Best method to restore look of brake booster

[Anonymous_User]

Nasty looking, isn't it? Well, we can't have that!! A replacement at Autozone is about 65 bucks, so I'd like to make this one look good again. I suppose it's going to require a very very thorough cleaning, sanding, priming, and painting? Maybe it isn't worth the work.

Suggestions?

[BIG PSI]

I got mine media blasted and then I painted it Twlight Blue to match the color of the Mini. Looks real nice.

Chuck

[raccoon]

you sure have everything around it nice and clean.

[Directconnection]

Mine was close to being like that. $65... if I had known that, i probably would have bought one instead of going through what I did.

What I did was NOT sand blast it as I was afraid of media getting in someplace it wasn't supposed to be. Worked for the poster above, though.

I sanded mine down, thyen I got ahold of a secial acid that turns the rust into a weird funk and then you rinse it, but don't sand it. This acid works best on heavier rust, so don't sand it mostly away. trust me, this stuff really does work. I can't remember the name of it as it came from my friend's shop. it comes in a small white plastic bottle with an orange label on it and the bottle looks like a bottle of dry gas of sorts. I then used a semi-gloss spray paint and it looks real good 5 feet away, but upon real close inspection, you can tell it's not an OEM finish.

I have pics of the engine bay prior to cleaning, and post. 'llsee if i can find the pics

[Directconnection]

here's the before and after...general pics.

Where the rust was, you will have slight impressions which can only be seen if looking hard for them. But sand blasting would make them a tad smoother.

[supercrackerbox]

Yeah, I did pretty much the same thing. I disassembled it, stripped it with paint stripper and a wire brush, gave it a coat of etching primer, and topped it off with a few coats of satin black. Looks brand new.

[Anonymous_User]

Hmmm.... if it is easy to disassemble, then a trip through the blast cabinet would probably perk it right up.

Directconnection - your engine bay turned out beautiful. I really should go ahead and prime and properly paint mine since it is completely empty. The kid I bought the car from had rattle canned the entire engine bay black. I simply rattle canned it white again and started to put things back in there.

[Directconnection]

I wouldn't put it in a sand blast cabinet. I'd be afraid fo the *dust* finding it's way inside. If I did media blast it, I would prefer taping it up of course, but using one of those portable external type sandblast machines. You can get them from sears pretty cheap and the dust and debris just blows off the part.


My engine bay looks close to perfect, but I must say... it's on of those things with a camera that lies. There are alot of scratches that show the factory grey primer underneath which kinda look like shiny spots in the pic. What I used was a product called Imperial hand Glaze and it's from 3M. You get it at napa in a transparent bottle for around $25 and the content look like an Arby's Mocha shake...yum! It is a VERY fine polish that is meant for hand application and it takes off alot of oxidization and crap, and looks like you just waxed it afterwards.

Also, try to stay away from armour all around your car. The stuff will permanently ruin your car if you wish to paint it afterwards.

Funny related story... my friend who is about 60 restores nothing but classics and mostly Muscle cars out of his garage for a living. Has had a few cars make national notoriety of sorts. You go to his garage expecting something like Hot Rod TV and it's a hole in the wall with a $99 craftsman socket set from the 70's, a handful screwdrivers and about 2 dozen of used an abused vise grips with welding spatter all over them. Let's just say he's very old school and uses no specialized tooling. he always ranted on about how bad armour all is and at a car show, my good frined with a mint restored '89 Shelby Daytona had his car there. His engine bay was original paint on a scale of 8-1/2 out of 10, but my friend wanted it redone. So, he asks my old school frined at the show if he'd do it for him and how much? When he finds out he used armour all, he said NOPE! Won't touch it. My friend thought he was nuts as he used armour all before and had the car painted with no issues. Well, this spring, the engine bay was painted by another person local to him. Fish eye city! The guy had to re-paint the engine bay 3-4 times to come out decent due to the armour all.

Just had to rant for no real reason on the armour all thing

[Anonymous_User]

I might pick up some of that glaze and try it out. I doubt it will be a good idea to use on rattle can paint, but I can at least try a spot out and see how it looks.

I do have a portable blaster that I use on larger parts.