Shane's R2 Build Log

Prepping the Feet

When my feet arrived from WorrParts, they were bathed in oil and wrapped in plastic. The reason for this that they're steel. And steel rusts pretty quickly when it's exposed to oxygen or water. Before I could do anything with them, I needed to get them cleaned up and primed to protect them from rust.

Cleaning

I used something called Fast 505 to clean the oil off. It's an industrial strength degreaser I found at Home Depot. I sprayed the insides and outsides with the stuff and, using a small brush as well as a toothbrush, I scrubbed them down. I rinsed and repeated two more times.


Once I was satisfied the oil was off, I toweled them down and let them sit in the sun for a few minutes so whatever moisture was left evaporated.

Priming

Once the footshells were dry, I wasted no time getting them primed. For this, I used some Rust-Oleum Self-Etching Primer that I picked up from the automotive section of Wal-Mart. Self-etching primer is a mix of phosphoric acid and zinc (you do NOT want to breath it in). The phosphoric acid allows the zinc to bind to the steel's surface. The zinc basically acts a rust arrestor.

This stuff is quick-drying. I was able to put 3 coats on in an evening. And just to be on the safe side, I let the footshells sit overnight.