the pot of Evaporust to clean it up even though it looked like it was a going to have to be replaced, then we spaced out and forgot about it until the next morning. It came out looking like new.

The Evaporust removed the rust on the metal and the oxides on the paint and plastic too, it almost looked like a new switch. All we had to do was rinse it. I added grease to the ball and spring while I checked everything over but it was clean. It was the easiest cleaning I've ever done.

[Bonz]

Cool! I can see myself picking up some Evaporust to have for a rainy day.

[motoman]

Handy stuff for a lot of uses!. Pertaining to what 3Phase stated, the Evapo-Rust brought the center inserts red color back like it originally was new.

[3Phase]

Cool! I can see myself picking up some Evaporust to have for a rainy day.

It works great on the left-hand control to clean it up without breaking the wires/switches/solder blobs. You won't have to worry about forgetting how it came apart and how you're going to put it back together and have it work.

You do have to be careful with it and the knock-offs, ideally you should know what's inside a control -- or any other part -- before you toss it in the bucket.

Evapo-Rust removes black oxide, Cadmium, and some other non-electroplated coatings like the anti-corrosion layer on some of the electrical connector terminals. The decorative black fuel tank badge screws will come out clean and no longer black and they will rust right along with the clean connector terminals.

Messing up badge screws and connectors is annoying but Cadmium is poisonous. Stripping the Cadmium layer off of parts makes the Evapo-Rust poisonous too, don't use it to clean anything that looks like it has a yellow/gold coating. If you toss it outside on your lawn like the ads say you can do to get rid of it then people in white suits with sealed gloves and breathing apparatus take your lawn and your wife's rose garden to a hazmat disposal site at your expense. Don't do that.

[donebysunday]

Evaporust

I bought 2 one quart bottles when I was cleaning the inside of 2 XS11 gas tanks, it did a great job. I filled the tank with plain old tap water, nothing special all the city added chemicals and the 2 quarts of Evaporust. Rather than through it out I saved it in a 5 gallon bucket with lid over it. That was 3-4 years ago, I'm still using that same solution right now to take the rust off some parts of a battery charger I bought with my hard earned money when I was 16 yrs. old, I'm now 64

[3Phase]

You're not supposed to dilute the stuff but if it's working, don't mess with it.


You should use that old battery charger to do electrolytic rust removal first, it converts the thin layer of iron that's just starting to change into rust back into good iron again instead of removing it like Evapo-Rust or phosphoric acid.

It can't turn rust back into steel but with these old parts, especially the fuel tanks, every molecule you can save is a miracle. The sodium carbonate electrolyte is a basic soap too and will help clean the parts so your Evapo-Rust will stay cleaner.

[donebysunday]

You're not supposed to dilute the stuff but if it's working, don't mess with it.


You should use that old battery charger to do electrolytic rust removal first, it converts the thin layer of iron that's just starting to change into rust back into good iron again instead of removing it like Evapo-Rust or phosphoric acid.

It can't turn rust back into steel but with these old parts, especially the fuel tanks, every molecule you can save is a miracle. The sodium carbonate electrolyte is a basic soap too and will help clean the parts so your Evapo-Rust will stay cleaner.

I got the idea of diluting it from the bottle it came in, message on bottle says as the evaporust evaporates add water.

[3Phase]

Does it really say that? I have to confess: I never read the directions on any of the jugs.


It makes sense to replace water as it evaporates and leaves the 'active' concentrate behind, that's not the same as cutting it in half from the get-go but I'll go read the directions on the jugs of Metal Rescue and see what they say. It'll be a first for me.

[donebysunday]

Does it really say that? I have to confess: I never read the directions on any of the jugs.


It makes sense to replace water as it evaporates and leaves the 'active' concentrate behind, that's not the same as cutting it in half from the get-go but I'll go read the directions on the jugs of Metal Rescue and see what they say. It'll be a first for me.

From using it (evaporust) I would think the water is just a carrier for the active chemical.
It was just a test on my part to see if I could get away with not buying so much as to fill the tanks with pure evaporust.
It worked very well and I hardly noticed (if I noticed at all) the difference between full strength and mixed with what ? about 3 gallons of water and I'm still using it years later !!!!!

[3Phase]

I'll have to try diluting a gallon of the stuff. If it works diluted even when they both tell you not to do it and Metal Rescue says it right on the label, then someone's been yanking our collective chains.

I just went out to the garage and took pictures of the Evapo-Rust and Metal Rescue:-

XS11.com Forums > Idle Talk Forum > Product Evaluations
Quick Comparison: Evapo-Rust and Metal Rescue


I really don't like it when companies yank my chain.