Stock Car Lead

[fordfan]

I had a guy give me some lead from his old stock car, 170# of it. 120# is pure lead I'm thinking because its in 3/8 inch thick plates and I can bend it by hand. the other 50# chunk is in the shape of a valve cover and is definately alot harder. What should I do with it? Thanks

[Griz44mag]

Melt it into ingots, test it for hardness, mix with appropriate other materials to achieve desired hardness, cast shoot.

Or send it all to me and I'll dispose of it for you!
:-D

[fordfan]

I would really like to trade it for WW and I don't have a hardness tester

[Bullshop]

The 50lb valve cover sounds like a foundry pig and should be pure lead.

[izzyjoe]

i bet the valve cover ingot is ww, i was getting ww's from a local tire shop, but the last time i asked, the owner was selling them to dirt racer's i also know. i offered to buy some, but he said no, he was saving them for them. so i lost that supply line, but i'll keep after him he may give in after awhile.

[chevyiron420]

We used to melt WW's into valve covers regularly.

[fordfan]

the valve cover weight you can tell by looking has been poured in layers, some thicker than others. thats what i'm thinking wheel weights melted into valve cover

[30hrrtt]

If its from an old batch it is probably only lead alloy wheel weights. If it's fairly recent, may want to try a small batch to check for zinc. I have a friend who melts wheel weights for weight and everything goes in the batch.

[fordfan]

yeh thats what i'm afraid of. but i'm hoping for the best. I should know by the weekend.

[madsenshooter]

Just so happens I bought some ingots (60lb) of supposed WW that was ballast in a stock car. They were zinc contaminated. Anyone building stock cars has access to an acetylene torch and anything heavy that said torch will melt can go into the ingots. They don't bother to sort out the zinc WW, just turn up the temp. Of course the fact that mine were contaminated doesn't necessarily mean yours are. Bullets cast from mine would draw back from the sides of mold when the alloy cooled. They had the impression of the mold sides on them (banded bullet), so the the alloy was once there. When they cooled some were a bit banana shaped and had a real interesting trajectory.

[fordfan]

If a person was to melt down a chunk of this stock car lead, would you not see any zinc in it or would it all be blended in?

[Defcon-One]

Madsenshooter has it right. If it is poured into a valve cover and you know it is from a stock car racer, then it could be anything, or a mix of anything. They just melt and pour what ever they have or can find. All they want is weight!

If you melt it and flux it with saw dust, then let it stand at around 700 degrees, you'll know pretty quick if there is Zinc in it. It will keep getting a thick grainy dross on top (Like fine oatmeal!). No matter how much you skim off it will keep coming back. If it looks normal and stays smooth and shiny for a short time, then goes to a thin light gray skim, then it is probably OK.

Either way procede with caution and mix small batches and watch it closely until you are certain.

[fordfan]

Well I smelted the valve cover shaped chunck of lead down today. And am glad to report that it did not show any signs of zinc. So now it is in the shape of beautiful little muffins, waiting to be turned into boolits.