Simple Cheap Rust Remover - This works unreal

[Greg]

I was just looking at bruces dyno page and saw the rusty old engine block on the dyno. A really easy way to remove all the orange rust and bring cast iron back to its original grey is to get a tub or tank big enough to fit whatever the past is you want to clean and fill it with molasses (is that how its spelt?) and water. you can use up to 50/50 mix with water but the stronger the better.
Your parts need to be free of oil or it wont work. After a few days soaking, hose the parts off and they will come up perfect, if not, put them back in for a while. A place I used to work had a tank and we put old vintage single cylinder engines that were frozen together with rust and after a few days you could strip them down without a worry.
Only problem is it doesnt smell the best after a while so dont sit the tank outside your kitchen window!

[98-1074649673]

This is how i clean those rusty ole cast iron blocks u saw sitting on my old pics of my dyno. I use my sand blasting cabinet with plastic media in it and blast away, it takes the rust right off back down to the cast finish. The plastic does not effect the parent finish of the material. I use this method to clean all my parts, pistons, rod heads. The plastic does not contain abrasives so if some happens to not get cleaned out on final hand cleaning of my engines it does not do any damage. My engines are cleaned prior to assembly, all threads are chased so no residual material is left.

I clean all my parts in my partswasher using paint thinner, one of my projects is to build a water based partswasher that sprays the parts with heated water/soap. Had one like this at work and it worked great! Reversed engineered and made some sketches and its on the to-do list. It uses a simple recirculating pump and heating elements like found in water heaters. Just need to find a 'donor" heater and strip all the electrics out of it for my parts washer . . . ah yes something else to build

[98-1074649673]

I've heard this 50/50 formula before, it will unstick rusted/frozen parts u say? Humm sounds like something to try if I ever drag home some rusted carcass of engine parts that are to valuable to throw out

[Greg]

Bruce,
Sorry, I wasn't having a shot at the way your parts look, it just reminded me of the molasses trick.
Yep, it might take a little time for really badly rusted parts but we used to have old lister single cylinders etc.. that had been sitting in paddocks for tens of years and were completely frozen and after a few dips (some took a fair few goes) they were able to be stripped down and remachined.
I dont know how it works, but it does.
Its also good for when a customer brings in a "seasoned" block or set of heads (the ones that they have left out the back of the garage in the dirt) to get machined.

[Greg]

Also, I made a spray wash a few years back using a hot water heater element and a pump from an industrial dishwasher. I got the water heater from the tip and payed around $50 from a restaurant supply company, it was used but they are good quality, ie: brass pump, replaceably seals etc.. all I did to the pump was machine the housing down in the lathe to reduce the side clearance to increase the pressure.
It worked a treat, the water heater has a thermostat that is held against the side of the tank with a spring clip so it cuts out the heater at a set temp (this one was about 75deg)
I ended up buying a bigger one but I still use the tank as a hot aluminium soak tank.

[98-1074649673]

Greg, Not to worry didn't take it as a "shot" at the way my engines/parts look at all. This forum is all about information exchange, u saw something that sparked the need to pass along valuable info to the group . . . thats what we are all here for to gather info.

Whats a "TIP"? is that what we here in the USA call a scrapyard?

[Greg]

Sorry, I forget that some things are Australianisms. the tip is the garbage dump. the local one here has a recycling business running there where they pick out stuff that might be of value and resell it super cheap. I bought 20 vacuum cleaners to get the motors out of for my bench for $2 each and the water heater was $5 or so. A lot of the stuff is junk but there are some great deals there.