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.

[njccmd2002]

eastwood.

cheaper in home depot




so many products

in my picture you see the chassis black extreme, chip resistant and brake fluid resistant. powdercoating is better, i dont have tools, nor do i want to pay a lot...

[Langing]

eastwood.

cheaper in home depot




so many products

in my picture you see the chassis black extreme, chip resistant and brake fluid resistant. powdercoating is better, i dont have tools, nor do i want to pay a lot...

I'm using your suggestion, the Phosphoric Acid Prep and Etch from Home Depot. Brushed it on a couple hours ago and will probably wipe it off later this afternoon. When I went back to see your photo of your paint job it looks like you painted all metal surfaces, including all flats where the metal of the steering knuckle meets mounting brackets. I had been thinking of masking those mating surfaces so they didn't get painted. There are a couple of reasons for thinking this way. One is making sure that parts are able to fit together without any restriction. Another is electrical conduction pathways. If there is paint, it might not permit a metal to metal connection, so no conduction path, say back to the battery as ground, or supposing lightening strikes. When I painted my caliper mounting bracket I painted those surfaces, then when I discovered that the rotor was dragging on the bracket I wished I had not painted the mounting surfaces and ground them back clean. Which is right? I need to paint within 48 hours.