Block cleaning

-
You can buy cleaning brushes just for this, there's different sizes and lengths. I usually dip them in mineral spirits and run them through until they come out clean. This is an important step and the sign of a good build.
 
just like everything else...

th.jpg
 
Cleaning brushes, warm water with some dish detergent in it. Wash, brush out all oil passages and bores, rinse, and blow dry. Then spray with WD40 on anything you don't want to flash rust.
 
Thanks for the replys guys gonna take my time puttin this one back together let alot of things slide last time and after only 500 miles had to pull and rebuild, of course runnin it past 5000 during break-in probably didn't help either but sure was fun, first muscle car since early 70's, got carried away
 
Remove all the block plugs, buy a good brush kit, something where the brissels won't break/snap off as you use the brush......hot soapy water....Knights used to (maybe they still do) make a great degreaser, spray on, rinse off. There is no such thing as "too clean" go at it till you can not find any dirt to remove. Use the hottest water you can for rinse, be liberal, get the block warm/hot blow it dry as quickly as possible, coat cylinders with WD40 so they don't oxidize as quick as you can.

Good luck
 
Moroso sells a nice block cleaning set of brushes.
 
Greetings. A little help, please . . .

I pressure-washed my freshly-machined 360 block with a diluted concentration of Purple Power, rinsed well with a garden hose & sprayer, & used compressed air to blow dry as well as I could. I wiped the machined surfaces down with WD40.

Next morning, all the as-cast surfaces of the block are flashed over with rust, incl. inside. Obviously didn't get it dry enough. Now what?

I imagine any mechanical cleaning (i.e., scrubbing with a brush or blasting) would require washing again. Would a heat gun do a better job of fully drying the block? A leaf blower? Could a rust converter be used on the as-cast block surfaces?

As was famously said: Any help you could give would be most, uh, helpful.
 
There are other spray lubricants that contain less alcohol or no alcohol that will mot evaporate. One the surfaces are completely dried and sprayed with lubricant I would suggest you wipe down the machines surfaces with oil or grease until you are ready to assemble. The longer time span from cleaning to assembly the more important the lubrication is.

I usually use Amsoil engine fogged or a couple other spray lubricants vs. WD40.
 
I would not use rust converter.. the resulting iron phsophate with crankcase moisture later on can become acidic.

I always scrub down everything, including the insides of passages, with very hot water and a bit of mild detergent, as hot as I can stand, and THEN follow-up with a scalding hot, thorough rinse; the block will dry in a jiffy and not get as much rust. Then I wipe down all surfaces with a paint prep fluid (like Prepsol) and rags or towels with minimal lint; that will pull off most of the minimal surface rust that forms. Then you can treat the machined surfaces, and/or paint the outside right away.

If it is just the interior and exterior rough surfaces that are of concern, then you can do well with the paint prep cleaner alone in removing a lot of that surface rust, and probably skip a hot soap & water re-clean.
 
on that rust you can use a non phosphate remainder acidic cleaner like CLR or lime a way or make your own from some pool acid
But you then have to neutralist with some baking soda solution, hot tide, then rinse and then immediately oil and bag as the oil will attract dust like
crazy
best to do this with a completly stripped block (no cam bearing dirt traps) and after you have drilled the main feeds and any other clean up
like pressure feeding the thrust do have all the plugs and the second oil sender plug out on B/RB- everythiong
acid will not work on oil so if there is oil over the rust you have to use steaming hot tide power first then acid clean
a caustic soda hot tank will do it too
 
If it's just the flash rust in the valley and crankcase (and exterior) spray the whole thing with WD40 and don't worry about it. The issue was probably where you kept it in addition to not getting it truly dry. A trick I've used in the past is to shoot brake cleaner on it and light it on fire. It burns clean away and will heat up the entire block to help drive the water out of the pores of the iron. You do need to "reapply" for a good 4-5 minutes until the block is hot to the touch. Then spray the whole deal with WD40 and let it dry.

Edit for those challenged by some things.. THIS SHOULD BE DONE OUT OF DOORS IN A WELL VENTILATED AREA THAT DOES NOT CONTAIN FLAMMABLE MATERIALS, WITH FIRE PROTECTION EQUIPMENT WITHIN EASY REACH, AND IF NEEDED WITH SUPERVISION OF A QUALIFIED INDIVIDUAL...lol
 
moper said:
If it's just the flash rust in the valley and crankcase (and exterior) spray the whole thing with WD40 and don't worry about it. The issue was probably where you kept it in addition to not getting it truly dry. A trick I've used in the past is to shoot brake cleaner on it and light it on fire. It burns clean away and will heat up the entire block to help drive the water out of the pores of the iron. You do need to "reapply" for a good 4-5 minutes until the block is hot to the touch. Then spray the whole deal with WD40 and let it dry.

Edit for those challenged by some things.. THIS SHOULD BE DONE OUT OF DOORS IN A WELL VENTILATED AREA THAT DOES NOT CONTAIN FLAMMABLE MATERIALS, WITH FIRE PROTECTION EQUIPMENT WITHIN EASY REACH, AND IF NEEDED WITH SUPERVISION OF A QUALIFIED INDIVIDUAL...lol
Click to expand...

Damn, where the hell do I find a qualified individual to supervise for this. I bet some bottle rockets in the tappet bores would rock! And alcohol, this calls for alcohol too.
 
Class C fireworks are illegal in my state so for that you're on your own.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top