55.2 seat frame cleaning and rebuilding

[Whumbachumba]

Now that our truck is back and is running, we're working on getting all the parts together and assembled to make it drive-able and road legal again. High on the list is restoring the seat frame and re-upholstering it. It has a lot of surface rust on it and I'm trying to find the best way to clean it up. I've seen washes and sprays, as well as gels and POR products, but nothing in response to cleaning the seat frame itself, usually just body panels.

It looks like the worst is on the lower seat frame and springs, while the upper frame is a light coat of surface rust. We still have old vinyl and foam(?) to clean off of it.

What suggestions/routes have y'all taken to clean your seat frames? And has anybody used the LMC seat rebuild kit?

[Rude Dude]

here is a good video on what to do

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHkYiv84Rog

[Foot Stomper]

You've got a tough job cleaning those Springs for sure. I've used this product line before and found it did a reasonable job that I would suggest you you try. The gel one I haven't tried specifically but I would suggest in your case.
http://www.rustoleum.com/product-cat.../rust-remedies

[mr48chev]

Guys have been soaking rusty metal in a solution of Molasses intended for feeding cattle and water in a tub or barrel of some sort and getting pretty good results. People get the Molasses at the feed

Not a 15 minute fix though http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages...tml?1428368045

A google search showed a guy doing little parts in a mason jar as a demo https://www.google.com/search?q=Mola...a+rust+remover

I don't know if it would affect the springs or not but one thing that would be reasonably quick is having a automotive machine shop with a shot blast cabinet blast them like they do heads and blocks.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Mine doesnt have as much rust as yours, in fact it has very little but I plan to have it sandblasted and powder coated gloss black. Gloss just so the small amount of the frame that shows on the side will look good.

My issue is that somewhere over the decades the pivot bolt that connects the seat bottom and back must have been lost and was replaced with the wrong size. That resulted in the hole being enlarged due to wear. Fortunately, i have a second seat and I'm going to cannibalize it to make one good seat.

[Whumbachumba]

Thanks for the input everyone! I'm going to pick up some products today and try just elbow grease. Hopefully it will work, if not I will need to look for media blasting I guess. My only concern is the media blasting hurting the springs.

[mr48chev]

I've never done a study on the effects of blasting springs what ever size they were. I have sandblasted front coil springs and not had a problem and sandblasted rear spring leaves and didn't notice a problem but some self styled experts think it affects the metal.
Snooping around the net gets a lot of various views on the subject. Lots of self styled experts too lol.
http://www.chevytalk.org/fusionbb/sh...hp?tid/156478/

http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/rust...me-343738.html

http://www.stevesnovasite.com/forums...p/t-72486.html

[Dan in Pasadena]

Mr. 48, I only say I will blast/powdercoat because i know of someone else who did it but i only saw it after it was upholstered.

I'm not so worried about blasting distorting anything, or the heat of the powdercoat losing the temper of the springs. What I AM concerned about is that the rings of the small coil springs will get stuck to each other by the powder and then not work properly after.

I need to talk to the upholsterer that has been recommended to me locally and also call JJ (Chuck Driver) because his upholsterer removed his springs and replaced it with a plywood base and thick foam above.

[Whumbachumba]

Picked up some tools and evapo-rust to try today and made little headway with it. The steel brush was knocking off a lot of built up rust but struggled to tackle anything deeper. I busted out the disc grinder with a paint removal tool and took it to the bottom side of the seat and it ate through the surface rust really well. However, that won't work for nearly any other part of the seat due to the springs being in the way.

I may be able to remove the small helper springs and soak them, but the larger springs and frame probably need to be blasted to remove the rust.

We also ran into another issue. The vinyl looks to be rolled under the frame itself and not clipped in. Not sure how to remove this without bending the roll out.