Good afternoon, I posted this in the wrong section so am reposting it here. I had an engine into the machine shop last year and they tumbled it and it looked pretty good. I put the engine on a stand to start relieving it but then got busy with other projects. This spring the shop flooded when the snow melted. The high humidity caused some surface rusting but I also noticed the lifter gallery under the intake manifold is very rusty. I have been struggling to find a solution to my crusty rust issue so I thought I would search the forum but did not find any results that really answered my specific issue. Is there a good method to remove the crusty rust from the lifter gallery? I appreciate your input. Thank you
I own maybe the coolest running flathead in the world. It's common to tool down the interstate in July at 175 degrees. Some of the reason is the nice Walker radiator. But I think the major reason is the water jackets of the block were sandblasted out when it was rebuilt. Whatever you do to clean up your rusty cavity will require a boil out again. Might as well just sandblast it, and the water jackets at the same time. Then ***emble immediately after cleaning.
If it's only rust and otherwise clean, I would dump it in a barre; of "Evaporust" or "Rust 911" or some such chelatting agent. "Evaporust" seems to work better for me, but "Rust 911" is cheaper. It make take several cycles until the solution no longer turns black; then you'll know you have it all.
What about spraying it down with a watered down citric acid spray and let it sit for a bit and then rinse it out?
I have seen several videos on the electrolysis but I am not sure if they would remove the crusty rust. I guess I should give it a try.
My concern with sandblasting is getting the sand out of the internals and concerned about damaging the lifter bores or the camshaft bearing surfaces sandblasting it. Any suggestion to prevent the potential damage?
I was considering using Eastwood’s rust converter as I have seen it work well to remove surface rust but again the crusty rust is my concern.
With sandblasting you can aim exactly where you want the stream to go. And you could even put small plastic plugs in the lifter bores. You will need to pull the cam bearings anyway if it’s going to be boiled clean again.
The Jalopy Journal
