Molasses bath made me a believer !!

Told ya so!

 

All you need is molasses some water a drum or similar and plenty of time.
Remember this stuff is working for you 24 hours of the day.
Just got to keep and eye out and check it once in a while to see how it is progressing.

 

Hey Dr...I told ya it works man....!!

My 330 looked brand new when i took it out !! My crank's in the soup as we speak haha.

Nice work !!

Rat

 

I wonder who figured this out? A buddy did something with a battery and plastic trash can and Tide laundry soap that works pretty good. Does the same thing faster.

 

Rodding gone GREEN! Nyaaaahahha! I love it.

Maybe it HAS been discussed before, BUT it seems every time a subject comes up again, NEW input comes out of the exchange. So, it is worthwhile.

Last time, there were no pix. This time, those photos should make a believer out of anybody. You could use all the elbow grease in the world and not achieve near these results.

 

Hey drfreeze,
The old molasses bath trick has been around for many years way before all the Hi-tech stuff was on the market. Its cheap in comparison and only takes away the rust and leaves good metal. I used it on some of my Hudson parts. When I was finished I dumped it on the lawn since it helps by fertilizing it and its completely bio-degradable which pleases the enviromentalists. I used a cheap ice chest I picked up at Target. I think I would use the liquid form rather than the granulated stuff next time.
Peace,
Chaz

 

If I use a metal drum, will this method build up any pressure if the lid is sealed while the molasses does its job? I'm thinking of odour control in a residential area.

 

Incredible...will keep this in mind

 

Yup, Im about to dunk a crank soon myself!

 

Everything I've seen that ferments builds pressure in the process I wouldn't make any container air tight during the fermentation process.Learned this at a very young age making real Root Beer we capped the bottles too soon and had about 50 explode with enough force to drive glass shards into chestnut beams in the basement!

 

I've been trying to figure out a way to build a tub big enough for BIG stuff... like a cowl or fender or a door....

 

pine box or crate, line it with a plastic liner or pool liner

 

How about one of the many "free hot tub" for the hauling? I see them all the time in the free section of the newspaper.

It may be a little more redneck than my neighbors would like....

 

I had a hard time convincing myself that a wooden crate would hold that much weight securely... I can just imagine coming home one day to find my entire garage flooded with molasses goo and me with no biscuits. Of course I suppose I could do it out back of the garage and overbuild the bejeezus out of it.
The free hot tub idea is interesting. Boy wouldn't that just piss my wife right off!

 

Beware: Surface Pitting Can be an Issue!

Just to comment a bit -- I recently did this to a flathead block to clean the water jackets out. We left it in a couple weeks.

What you'll find is that some surfaces on the block will end up with funny "pits" in them - mostly machined surfaces. One surface might pit - the other doesn't and I have no idea as to why. The deck surfaces pitted a lot - needed to true them anyway, so I didn't mind (.010 off). The ported/polished intake ports did pit in some areas - had to rework them with the die grinder (we'd ported/relieved the block before dipping). Thank gosh the main bearing saddles and cam bearing bores didn't pit - that would have been a bummer.

It you'll notice his pictures - looks to me like the main bearing areas did pit. Depending on the depth, this may require an align bore or hone. This isn't a cheap procedure - roughly $200 or so at most machine shops.

The reason I'm sharing this is possible that you'll have some pitting in certain areas -- if you're going to machine those surfaces anyway, who cares . . . if you weren't planning on it . . . you might care a whole bunch! Don't do any machine work until after you've done the dipping.

Comments? What have others seen? I can share pictures as well.

Look at the surfaces in the picture - looks like it was shot peened:

 

find somebody doing a remodel throwing out old bathtub.

 

There was a post on here where they dig a hole in the ground, lined it with rubber and you can make a tub to fit anything...

I dumped out the molasses a little at a time, grass loves it.

 

Here's my sparkplug wire cover in only one week soak !
Iv'e relize that there have been post about this but no definative results with pics .

 

Will this method clean out old fuel from fuel tanks?...or just rust?

 

I wrote a thread on Molasses a few years ago here....I use 4 to one ratio and use an old cast-off 55 gallon blue plastic washer fluid barrel...have a metal top with a band to hold it on to keep the neighbors from having to smell the fermentation.
Works awesome...took mine about a year and a half to finally stop working. Changed the solution to a fresh mixture and it's good as new.
Great for break drums, engine blocks [be sure to remove all aluminum parts and the cam bearings or the bearings will be destroyed and dilute your mix, making it weak], and anything that can rust.

 

Yes i have to agree with you , you should do this before any machine work the surface is so clean the pitting is accualy the trexture of the cast and yes i'm align honeing the block and the cam bearings were not removed yet . i would recomend removing the block after a 2 week soak to try to eliminate this remember this is like a 10+ to 1 mixture .

 

Just another idea to add to the discussion. I got a phosphoric(sp) acid solution called "Milk Stone Remover" that is used by dairy farms to clean the milking machines & tanks.
I got it a Tractor Supply. Mix it 1 gal. to 10 gals. water ( or 1 to 20 for a milder solution). I used a 35 gal. Rubbermaid tub in the corner of the garage w/22 gal. of juice. It's been there for 2 yrs. & I've always got something cooking in it.
Use it only on steel or iron, won't harm chrome & I've left bike tanks in it for over a month & it didn't hurt the factory paint just the rust.
If you rinse parts after soaking they will flash rust but if left to air dry they get a nice white coating & stay clean till you wash them.
Just my 2c
Al

 

Okay, guys, here it comes out of left field! Great thread, but I want to ask about the BACK of chromed pieces, not engine parts. Let's take BUMPERS, for example. I don't know about YOU, but the previous owner of my '55 DeSoto didn't take the bumpers OFF the car and keep the chrome on the out-of-sight parts polished & free of salt! SO, the chrome was GONE, replaced by rust.

Here's the question: Could a guy put chromed parts into a bath of water and molasses (just like they do for engine parts) and let this brew dissolve away all that rust, down to clean metal? Equally important, would the molasses treatment HURT the chrome that's still good?????

I ask because there's a current thread about techniques for cleaning chromed parts, and it just got me thinking!

 

Would it be possible to coat the machined area with something so that pitting isn't an issue? I'd love to try this on an older cylinder head, but pitted valve seats don't sound all that appealing!

 

Interesting...cost? time? how bad the rust?

 

how do you judge how long something need to be in ?? can something be left in to long ?

 

It's a Canadian thing LOL
http://www.canadianrodder.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1002&highlight=molasses

 

I've been de-rusting parts using Phosphoric acid for a while now....more expensive then molasses, but will work in hours, not months. It's great because it doesn't pit things as bad as vinegar, and will prevent the piece from flash rusting afterward. you can get it in gallon jugs at home depot in the paint dept. it's called "phosphoric prep and etch" about $12/gal. i just strain and reuse, and reuse, and reuse. phosphoric acid is the active ingredient in molasses, btw.

Someone else touched on de rusting by using electrolysis. This is pretty cool shit! I used it to de rust the inside of my gas tank. It went from completely rusted to shiney metal pretty quickly. if you google "electrolysis rust removal" there's tons of info out there...be careful, because it will can weaken the metal through hydrogen embrittlement. If anyone wants more info let me know.....

 

This is good info!!!

 

Man! This thread gets better & better!

Now, as the man asked, how about gas tanks? I'm NOT sure the question has been answered directly.

And, THANKS in advance!!!