Dry Lakes Racers Australia

Hello all ... the prodical son has returned ..... after many months OS and speed week rapidly approaching I checked out the DLRA site ..... lake flooded extend my stay for a couple of months more..........then later check again WTF all good racing is a goer ..... frantically change flight dates and get my arse back to Aus... just enough time to race back from Adelaide to Canberra collect the bike and get over to the lake ..... recieve a message speed week cancelled ...ok better find some work as the cupboards are bare ..... then the possibility of a meet late in may ..out to the shed to check over Mr Whippy as it has been sitting idle for a couple of years with no racing ....battries flat as ok better charge them up ,checked the voltage both reading millivolts mmmmmm ( a warning sign i ignored ) replace battries and turn on ignition ...sniff sniff not good let the smoke out of the ecu one fuel pump not operating and who knows what else?.

On closer inspection the cause corrosion ....salt & red dust + moisture and this was after I believed I had removed all of the offending crap 2 years earlier you know the drill strip ,clean & saturate with salt away and or lots of wd40 .... I live in a climate that has a high moisture problem from low temps and condensation ... salts hydroscopic nature even in small amounts works steadfastly. Contacted the manufacturer of the ecu..... due to its obsolete nature they claim its not possible to retrieve the all important fuel maps???? anyway I inspected the wiring as a whole and was surprised at the amount of corrosion every where wiring ,frame in fact everything really be it steel ,non ferrous and ally. Well I stripped the bike down to a bare frame ...scrapped the wiring harness and am researching how to corrosion proof as best as $$ and current technology will allow.

So over the next months hopefully before the end of May I will make a corrosion proof wiring and electrcial system, and corrosion proof every other part of the bike and detail how I go about this ... this rebuild also allows me to redesign some problem areas and make changes to comply with the new rules . Research to date has brought to light many wonderfull new and old school solutions .... especially from aerospace and marine sources.

Maybe closly inspect your rides as well ... that salt /dust gets into the darndest of places ...maybe its endowed with capillary properties ?? with any luck we as a group can salt proof our investments well into the future

cheers
Gary #282

I use Lanotech (dont use too much or Don will be there thinking you have his girlfriend Baaaaarbra ) http://www.lanotec.com.au/pages/products/heavylanolin and Soft Seal http://www.generalmarine.co.nz/shop/Sys ... +300g.html before and after a trip to the salt.

I'm working on the assumption my old Triumph will leak enough oil to salt proof it
Cheers Mossy

Graham who is dreamliner here on the forum, is a fan of water and vinegar .Vinegar being the neutraliser . He can come on and tell us more.
its ok to wash electrics as long as long as you dry properly . A recent post on landracing.com has the guys washing the circuit boards out of the shop welders with soapy water as a maintenance ritual .

penny wrote:Graham who is dreamliner here on the forum, is a fan of water and vinegar .Vinegar being the neutraliser . He can come on and tell us more.
its ok to wash electrics as long as long as you dry properly . A recent post on landracing.com has the guys washing the circuit boards out of the shop welders with soapy water as a maintenance ritual .

Not a lot of sound chemistry there.The problems of salt aren't to do with it's pH , rather than it's ionic properties, you can't "neutralize" salt, just wash it away., just plain fresh water and lots of it.

Soap and water is fine to wash somethings but the best way to get rid of the salt is lots of fresh water....of course when it's mixed with a bit of oil ....and a little red dust....things get a little more complicated.

I took out my 7x4 canvas top trailer last week, been to the lake three times, maybe four, rotted right through the checkerplate.

Funny you should say that. I just spent the last two nights going through all the electrical connections on my sidecar. And just about everything else. Each time I go to do something I see two other things that need to be done. Salt sucks except for racing on.

Part of my build plan is using weatherpak terminals for everything, if they're good enough for Caterpilar and John Deere where I've never had an issue with them even with yobo operators trying to blast bits to pieces with pressure washers they're a good start for me.

This pack sitting in my build stuff pile; http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/WEATHERPACK- ... 0699715072

Prevention versus cure.

Agree with Dr Goggles lots of fresh water, make the first couple of runs with warm soapy water to help shift the oils and make sure the last couple are warm cleanest water you can and sun dry.

Cheers
Jon

Gary , got onto this stuff,,XTroll , http://www.xtrollglobal.com.au , email , sales@xtrollglobal.com.au .

A guy in a shipyard in Gladstone put me onto it.Dries hard (unlike fishoil/lanotec etc) and a satin clear finish,so dust etc wont stick to it.Can be painted over,but you need to use their primer.Good for coating anything in touch with the salt air/water,flood the chassis ,sills ,anywhere that can get rusty.Have a read up on it,we have just done a few cars up here with it (not just salt cars)."bout $110 per 4 litres,
Cheers Bob.

i always pressure wash the bike from north, east, west and south, on top and underneath,, wait for it to dry, then drown the thing with WD40, unplug all electrical connections and drown them with WD also,, so far (touch wood) never had an issue,, ,,
after Bonneville last year i didnt get a chance to give it a propper clean, just a quick wash down with the little hand pump washer thing, then drowned it in WD40, i was surprised how good of a condition all was in when it finally arrived back home here 3 months later,, fired up no worries,, ,,, yeah,, im a "big" fan of the old WD40,, ,, from what ive seen, it seems to keep any salt moist and appears to neautrilize it, (a bit),, ,,

Stayt`ie wrote:i im a "big" fan of the old WD40,, ,, from what ive seen, it seems to keep any salt moist and appears to neautrilize it, (a bit),, ,,

It also clears alloy eating methanol out of carbs & engines if you run the engine on it for a minute after draining the fuel.

Ok I have made all the modifications I need to the frame now ....... I have decided to go this way for what I hope will be a salt proof (or as much as is possible) solution ....The frame and all the steel parts are to be powdercoated ,some ppl dont like to powder coat the frame as it could hide a crack ? ........ but I believe that rust is far more of a problem, soI will seal it all up in a hard impervious coat........all the open tubes on the frame will be treated with rust converter then filled with a 2 pack epoxy to seal them up ........all nuts ,bolts ,washers etc will be changed over to stainless ...those that need to be high tensile will be electroless nickel plated as will the fuel tank,inside and out ,which I have opened up and reinforced so I can pressurise the tank 2psig ....... all ally parts will be anodised ...... the headers, turbo & exhaust will be ceramic coated .... all hose clamps will be stainless as well ....the new wiring harness will be wired in marine grade tinned wire, all connectors will be water proof type where possible and other connections will be sealed with adheasive heat shrink and coated with a high tech sealer ...all connections will be treated the same way .... im hoping that this expensive little exercise will protect the old beast for years to come .... the engine will be corrosion treated next year when I pull it apart to make some additions. all the powdercoating parts are off the ther coaters tomorrow .... though im certian sadly it will not be ready for the may /june meet

anything I missed ???

Gary #282

Wheels, mags or spoked are a good candidate for corrosion, ive pulled my tyres off for a look, all fine. Rear would get changed quite often so wouldn't be a problem but the front might be a different thing all together.

Don't do it Gary
powder coating is for furniture
use paint
If you get a chip in the powder coating and some salt gets underneath it, it can rust underneath the powder coating and you will not see it until it all falls off
in big slabs
G

Hey Grumm,
Powder coating is used for a lot more than furniture hearing what you say but I have no problems with powder coating. The frame will be sand blasted, degreased, then etched with zinc chromate and undercoated with a high bake zinc epoxy and then powdercoated, which is about as tough and indestructable as you can get for a coating and salt proof. If the stuff chips or crakes it will be because of some serious contact with something else. I painted the frame before with a zinc undercoat and an enamel and it still rusted where the salt sandblasted the coating away. I want to be able to have a bike that can be washed off after a meet dried and not have to strip down to component level after arriving home after speed week:)

cheers gary #282

something to check on your vehicles ..... I have found a big problem it involves stainless bolts and aluminium where the S/S screws directly into the ally ...is well known in the marine field ... galvanic corrosion between the S/S and ally especially when salt is around .... they weld them selves together ...direct heat via the oxy is the only way to free them and then not always successful and expect broken bolts essential to use anti seize if using this combo .... now off to buy a good set of cobolt drill bits to remove broken bolts ...effing salt


A really good way to get rid of rust with steel is to set up an electrolytic tank works very well ... get a good sized plastic tub and fill with a 10% solution of water and washing soda place a steel sheet around the inside of the tub in the solution and connect the +ve lead of a batty charger to it ...... place the part you want to derust into the solution and connect the -ve to it make sure the part and the sheet steel do not touch ...... place a 2W or greater globe in series to limit the current turn on the charger and leave on untill the rust is converted ..... remove part clean the black shit off and dry paint straight away or cover with a anti rust solution if you want to finish later as the steel will rust very quickly if left untreated .... google steel electrolytic for more information.

cheers