If you are feeling adventurous enough, you could make an electrolysis tank. I plan to make one here pretty soon for some parts off my donor motor. They are not terribly complicated and would work better (probably faster too) than vinegar.

 

Thing is it is line of sight so inside the ports will not get clean.
I would have a machine shop hot tank it first before I did anything.
Then either glass bead it or try electrolysis and go from there.
Dave - - - -

 

Actually electrolysis tank will get inside the ports. My Dad had done his tractor intakes and heads in the tank he made. They all came out nice and clean. We verified with a bore scope too.

I have seen others do electrolysis on engine blocks with very good success in getting the oil passages cleaned out. They used a pump to intermittently flow the fluid through the small passages while the block is being zapped.

 

If it's not loose rust or dirt, I would not worry about it. I would take a wire wheel on a drill and clean where the carb and intake gaskets go, spray a little wd40 on the inside passages and wipe them out as good as you can with a rag, and run it. What harm will a little rust staining do, as long as it's not so bad that it flakes off?

 

Hot tanking for sure! Not sure on costs, but homebrew electrolysis tank might be cheaper depending what parts you have on hand to begin with.

 

Mollasses (about a 10% solution in water) is another excellent method. It won't cut through paint or grease, but it works great for rusty parts and tools.

 

I had to look that up on the Google because (I'm sorry) I didn't believe you! That's awesome

 

Who'da thunk it right? Yeah, no it works great. Takes a while sometimes maybe a couple weeks or more, but it's excellent. I've seen pics of people with an old crescent wrench or whatever they found buried in their back yard all fused together, and a few weeks later it's all cleaned up oiled up and nice addition to the tool drawer.

The solution can be reused quite a while and doesn't leave a toxic hazmat disposal problem either. Would be fine as lawn food. Can get a little stinky, definitely an outdoor operation on any kind of scale, like that intake.

 

I have seen Evapo-Rust recommended for this type of thing. More expensive than molasses but quicker.

 

Ospho...or naval jelly

 

 

I started the de-rusting process on this intake this weekend. I'm almost finished painting. I'll post pictures later.

I have an Edelbrock 1406 I'd like to bolt on top of this. Which jets and rods should I have in the carb? It's off a 60's Mustang 289 so I'd like to make sure it's configured for my application before installation.

Thanks!

 

What did you use for de-rusting?

Ok this carb you have to help us out some and tell us what the carb is going on.
A 289 up to 351 I would run what it has as a starting point.
Even if it was going on another 289 you may need to change things to run its best and get max power and mpg from it.
Dave - - - -

 

I used electrolysis to remove the rust. Hung the intake by some 12g romex wire stripped down from a 2x4 structure. Ran it about 36 hours, then used steel wire brushes to clean it up. Looks pretty good now.

The 1406 I have has an electric choke on it. I'll be replacing my Motorcraft 2150 and 2bbl iron intake with a 4bbl iron intake (off '86 351) and the new 1406 carb. 83' F250 with 351w, c6, 4x4 and power brakes. I'll need to plug a few of the holes in the new intake, as well as cover up my heat riser for the old choke. The throttle linkage on the truck now uses a ball and socket, the new carb doesn't have a way to attach. I'm also missing a fitting to get fuel hooked up to the new carb.

I think there is a kickdown rod for the c6 now. I've never hooked up an aftermarket carb before so hopefully someone here can point me in the right direction.