Refurbing NSX's steel brackets

[goldtop]

On my car, both of the steel pressed brackets holding the top of the radiator are suffering surface rust. Nothing too bad, but pretty ugly.

So I plan to remove them and use a wire brush, some rust stopper and paint (in a flat grey colour).

Any recommendations?

[mutley]

This is on my list to do too!

[goldtop]

I'll let you know how I get on after watching some YT tutorials.

[britlude]

i can recommend Rustbuster Fe-123 :)

[Papalazarou]

I know you guys want to pimp your old ones, but these are currently £8.00 each on Amayama. That is plus postage which is also £8.00. So yours delivered for £24.00. And they said my maths weren’t gud. Or waz it my inglish?

Anyway, failing that, clean up the original ones then spend weeks looking for the right colour spray paint. Personally, I like OE for these. Whenever I see anything but OE I wince. But then I am full of contradictions.

Cheers.

[goldtop]

Hey, Papa L, I hear you. But it just seems to be one of those few jobs I should be able to do myself. So the sense of achievement for me will be disproportionate. :) I suppose I like the sustainability benefits of refurbing, too.

@britlude - thanks. Will check it out.

[Senninha]

A few years back I took all of these brackets to the local powder coating shop and they still look good today ... total cost for over a dozen items was around £40 ...

[goldtop]

A few years back I took all of these brackets to the local powder coating shop and they still look good today ... total cost for over a dozen items was around £40 ...

Did they sand/grit blast as the first part of the process? I'm toying with that for the rear strut bar. Because that's a lot more work than these small plates.

I'll post photos of progress ASAP. After watching a lot of YT tutorials and reading squillions of forum comments, I've taken a simple approach:
0 - brass wire brush to remove loose flakes
1 - citric acid bath overnight
2 - bicarb of soda wash
3 - water wash and dry
4 - degrease
5 - direct to rust paint

[goldtop]

First radiator bracket is now back on the car, and the second one is now in preparation.

Obligatory before/after pictures:

1492914928

Some slight paint runs (first time with a rattle can), and I wasn't sure of the best approach for the bolts, so I did them at the same time and may revisit.

[Heineken]

Very nice, much better than expected :)

[Papalazarou]

Looks good. That’s not a bad match either.

[mutley]

wow, that looks 100% better, another thing for the "list"

Cheers
Jim

[Senninha]

Why oh why didn’t you do this when the car was in the shop and in bits??? :D


wow, that looks 100% better, another thing for the "list"

Cheers
Jim

[mutley]

Why oh why didn’t you do this when the car was in the shop and in bits??? :D

The short answer is this: I do actually want to do some stuff myself. Back in the day I done everything on my car, and I would like to "keep my hand in", I also have another couple of interior tweaks to do yet too.

Cheers,
Jim

[Senninha]

I get it Jim … one of my favourite mods took some time to complete during a cold winter, and this was the dashboard and door card stitching in readiness for the seats that were made with silver stitch detail and I wanted the interior to co-ordinate … good luck with tweaks …

[PeterW]

Looks good.