I want to take my propane burner and put it under an old oil drum I have and maybe fill it halfway with water, get it nice and hot and then place my 365 Caddy block into it. I know the machine shop probably does this with some kind of solvent but I'm on a budget. Every trip to the machine shop is a trip to the bank as well. Is this dumb?
Old guy I know used to do stuff like that. But he used salt water to boil stuff in. It doesn' rust it if you oil it when it comes out. I have boiled parts in toilet cleaner with good results. But the stuff in a hot tank is caustic soda.
The machine shops use a caustic solution in a hot tank to boil the oil deposits out of cast iron. I doubt that just water and heat will do anything more than melt some of the surface deposits off the block. You want everything out of the pores of the metal if your going to have a surface that's ready for machining. If your just doing a quick hone and rering a car wash will probably do an adequate job but nothing like a full caustic soda hot tank. Frank
Back in the 50s we used a product called "OAKITE" in the water...Be sure to knock out all freeze plugs and cam brgs.
Before you put nasty stuff in the tank so it will actually get the block clean, figure out what you're going to do with that nasty stuff when you're done with it. It's generally worth the money to get a shop to clean engine parts, just so you don't have to hassle with the nasty chemicals. Although it is getting expensive.
Otherwise known as Sodium Hydroxide..........some dangerous shit http://www.jtbaker.com/msds/englishhtml/s4034.htm Used to haul this when I pulled a tanker......can burn you thru your clothes if your not careful........does a GREAT job on rust and just about anything else, will eat thru aluminum,brass,copper,skin, in just a few minutes. I would pay the $$$ and get it done right.
Lye works well in electrolysis setups. The lye softens the paint during the process-makes it easier to get to the rust.
Back in the 70s we built a home made hot tank with a 55 gallon barrel. We welded nipples in the sides for heater hoses and used 2, 110 volt block heaters. Cool mix would enter at the lower nipples, go through the heaters and come out the top nipples. They were about 18 inches apart, top to bottom.... 2 on each side of the barrel.We used a caustic powder from Zep. mixed with water. We had an electric hoist on a rolling carriage mounted to an I-beam to lift entire engine blocks and/or cylinder heads into and out of the tank...worked great! One night in the solution would throughly clean the nastiest block and all it cost us was 2 used engine heaters and an old 55 gallon barrel....and the Zep chemical.
There was a guy/shop building hot tanks around this area about 40 year ago out of steel. Basically a box about 40 x28 28 or so but big enough to get a straight six block or big V8 block in. They had/have a water heater ele*ent in one corner with a guard and had casters on the* to be able to roll the* around. They had angle iron on the outsides that held so*e sort of fiberboard insulation to keep the heat in. I had one in the school shop and there are dozens of the* still in use around the valley in shops. They did use Caustic powder that is 100% haz*at and everything that Squirrel said and *ore. Lately word has it that a lot of the people who still have the* have switched to using Oil Eater that can be bought at Costco or at a lot of parts houses in gallon jugs. I don't know what the ratio is but think it is 4/5 gallons of water to one gallon of oil eater. I know fro8 experince the Oil Eater works great for cleaning engine co*part*ents and s*all parts and is biodegradable but you still need to take regular safety precautions.
i work for a tug and barge co on the west coast we use to transport caustic soda. don't even think about using it! pure caustic soda can blind you in seconds and eat holes in your skin. i think there are a number of safer cheep ways to clean an engine block. i though there was a post on here a while back about a guy that used molasses in a drum.
Dude the machine shops over here will clean a block for like $30. It's worth not having to deal with that caustic shit.
I use this in a 55 gallon drum. With a little heat, it works great. http://www.silver-seal.com/c=S8gflp...or-Hot-Tank-Cleaners-24-Lb-Pail---CHHB24.html
If you have electric nearby? a "run dry" electric water heater element, get the ones that screw into a 1" pipe, 1"pipe coupling, a water heater thermostat. Drill or cut hole near bottom of tank, Cut coupling in half, weld one of the halves to tank, make a small bracket and weld to tank for thermostat. Also for the inside you need a shield for the heater element. keep parts from dropping and hitting element. For bulk "lye" go online, Lewis red devil lye was taken off the market. Don't put aluminum, lead, or zinc in or it might disappear. Had one for 20 yrs, plain water heater elements don't last but a year, run dry 18 and counting. Every so often when the solution looks a slimy, a little plain laundry detergent takes the slime away. I've cleaned mine out every couple of years as needed, solution goes down the drain, solids get dried out and to the dump. No problems. Works for me may work for you?
I've been experimenting with vinegar, which is similar to the molasses method for rust removal. It's slower, no doubt (no pun intended), but does work. It'll also affect the bores. Would the Oil-Eater do the same, or is it only a lifting agent, so to speak?
It's not "that" dangerous, Its what you use to make soap. Rubber gloves, ventilation, and safety glasses, and a little bit of sense in your head and you'll be fine.
I heard (read on the hamb someplace) that heated antifreeze does a good job in a barrel like you're contemplating. I think he used an old water heater and a circulation pump. Dress up like the Wild Man from Borneo & post pictures of you making Cadillac soup if you don't go to the machine shop.
I'm not really comfortable sharing this information with you guys, but it works for me... Use extreme caution, as well as at your own risk!!! Get ahold of someone in your area who makes bio-diesel, and tell them your interested in 35 gallons of their waste product. Bio-d is made by mixing methanol and lye with veggie oil. The chemical reaction causes the glycerine to separate from the veg oil. The glycerine, lye, and methanol drop to the bottom of the tank and the bio-d is syphoned off the top. The waste glycerine is [technically] bio-degradable, but it's still some very nasty stuff that can burn your skin and eyes. Most bio-d producers use it to break down compost piles. At any rate, buy a $9 220V water heater element and a cheap evtension cord, and wire the element up directly to the cord. Set your steel 55 gallon barrel onto some scrap wood pieces, then fill the barrel with the glycerine, and drop the block into it. Then drop the element into the liquid, just dangling on the end of the extension cord. Yes, this sounds dangerous as hell, but the glycerine is not conductive, so it wont shock you...[unless the wires contact the side of the barrel] Still, be carefull!!! That stuff will clean anything!!! Glycerine is basically soap, methanol is alcahol, and lye is a caustic cleaning agent... Works great to clean engine parts. The water heater element will get the barrel up to about 160*. Let it sit and boil for 24 hours and remove. A quick trip to the car wash to blast it clean, and your in business!
I've tried something similar, the problem was the propane burner wont get hot enough. I'm going to make one from a used horse watering trough and water heater bunrers.
I've made carburetor stew with antifreeze in a crock pot before. It would never get to a roiling boil like water did, but cleaned pretty well. It also stunk pretty good. I heard the trick is to heat it on the stove in a pot to get it hotter nad you can just dunk it for 15 minutes to get it clean. I believe it, but I don't think I'll be doing it. If I had the room, hell yes I'd make my own tank. It's $60+ I believe to get a block hot tanked but worse the hassle.
Three boxes of washing soda from you local supermarket to 55 gallons of water will do a good job and is biodegradable. And yes , a waterheater element will get it hot enough.
There was a thread I think on here about soaking a block in molasses .I heard it does work good its cheap but will end up smelling like a dead body.
Here is how i clean metal, and it is safe and it works.( When your done with it get a bucket and mop, will do an awesome job cleaning the oil stains in the driveway) Take a 55 g drum fill it with water, add 25 lbs of any alky cleaner. Alkys are an industry standard for degreasing. The one i use is called nuvat classic. Wrap the drum with a drum heater you can get them from mcmaster carr or grainger. It will heat the drum to 100-110 deg. Put the block in and presto clean metal. It even removes paint. Put the lid on and slide it back into the corner when your done. I buy the nuvat thru my buisness..They dont sell this stuff at wal mart. Another company that suplies this type of alky cleaners is chemetall okite.
By the time you spend the money and time making this cooker then get propane and what ever cleaner you are going to use , It will be a hell of a lot easier and probably cheaper to hall it to the machine shop and let them do it the right way ! just my opinion . Retro Jim
I think for the time and material to do it yourself(not just boiling water) it would be worth it to pay a few dollars to have the machine shop clean it up. Trust me, im all about doin stuff yourself cause i like to save as much cash as i can too, but the aggervation sometimes just isnt worth it ya know?
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