water jacket rust removal
Thread Starter
|
Laughing Gas
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,224
Likes: 19
From: scotia. NY 12302
water jacket rust removal
after bringing my '49 f-1 out of a 22 year sleep, we found we had 5 good cyl, one with stuck valve, one with burned valves, but one with broken ring, chipped piston and gouged cylinder wall. short of a full rebuild (if our plan falls through maybe rebuilt in future), we tried looking for a running (on all 8 vs. 5 for mine) flatmotor and found a running 53 EAB from a reputable junk yard up here (upstate NY). we plan to clean it up and use the best ext parts from the two and install back in the truck to see if we have a weekend warrior out of it. First question, while its on the stand i want to flush the water jackets as thoroughly as i can. what is the best rust removal/flush for this situation. should we use commercially avail stuff? oxalic acid? will molasses work in this situation? what do you suggest? more questions to come, this is our winter project: right now we are insulating the garage and installing a furnace in it. thanks, dick r.
Posting Guru
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 2,070
Likes: 2
From: Boise, Idaho
I've tried cooking a block in lye, soaking in molasses, and I've tried reverse electrolysis on an intake manifold.
The molasses takes time. The lye cleaned it externally, but didn't do much with the heavy rust. The reverse electrolysis would work buy you'd have to rig electrodes inside of the water jackets without having them in direct contact with the block. It will take time, too.
The next thing I'll try is hydrochloric acid.
The molasses takes time. The lye cleaned it externally, but didn't do much with the heavy rust. The reverse electrolysis would work buy you'd have to rig electrodes inside of the water jackets without having them in direct contact with the block. It will take time, too.
The next thing I'll try is hydrochloric acid.
Mountain Pass
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 161
Likes: 3
Electrolysis will work. I used it to clean the internal surfaces of a steam hammer block. For the anode put some heavy steel wire inside of some hollow core braded rope. This will insulate it so it can be slipped into tight spots. The crud left in the waterjacket will still have to be cleaned out but it will be much easier. Also remove all the core plugs.
Fleet Owner
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 27,288
Likes: 1,053
From: NM
You shouldn't need extreme chemicals. The whole problem with the flat-8's is that there is a lip at the water pump hole (front of block) so that casting sand from original manufacture, and all the mud from years of operation, can't be flushed out completely. The lip kept it in. Plus the angle of the engine in the cars/trucks keeps the mud toward the back of the block. There are (usually) no drain holes at the back of the block.
Mechanical means (chipping) seems to be the best first step, followed by high-pressure washing, then the chemical treatments. The EAB engine may not be as bad as the older models, because 8BA's in general had a different (better) cooling water flow pattern. Regardless, you need to tip the engine completely on its front end so every bit of junk can get out past the lip.
There was a guy on the MSN board who used molasses and pretty much ruined his block; the deck was all eaten up from it (was nice before the soak). As stinky as it is supposed to be and as much as it must cost, I'd stick to other methods.
Mechanical means (chipping) seems to be the best first step, followed by high-pressure washing, then the chemical treatments. The EAB engine may not be as bad as the older models, because 8BA's in general had a different (better) cooling water flow pattern. Regardless, you need to tip the engine completely on its front end so every bit of junk can get out past the lip.
There was a guy on the MSN board who used molasses and pretty much ruined his block; the deck was all eaten up from it (was nice before the soak). As stinky as it is supposed to be and as much as it must cost, I'd stick to other methods.
