Light rust on block

-
S

Shadow

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 11, 2013
Messages
117
Reaction score
13
Location
Porterville ca
Just picked up a 340 block that I am told
was bored, new cam bearings ready to go
but then sat uncovered in a garage for
5 years and now has a light coat of surface
rust over entire block, cylinder bores and
lifter bores included. Looking for a cure.
 
Shadow said:
Just picked up a 340 block that I am told
was bored, new cam bearings ready to go
but then sat uncovered in a garage for
5 years and now has a light coat of surface
rust over entire block, cylinder bores and
lifter bores included. Looking for a cure.
Click to expand...

take it to a machine shop and have it ran thru a parts washer. might get away with scotch brite and wd40 on the lifter bores and cylinders. if there is any pitting you may be in trouble and need to re hone the cylinders
 
You know I didn't even think of the scotch
brite but those seem to work great at
cleaning up rust and dirt.
 
Shadow said:
You know I didn't even think of the scotch
brite but those seem to work great at
cleaning up rust and dirt.
Click to expand...

dont run them up and down the bores. go around like a hone would. hell even a dingle ball hone and drill might do the trick with a generous amount of wd40
 
That means you have rust in oil passages as well. I'd have it hot tanked.
 
Hot tanking will require new cam bearings. You could certainly spend some time on with wd40. Let it soak in overnight & then lightly go over the surfaces with the scotchbrite. Pull all the oil plugs & run some brushes thru all the passages with the wd-40 as well. You'd be surprised what wd-40 & a soft cloth will remove from machined surfaces. Any pitting will require a re-machine of course.
 
younggun2.0 said:
dont run them up and down the bores. go around like a hone would. hell even a dingle ball hone and drill might do the trick with a generous amount of wd40
Click to expand...
built a 350 chevy block,crank an pistons an rods that was in similar shape,..all machine work was done 10 years before i got it,...i stored it 10 more years an had light surface rust on everything,..soaked block with diesel fuel for a week,..ran wire brushes threw oil passages,..hit it with dingle ball hone,..went over rest of surfaces with a drill an stainless wire brush,..washed it good an threw it together an been in my sportsman dirt car 2 years doing fine
 
I recently had to put a sleeve in a bore because of the slightest, most seemingly insignificant amount of rust that got bigger as the motor ran.

The problem with cast iron and rust is that what you see is NOT what you get.
For every visible area of rust you have a proportionate area around it which has gone soft, it's a chemical process and it's amazingly fast.

In my case after only a couple of thousand miles my tiny little rust just kept getting bigger and bigger due to the pressures the rings put on a cylinder bore.

I was very lucky that I had the cylinder heads off for an unrelated problem, because if I would have left it long enough I would have had broken rings and from there the damage could potentially be catastrophic.

My advice, get it checked by someone who knows what they're doing and you'll sleep a lot easier lol.
 
Rumor was Team Petty used to bury blocks in the dirt to let them rust and season them. He won what? 200 races in a Mopar. Hard to argue with that.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top