# His daddy's Tornado



## Jennifer Parker (Mar 1, 2014)

I was driving around after work and saw this bike leaning against a house, so I stopped to find an owner. This belonged to his dad. It's a tornado from the chain guard. Apparently it survived hurricane Katrina, and then started rusting. I told him I can get it running. He thinks it'll be a miracle. Odds, anyone?


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## island schwinn (Mar 1, 2014)

a seat,wheels,some grease,and away you go.


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## Boris (Mar 1, 2014)

If it was submerged, it's probably rusting from the inside too. But from the outside, it doesn't look too far gone to me.


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## Jennifer Parker (Mar 1, 2014)

island schwinn said:


> a seat,wheels,some grease,and away you go.




And a chain. WD-40 to get the hubs apart.


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## Jennifer Parker (Mar 1, 2014)

Yeah, but I can help with all that.


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## DJ Bill (Mar 1, 2014)

Lot better chances of saving that than my Katrina Jeep Surrey....Total disassembly and electrolytic derusting or a long acid bath... Best part is it's a common bike you can get parts for.. Did he lose the wheels?


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## Jennifer Parker (Mar 1, 2014)

DJ Bill said:


> Lot better chances of saving that than my Katrina Jeep Surrey....Total disassembly and electrolytic derusting or a long acid bath... Best part is it's a common bike you can get parts for.. Did he lose the wheels?




Part of the house fell on them. Why the front fender's gone too.


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## DJ Bill (Mar 1, 2014)

Funny you say that..somewhere around here I have pictures of the house the guy who owned my Surrey had...it is parked in the middle of the road sitting on top of an Astro van. The jeep stayed in his shed, no roof anymore and lots of flotsam everywhere....The destruction from Katrina was a lot worse than the sanitized versions we saw on the networks.

I stopped at a car museum in Albany, Texas last week and was looking at a Model A Ford they had. Turned out it also was a Katrina car, but they didn't learn that until they had it home and started to find everything filled with salt water.  Complete disassembly and lots of love later and it is running fine. They chose to leave the added patina from Katrina so it does have weird rust.


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## rustjunkie (Mar 1, 2014)

I've used Loctite Extend rust neutralizer inside frame tubes, seems to do what it claims to.


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## Jennifer Parker (Mar 1, 2014)

Yeah, he wants to keep the rust bucket look. Just cleaning the loose stuff off, then sealing it.


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## DJ Bill (Mar 2, 2014)

Better make sure the insides have stopped rusting completely as part of the job.....that salt water just keeps working on the metal until it is all gone .


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## Jennifer Parker (Mar 2, 2014)

DJ Bill said:


> Better make sure the insides have stopped rusting completely as part of the job.....that salt water just keeps working on the metal until it is all gone .




Oh... No worries on that. My first car, an '85 Toyota corolla got partially water logged in Katrina. After the storm I went out, opened the doors, cut out the remains of the carpet, unbolted the seats, and got a garden tank sprayer. Popped the hood, and hosed everything in, out, and under with baking soda water. Then I went back with normal water and two cans of WD-40, and undercarriage spray. My uncle came out a week later, drained all the fluids, refilled 'em, and she cranked up as well as she ever did. That car is a whole other thread, though. 

I'm planning on dipping the frame in an oa bath in my rubbermaid 35 gallon "dip tank" for bike frames to loosn up the crust of rust around the bolts on the frame so I can get 'em open with some WD-40 love, and an iron pipe cheater bar for my wrench handle. Then a quick re-dip in oa to be sure i got all the internals de-salted. Then, clean, lube, reassemble. Done.


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## Jennifer Parker (Mar 2, 2014)

Almost forgot. Anyone got the right front fender for the '54/'56 tornado in about this shape? That way I can have a mostly complete bike for him? I got a schwinn rack with a welding need to put on back, and a saddle that'll work for it. Not the right period, but it'll work. And pedal blocks, those are coming off the pedals from breaking.


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## Adamtinkerer (Mar 2, 2014)

Jennifer Parker said:


> Almost forgot. Anyone got the right front fender for the '54/'56 tornado in about this shape? That way I can have a mostly complete bike for him? I got a schwinn rack with a welding need to put on back, and a saddle that'll work for it. Not the right period, but it'll work. And pedal blocks, those are coming off the pedals from breaking.




The Tornado was a new for 1958 model, introduced for the Christmas '57 season, and made through early 61. I have a similar one, but it also lost it's wheels and fenders long before I got it.


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## Jennifer Parker (Mar 2, 2014)

Adamtinkerer said:


> The Tornado was a new for 1958 model, introduced for the Christmas '57 season, and made through early 61. I have a similar one, but it also lost it's wheels and fenders long before I got it.




Neat! How much did you pay for that one?


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## Adamtinkerer (Mar 7, 2014)

Jennifer Parker said:


> Neat! How much did you pay for that one?




It was part of a 25 or so lot of bikes I bought off ebay. They were up at a scrapyard in Virginia, an hour and change away. Borrowed my then Boss' diesel crew cab to haul 'em home. I think it all went for $199.


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## Jennifer Parker (Mar 7, 2014)

Adamtinkerer said:


> It was part of a 25 or so lot of bikes I bought off ebay. They were up at a scrapyard in Virginia, an hour and change away. Borrowed my then Boss' diesel crew cab to haul 'em home. I think it all went for $199.




I should be so lucky!


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## mruiz (Mar 7, 2014)

Adamtinkerer said:


> It was part of a 25 or so lot of bikes I bought off ebay. They were up at a scrapyard in Virginia, an hour and change away. Borrowed my then Boss' diesel crew cab to haul 'em home. I think it all went for $199.




 Adam
 I am a hour up north from you, Chester Virginia right on I295.  I have a set of wheels middlwweight painted for that bike. For you 30 dollars.
 The patina matches your bike. Unless you have any balloon tire parts to swap?
 Mitch


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## Jennifer Parker (Mar 11, 2014)

We're making progress! Got the bottom bracket open, and one pedal off. I didn't think to take a before shot of the sprocket, and crack before I started cleaning it, so the attached pedal will have to tell the tale. I'm halfway through my cleaning effort. If started out as orange, red, and black. He took my dip tank and oxalic acid home today so he can start rust treating the frame. Still can't get the headset open. I'm using chrome polish and 0000 steel wool on the sprocket and crank.


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## Jennifer Parker (Mar 14, 2014)

*Paint! There's paint!*

This is the frame after three days of soaking the front end in an oxalic acid bath, and wiping the white mineral salt residue off as the rust converts over. The yellow you see is before the last accumulation of rust to mineral salts is wiped off. There's an obvious line between the dipped front end, and the unzipped rear. Very proud of the progress so far. The first picture is how it looked pretreatment.


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## Adamtinkerer (Mar 15, 2014)

mruiz said:


> Adam
> I am a hour up north from you, Chester Virginia right on I295.  I have a set of wheels middlwweight painted for that bike. For you 30 dollars.
> The patina matches your bike. Unless you have any balloon tire parts to swap?
> Mitch




I appreciate the offer, that's a sweet deal! But, my bike hobby is on hold due to finances and a baby due May 5th!


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## Jennifer Parker (Mar 15, 2014)

Adamtinkerer said:


> I appreciate the offer, that's a sweet deal! But, my bike hobby is on hold due to finances and a baby due May 5th!




Congratulations! Want tie dye baby stuff? My mom and I do it as a hobby with the pro grade dyes.


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## Jennifer Parker (Mar 19, 2014)

*Almost finished!*

Today we started rebuilding. He sanded and painted the frame. He left the light pitting marks on the outside, because it shows character. We were halted by having wheels with too large of a front axle to fit the drop outs, so I'm cleaning up some old wheels to use on it. Can't wait to see it rolling again!


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## Jennifer Parker (Mar 19, 2014)

Oh! And that's the original sprocket! It cleaned up so well! here's the way it looked, before we started.


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## Jennifer Parker (Mar 21, 2014)

Almost done! He's got some very long arms, so he's using my ape hangers for my ross muscle bike til we get him a pair. Just needs the fenders, chain guard, and whitewalls.


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## Boris (Mar 21, 2014)

Does the fork need straightening? It looks like it's bent back a little from the photo.


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## Jennifer Parker (Mar 21, 2014)

Why? It may look funny because the truss rods are off.


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