Re: John's 1935 1201 Coupe for Two or Four Passengers, RHD in Tasmania

Posted by JMc On 2016/5/7 22:42:15

Interesting, and thanks again.

Unfortunately many American products are simply not available down here; including Kroil. Scouring the web, I found this on (of all places) a BMX restoration site:

"Machinist's Workshop magazine tested penetrants for break out torque on rusted nuts. They arranged a subjective test of all the popular penetrants with the control being the torque required to remove the nut from a "scientifically rusted" environment.

*Penetrating oil ..... Average load*

None ...................... 516 pounds

WD-40 ................... 238 pounds

PB Blaster ............... 214 pounds

Liquid Wrench ......... 127 pounds

Kano Kroil .............. 106 pounds

ATF-Acetone mix.......53 pounds

The ATF-Acetone mix was a "home brew" mix of 50 - 50 automatic transmission fluid and acetone. Note the "home brew" was better than any commercial product in this one particular test. Our local machinist group mixed up a batch and we all now use it with equally good results. Note also that "Liquid Wrench" is about as good as "Kroil" for about 20% of the price."

Source:http://www.ozbmx.com.au/index.php?/topic/9890-kroil-super-penetrant/

I can get both acetone and ATF locally and cheaply... so that looks like the leading option at this stage.

I had a chat with an experienced local automotive machinist yesterday, he suggested using something like this to have a look inside the cylinders:http://www.supercheapauto.com.au/online-store/products/SCA-Inspection-Camera-USB-7m.aspx?pid=339092#Recommendations

For only $70 it seems worth a try, and I'm sure it will be handy for other applications. A 10mm camera head should fit down my spark plug sockets; I think the spark plugs are 14mm thread? The camera is only 640x480 pixels, so low resolution. I would value opinions; if I get a clear camera view of the top of the cylinders and pistons, will it help to diagnose what's going on in there?

Thanks in advance, as always, for your collective advice. :)

Cheers, John