What is the best way to protect bare iron metal from rust? Options

[Langing]

I picked off a steering knuckle from a junkyard Celica, removed the ball joint and wheel bearing, and cleaned it with a wire wheel to the point where it seems rust and yuck free. Now it is almost all bare metal and I have two questions:

1) What is the best/easiest way to remove the remaining rust? (I don't have a sand blaster.)

2) What is a good/long-lasting way to protect the bare metal from rusting again?

To show what I am talking about I include a photo of the newly cleaned SN next to my Celica's SN (the one with with bent ears). The junkyard SN is the lighter of the two, the golden rust colored one; it came from a red 1995 Celica and is going on a white 1994 Celica:



Thanks to anyone who takes time to help me by discussing these questions.

[Box]

Well. as long as you didn't take $50+ worth of Naval Jelly it's only a minor offence. I've heard good things about it Naval Jelly before, so hopefully it does the job for you.

This post has been edited by Box: Jun 15, 2014 - 3:02 PM

[Langing]

Well. as long as you didn't take $50+ worth of Naval Jelly it's only a minor offence. I've heard good things about it Naval Jelly before, so hopefully it does the job for you.

Actually, on njccmd2002s advice, I read up on the "Phosphoric Prep and Etch" product that is available at my local Home Depot (including the few on-line reviews) and decided to take the Naval Jelly back and buy this other product instead (yeah, I know how that sounds). When the gentleman was describing how Naval Jelly works, he explained how careful you have to be to NOT let it become dry while doing its work, and how messy things can get if you do. Since I have never used it before, I'm automatically at a disadvantage; by Murphy's Law, it would perform at its worst for me.

The description and reviews for this other product seem to say that it does its thing very well. Hopefully, it will do the job for me.

Here is a question for you, if you know off the top of your head. How do I transition from bathing the part in the solution to putting on the paint? Is there an intermediate step? I'm assuming there are instructions on the product itself, but if you happen to know something from your experience, I would certainly like to hear it.