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Washer bottles

Limey

Donation Time
So...To use up some of my life I thought I'd try do clean up some spare washer bottles. These go yellow so I tried the Oxi-boost and hydro-peroxide method.

I used plastic softener to get the deep grained oil and crud out of the plastic then dipped them.

Could have used some Californian sun as UV is the key when they soak. UK sun is not up to it.

Definitely cleaned them well and improved the yellowing but not back to new.

I didn't think it would be miraculous but I wanted to see the degree of improvement.

I could have done something better with my time but it was fun to try.
as found.JPG Best I can do.JPGperoxide plus sun.jpg plastic softner.JPG
 

DanR

Diamond Level Sponsor
Nice results in my opinion,
You did real good! I must try on several of my bottles.
 

Limey

Donation Time
A bit too white for me. The originals look creamier. I reckon I could age a repro one with bit of experimentation
 

65beam

Donation Time
A bit too white for me. The originals look creamier. I reckon I could age a repro one with bit of experimentation
I seriously doubt that Rick would have reproduced them as they are without knowing what the originals looked like. Selling correct Sunbeam parts has been his business for many years. Yellowed washer bottles go along with rusted bolts and nuts, wavy body panels and bad panel gaps on a not very well detailed car. If we all thought the same it would be a dull world.
 
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Limey

Donation Time
You missed my point and you are incorrect. Have you got a NOS boxed one in that hoard of yours to prove it? I know you like 'facts'....

The repro makers would have chosen a modern stock 'white' material. I doubt Rick would have even noticed the small difference and that's no reflection on him tho; neither would I. And by the way, I'm in the UK but I always buy Ricks spares, even though the shipping is huge and I have to pay 20% import duty on top.

My point is that 60 years ago I doubt that the white was so blindingly white. It's only a small matter. No biggy.

Keep posting pictures of your restored cars 'detailing'. They cheer me up and what with Covid we all need a laugh....
 

65beam

Donation Time
You missed my point and you are incorrect. Have you got a NOS boxed one in that hoard of yours to prove it? I know you like 'facts'....

The repro makers would have chosen a modern stock 'white' material. I doubt Rick would have even noticed the small difference and that's no reflection on him tho; neither would I. And by the way, I'm in the UK but I always buy Ricks spares, even though the shipping is huge and I have to pay 20% import duty on top.

My point is that 60 years ago I doubt that the white was so blindingly white. It's only a small matter. No biggy.

Keep posting pictures of your restored cars 'detailing'. They cheer me up and what with Covid we all need a laugh....
My cars are kinda like the Ever Ready Battery Bunny. They just keep Winning and Winning. Oh, my part of the world has had 6 cases of COVID and they were all imports that work here and live elsewhere.
 

Bill Eisinger

Platinum Level Sponsor
A bit too white for me. The originals look creamier. I reckon I could age a repro one with bit of experimentation

I'm far from an expert on anything Sunbeam but we have the same problem with reproduction washer bottles in the Mustang world. The color difference has nothing to do with the intent or skill of the entity producing the reproductions... it's simply a matter of current day plastic formulations being different than they were in the 60's.

The hydrogen peroxide approach has been around for quite a while. I've tried it several times with limited results...Finally, just as an experiment mostly, I left a couple of bottles submerged in a bucket of hydrogen peroxide outdoors for a full year...topping it off as needed. They came out beautifully and, in fact, one of them is in my Concours Gold 68 Shelby GT350. Of course, most of us don't have that kind of time to wait during a restoration.

I recently heard from another restorer that about 30-45 minutes in a tumbler will remove the yellowing. I haven't tried it yet but I think that continuous monitoring of the process would be in order so that you don't tumble it to pieces.
 

Limey

Donation Time
Hi Bill,

It's good to have corroboration about the modern plastics. My thoughts exactly. I might try a wash of super-diluted vinyl pigment to reduce the glare. It's on the list of experiments. I once polished a scratch out of a NOS dated coil then had to acid dip it back to the factory matt finish. It keeps me off the streets and out of the bars I suppose... ;-)
 

65beam

Donation Time
Higher concentrations of hydrogen peroxide can be hazardous and explosive. Six percent blend is usually the highest concentration you can buy except for industrial use. If exposed to light for periods of time it degrades and can explode so be careful.
 

Bill Eisinger

Platinum Level Sponsor
Never heard of it exploding as the sunlight causes it to decompose into water and oxygen which are certainly not combustible. At super high concentrations it has been used as an oxidizer for rocket fuel. When mixed with other chemicals it can be highly explosive due to its oxidizing properties but it’s not a problem otherwise. The vapors can certainly be a hazard when inhaled but not a problem as long as you don’t put your head in the bucket...same with skin contact...you can get quite a burn before you know it.
 

65beam

Donation Time
Never heard of it exploding as the sunlight causes it to decompose into water and oxygen which are certainly not combustible. At super high concentrations it has been used as an oxidizer for rocket fuel. When mixed with other chemicals it can be highly explosive due to its oxidizing properties but it’s not a problem otherwise. The vapors can certainly be a hazard when inhaled but not a problem as long as you don’t put your head in the bucket...same with skin contact...you can get quite a burn before you know it.
I don't plan on using it for cleaning old parts as mentioned above so dealing with a Haz Mat item is not a concern.
 

Warren

Bronze Level Sponsor
A bit too white for me. The originals look creamier. I reckon I could age a repro one with bit of experimentation


The new white one looks like it should be a specimen bottle. Lucky It's blue and not yellow washer fluid ;)

Awesome job cleaning up the original bottles.

Personally I think some of Rick's stuff is very substandard but we don't have a lot of choice It's him or nothing. Recently I told him I was working on a MK2.
I paid a premium price for a brake Master. When I got it I got a black cast iron thing that wasn't even really a reasonable facsimile. For a few dollars more I could have sent my original out to get it re sleeved.
Rick had the chance to say hey it doesn't really look like the original but he didn't. I just installed it painted it silver and lived with it because I was so horny to get the car on the road.
 
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65beam

Donation Time
Only a moving car gets bugs on the screen so you'll be OK.
You're probably right about that. There are many of us that don't drive the cars very much. We drive our SUV's or Pickups. These pull the trailers you'll find parked at a state side Sunbeam event.
 

Warren

Bronze Level Sponsor
The original bottle and the Tiger battery tray didn't look like a plastic milk bottle either.
For those that cry often it's only original once or it's all original I'm scratching my head why someone would put one of those on a car. I have at least 6 of the original ones. Every time I see one on eBay for $200 I lol .
Unless you live in a cave in fly over country I think everybody knows that Sunbeam Specialties sells a reasonable facsimile. I'm pretty good at right turning a thread but you don't see a picture of my cars every chance. I suspect we all got a case of cabin fever but really. How do you tell a car that doesn't drive much?
A, it has a piece of expanded steel looking metal over the carb . I've always thought how ineffective the pot scrubber material was in those "stock" cars :)
 

65beam

Donation Time
The original bottle and the Tiger battery tray didn't look like a plastic milk bottle either.
For those that cry often it's only original once or it's all original I'm scratching my head why someone would put one of those on a car. I have at least 6 of the original ones. Every time I see one on eBay for $200 I lol .
Unless you live in a cave in fly over country I think everybody knows that Sunbeam Specialties sells a reasonable facsimile. I'm pretty good at right turning a thread but you don't see a picture of my cars every chance. I suspect we all got a case of cabin fever but really. How do you tell a car that doesn't drive much?
A, it has a piece of expanded steel looking metal over the carb . I've always thought how ineffective the pot scrubber material was in those "stock" cars :)
Warren,
Maybe you're not aware of this but the "rock stopper" covers over the carbs were part of the Rootes competition pieces. If you read the competition tuning manual you'll also find the mention of removing the gauze from your air cleaners. These filters were standard on the LeMans. We have and have always had very clean air here in the Appalachian foot hills so we're not too concerned with filtering smog.
 
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