I stopped at the engine shop after work to see about getting my olds rocket block and heads cleaned. The guy said all he can do is hot tanking which will remove petroleum based products but not rust or paint. I was wondering is there a better process for thoroughly cleaning the block to get all the rust, grime and crud from the water jackets and oil galleys etc. Is there another process that another machine shop could carry out that would clean the block better. Any help is appreciated, thanks. Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I can swing over and clean out all of the Hemi stuff from that pickup bed. I will leave it like it was never there.
some shops have an oven, they bake the parts...seems to work pretty good. There are probably a few other modern processes that I don't know about.
Where are you located? My neighbor's speed shop has a rust tank that cleans water jackets and surfaces like new
Here in So Cal they bake and shot blast heads and blocks, come out looking like perfectly clean bare metal. There are places that will acid clean the water jackets as well. Hot tanking isn't done here anymore as far as I know.
If you take your Olds block to have it cleaned take the front oil galley plugs out and hang on to them. On the back of the block is a small freeze plug in the back of the lifter valley to bell housing do not let them remove it they are hard to find.
Located in Calgary, Alberta. I'll have to call a few more engine shops around town and see if I can find one who can maybe bake it. Thanks for the help guys. I'll let you know how I get on Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Yeah, I saw something about that on hamb. Something to do with the hole for oiling the timing change. Thanks for the heads up. I'll definitely keep hold of them. Thanks Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
A slow process but I use water and vinegar@ 50/50 and leave submerged for 4 or 5 days and then hose of and seems to work fairly well. Not perfect but cheap.
If one of these places are close enough they would make it just like new! http://www.americanmetalcleaninginc.com/services/automotiveservices.html
The shop that hot tanked my block greased the cam journals up and installed a used cam. Didn't have to replace them, that is if you want to save them which was my case.
Some shops are using a soda blast system and the parts come out looking like new. My latest engine was hot tanked (some shops now wait until they can fill up the whole cabinet as a batch) but wasn't at all rusty. Some of the OG paint did come off.
I got bottle brushes that I push through all the oil galleries. Even after I have one tanked. I have discovered that a long skinny screwdriver and a power washer works well on the water jackets. To remove the rust and grit from the outside of the block a stiff scrub brush and Tide (powder if you can find it) mixed really string with water and elbow grease works really well. Also a wire brush on a drill is handy. There is a pulling tractor place clear to hell and gone out in the country here that still has a real hot tank. The EPA has pretty much clamped down on them almost everywhere in the US.
Hot tanks are hard to find and being phased out as other posters have said. Used to be one in Kittery, ME until it got dumped in sewer system and "killed" the sewage treatment plant process. So lots of shops have gone to the "oven degreasing" which I have found not worth spit. But if you are in NE, Dave's Auto Machine in Fitchburg still has a big propane fired hot tank that works great. He did a flathead for me, I first used heavy wire to clean out water jackets on advice of ronnieroadster here on the HAMB, and it came out like brand new cast iron! Dave is on the HAMB by the way, Dave50.
When you build the Olds use Best gaskets they are the best. Pontiac rod bearings are the same as Olds and cheaper.
The cleaning vats are getting hard to find due to EPA rules about hazardous waste disposal. Last engine I built was cleaned with the baking, followed by steel shot blasting method, which does a great job on exposed metal, but not so great on internal water jacket passages. One of my friends had a 440 Mopar to build that was very rusty in the water jackets and he wound up using both a vat and the baking/shot blasting techniques. One VERY IMPORTANT thing though about shot blasting blocks. Use a lot of high pressure hot soapy water followed by a rinse and blow dry after you get the block back. That steel shot can get lodged in little nooks and crannies. Make sure you have ALL oil galley plugs out before you start the process, and use bore brushes, etc. in final cleaning.
No one has mentioned molasses. Very slow but highly effective and not as hard on the cast iron as an acid dip. Vinegar (a weak acid) does work well on the water jackets...just be sure to have a baking soda dip following. We still have a tank and use Zep 9878 which does cut through some of the rust. Nothing like a bead blast but good for 99% of what we need. You may or may not be able to buy it in your locale. God bless the epa. Keep in mind that any strong alkaline cleaner will destroy aluminum which includes pistons and bearings...not sure how grease will protect the cam bearings when the cleaner is designed to remove......grease... .
LOL There was a shop here that used to let me do my own machine work. The guy that owned it got old and sold out. Anyway I was in one time getting some parts tanked. This guy brought his block in to be tanked and told them that it had good cam bearings and not to ruin them. So the old guy pulled them out and handed them to the guy.
AMPRO or the bake and shot blast is the best thing available--It uses stainless NON magnetic shot and that stuff falls right out and off --it will stick to nooks with grease or residue so you do have to do a normal cleaning--do not forget to tap all threaded holes and the number one thing is remove every single plug etc We also use soda blast at our shop--it is amazing for pistons and cleaning aluminum heads but would not even touch the parts original poster showed--AMPRO is the only way to clean and reuse parts like that. Soda blast is perfect for cleaning up an old distributor inside and small stuff but IMO useless on blocks and crusty parts--Each method has its advantages---One note on AMPRO--it shot peens--so lifter bores can "cup over" at the edges--it is important to gently and very lightly hone lifter bores or best method it to use a ball broach to resize lifter bores --this is a very common deal at modern machine shops and the broach kits are sold with different sizes for most all engines--and available from Goodson etc--a good idea for any build. I LOVE bake/blast it is the best method out there for rusty aged blocks and heads---as long as the shop keeps new fresh shot it will make a block look just cast with no harm at all--if they over-use the shot and don't keep a clean unit then parts come out orange or brown looking and so...check the shop you plan on using--look at parts they have done recently--prices range from $60-$125 for a block depending on your area--the systems do use a lot of energy and that is where cost lies--plus that shot ain't cheap----I could not live without AMPRO--if someone stole my soda blaster I would not get that excited
Mean Gene's neighbor owns LJ's Speed and Machine here in Napa. I just took this old GMC bell housing there to get baked and blasted. This thing literally was encrusted in a half inch of sludge and came out looking like the day it was cast when finished. Wish I had a before picture.
The shop I used to use had a cabinet with high pressure heated water nozzles and a turntable that you could set blocks on, plus another round fixture to hang heads and sheet metal parts from. He used some kind of solvent in the water, and things came out of it pretty clean. After the spray cabinet got the majority of the stuff off he baked the cast iron parts for the final cleaning. The fellow passed away several years ago. He was a hell of a machinist, had all the high end equipment. RIP Bob Hutsler, from Lenexa, KS.
A couple of the local shops have the high pressure wash setups. I think more of them now have the ovens though. Some of the local guys are using "Oil Eater" in their old hot tanks. There was someone in this area that built and sold hot tanks that were heated with a water heater element. They were welded sheet metal and would hold a big six cylinder block or a couple of small block blocks. I had one in the school shop I taught in.
Heating and tumble or blasting is the answer , EPA , approved and it will be spotless , so clean that the Midwest humidity will have rust appearing with one overnight sitting
The Jalopy Journal
