Go kart cleaning (rust, grease, gunk, repaint)

[kart_goes_brrr]

Hi everyone! I'm trying to "restore" my go kart, there's a lot of rust spots everywhere, there's some tight spots that have gunk all over them, and the paint is stripping from the fan cover. I want to repaint it and remove all the rust. Any tips? Thanks.

 

[Denny]

Sand paper, wire wheel on a drill or grinder and sandpaper are now your new best friends!

 

[kart_goes_brrr]

Sand paper, wire wheel on a drill or grinder and sandpaper are now your new best friends!

Yyyup, I just wanted to see if there was any other shortcut. Hurrayy

 

[Edwin Spangler]

Yyyup, I just wanted to see if there was any other shortcut. Hurrayy

The only shortcut I can think of is paying to have someone else do it or paying for a large tank and lots of chemical

With this hobby, you either make lots of effort or spend lots of money.

 

[kart_goes_brrr]

With this hobby, you either make lots of effort or spend lots of money.

Yeah fair enough, sometimes it's both too. I'm currently preparing a plan on the restoration, also quick question, I've noticed my chassis is quite bent, is there a solution?

 

[Edwin Spangler]

Yeah fair enough, sometimes it's both too. I'm currently preparing a plan on the restoration, also quick question, I've noticed my chassis is quite bent, is there a solution?

Someone should really be able to have eyes on it to make that call. It could be as simple as, "bend it back" or bending it back could structurally weaken it to the point of failure (randomly).

 

[Hellion]

Get with that guy on Youtube that dips entire car bodies into a solvent bath. Takes 99% of all the paint and primer off and shows the rust, body repairs, Bondo, etc.

Yeah, right, but SOLVENTS are your friend. If you can get a good spray-on or brush-on paint remover, they can work wonders.

 

[Edwin Spangler]

Get with that guy on Youtube that dips entire car bodies into a solvent bath. Takes 99% of all the paint and primer off and shows the rust, body repairs, Bondo, etc.

Lol that was exactly what I was thinking about when I mentioned the big tank and chemicals.

 

[Thepartsguy]

Wire brush in a drill and washing it off after then primer and paint. The little red rocket is to much fun!

 

[Whitetrashrocker]

...The little red rocket is to much fun!

Thats what she said.

 

[kart_goes_brrr]

Wire brush in a drill and washing it off after then primer and paint. The little red rocket is to much fun!View attachment 164894View attachment 164895View attachment 164896View attachment 164899

Woah the results are Insane! Really nice job! I'll write this as plan B, because I think I'm just going to send the chassis to a sandblasting service and then paint it. It's probably way less work that way.

 

[panchothedog]

Like Edwin said in post #4. Lots of effort, or lots of money. We all have a choice.

 

[Hellion]

Hey kart_brrr, your kart frame is not the worst I have seen, BY FAR. I mean it’s pretty decent looking (from 10 feet away, lol). I looked at the photos and the only thing that really stands out to me is behind the seat on the left and those large unpainted steel parts: the custom brake caliper holder and the engine/chain guard. Those could be wire wheeled, mechanically sanded with a flap disc, etc and primered and painted with a few coats of cheap spray enamel.... You could either color match those parts to the new chassis color or paint them black or whatever you want.

There’s rust on other minor parts like the side pod holders or nerf bars, spindle arms and the rear axle, those upset my OCD mind a little and I would address those. Whatever is chrome plated, rub it with some fine steel wool, maybe wetted with solvent, and the chrome can come back. You might keep it lightly oiled or clear coat it to keep the rust away. Won’t know the real condition of the kart chassis until you remove everything. I bet the underside is scratched up pretty awful.

Short version; just do a touch up on the bad parts. If you intend to repaint the whole thing, just treat (de-rust) the rusted areas and lightly sand the existing paint and paint over it. I often do a refurbish with as close to the original paint as possible, so if/when the new paint is chipped, it shows the same color underneath.

 

[Hellion]

I think I'm just going to send the chassis to a sandblasting service

Wow, do it man. Do it. You have to be ready to paint it after it’s been sandblasted or it can flash-rust if you wait too long. If anything, spray it with primer ASAP.

 

[Edwin Spangler]

I seen on the minibike forum, someone talking about brake fluid and trans fluid mixed with something to make it sticky, that he liked to use for rust removal. I cant seem to find where it was. It was in new posts about 4-5 days ago.

Can anyone confirm or deny this?

 

[Hellion]

I seen on the minibike forum, someone talking about brake fluid and trans fluid mixed with something to make it sticky, that he liked to use for rust removal. I cant seem to find where it was. It was in new posts about 4-5 days ago.

Can anyone confirm or deny this?

I think I saw it and posted in the thread. Was "Ed’s Red" mentioned? It mainly serves as a solvent when you mix acetone (or some other highly volatile, quickly evaporating solvent) with ATF fluid. The ATF (automatic transmission fluid) makes it sticky or less evaporative....

 

[Edwin Spangler]

I think I saw it and posted in the thread. Was "Ed’s Red" mentioned? It mainly serves as a solvent when you mix acetone (or some other highly volatile, quickly evaporating solvent) with ATF fluid. The ATF (automatic transmission fluid) makes it sticky or less evaporative....

Yea, that was it.

 

[kart_goes_brrr]

Wow, do it man. Do it. You have to be ready to paint it after it’s been sandblasted or it can flash-rust if you wait too long. If anything, spray it with primer ASAP.

Noted, I think I'll figure it out for the paint, maybe even get it powder coated if it's in the budget (highly doubt it). And I finally disassembled the kart. But, I have more questions now. First, how do I repaint this nose? I tried painting it with spray paint at first and as you can see, it was a terrible idea. Do I just sand the old paint and repaint or is there a better solution? And also is there anything durable enough to not crack while being exposed to the sun and rain? (I mean like a type of paint)



Secondly, this chair has a horrendous yellow tint to it, any way to make it less ugly? Maybe even turn it back to it's original state.

Thirdly, the front wheels. Is it possible to sandblast it with the tires on? I just don't have the tools to remove the tires nor get them back on, and they're really hard so it's complicated to remove by hand, because I saw some people on YouTube removing the soft tires by hand and then putting them back on easily.
And finally, the rust on bolts and stainless steel. I've put all the bolts and nuts in a bucket, I can sort out the okay ones and the rusted ones, but for the rusted ones, is putting them in vinegar effective? Or is there a better mixture?
And for the stainless steel, it has some rust spots and these white bloomy spots, how do I remove them?

I'm really sorry for the amount of questions, I just got them all after disassembling it. Thank you all!

 

[kart_goes_brrr]

Hey kart_brrr, your kart frame is not the worst I have seen, BY FAR. I mean it’s pretty decent looking (from 10 feet away, lol). I looked at the photos and the only thing that really stands out to me is behind the seat on the left and those large unpainted steel parts: the custom brake caliper holder and the engine/chain guard. Those could be wire wheeled, mechanically sanded with a flap disc, etc and primered and painted with a few coats of cheap spray enamel.... You could either color match those parts to the new chassis color or paint them black or whatever you want.

There’s rust on other minor parts like the side pod holders or nerf bars, spindle arms and the rear axle, those upset my OCD mind a little and I would address those. Whatever is chrome plated, rub it with some fine steel wool, maybe wetted with solvent, and the chrome can come back. You might keep it lightly oiled or clear coat it to keep the rust away. Won’t know the real condition of the kart chassis until you remove everything. I bet the underside is scratched up pretty awful.

Short version; just do a touch up on the bad parts. If you intend to repaint the whole thing, just treat (de-rust) the rusted areas and lightly sand the existing paint and paint over it. I often do a refurbish with as close to the original paint as possible, so if/when the new paint is chipped, it shows the same color underneath.

Whoops, didn't see this, looks like it answers the question about the chrome plated stuff. To be honest, the goal of this restoration is to make it look absolutely brand new (not out of the factory new, but no rust and stuff), So that when I will sell it (pretty soon, because I'm growing a bit quickly lol), the profit is going to be pretty high. Also whoever repainted this chassis just painted over a first layer of blue, and it's not even the same color, so it looks really ugly whenever it chips and scratches. I'm actually going to remodel the brake caliper support because it's blocking the frame, and weld all the stuff I need BEFORE sending it to sandblasting, so I think it won't be necessary to work on it with a wire wheel and everything.

 

[Hellion]

So that when I will sell it (pretty soon, because I'm growing a bit quickly lol)

Karts are for adults but maybe not 9ft (2.7 meters) tall adults. The seats come in all sizes but I personally never cared for the fiberglass racing seats like you have. So maybe you are outgrowing the seat and approaching 9 feet tall? What will you do without a kart?!?

The “stainless“ looks chrome plated (as it explains with rust spots), but if it is stainless steel, it too can rust. Stainless is just rust resistant to a very high degree depending on the chromium and nickel(?) content in the steel. Just polish it and it’ll be fine (steel wool, metal polish, Dremel, etc.)

I think you can sandblast the wheels with the tire on. A high powered sandblaster may destroy the tires if the blaster nozzle moves away from the wheel, but most of the time the sand bounces off. If I were you, I might hand sand those and paint. All I see is a little “curb rash” as it is called. Be sure to mask off the tire extremely well when you paint the wheels or it will look like a hack job.

The a.i. robot says: Paint cracking is often caused by poor surface preparation, like painting over dirty, oily, or already cracked/peeling paint so the new layer doesn’t bond well. It can also happen from extreme temperature or humidity changes, applying the paint too thick, or using low-quality paint that dries brittle and can’t expand and contract.

And he’s right.