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1979 Mongoose Motomag

frame: 1979 Mongoose Motomag
fork: non-original stamped Ashtabula (notice spacer because the fork is long)
Pics show pre and post Oxalic Acid bath. Still a little bit of rust around top of seat tube. Next step is to strip the paint, repaint, and get a decal set on there. Thoughts?

manida · 2009-03-19 1:22pm

my first time doing an OA bath----wow.

Who's got some parts for this thing?

mongoosedrummer · 2009-03-19 2:23pm

Nice frame bro. Gonna be fun to see it being fully restored...

IMO, you could have skipped the acid bath and went straight to stripping. No worries, at least you got to experiment with using OA. The acid baths are better suited for de-rusting plated parts mostly.

Looks like it took off the black phosphate finish on the uncut forks. Word of caution, that finish will come off quite easily in any kind of acid bath, OA, CAP or Vinegar. In the future it's probably best to just wipe down black Ashtabula parts with light oil in order to clean/preserve them.

There is a lot of parts available for these bikes. You should have no problems getting what you need. You may know already but www.vintagemongoose.com is an excellent resource to research what you'll need.

Good luck with the rest of your restore and keep us posted!

manida · 2009-03-19 2:44pm

thanks for the word of caution on the forks but Im not sure there was ANY of that finish left....they were completely covered in rust. I could be wrong, though. I was gonna repaint those as well anyway. This is my first total restore so Im sure I'll be making plenty more mistakes.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

mongoosedrummer · 2009-03-19 3:23pm

You've made no real mistakes bro... Believe me. I've made all the biggest!

Your restore is going along great. Just shoot me a PM anytime if you need any suggestions or if I can help...

BTW, I spent nearly 2 years researching the original finish used on the Ashtabula parts. It's been by far the hardest thing I've ever tried to recreate. I was lucky enough to find a company that get's it fairly close. It's basically similar to the "Parkerizing" process used on firearms. Again, just PM me if you want to know further details.

Here's a pic of how that recreation of the OG Ashtabula finish came out on some parts I did:

manida · 2009-03-19 3:36pm

cool.

I may not even keep that fork, though. Its too tall and its not what they came with in 79. We'll see if anythig else turns up around here. I got nothin but time, too.