Had to go to an old cellar on the ranch today and found a complete disassembled Flathead in there! It’s setting on end but has been in about an inch of water at times for many, many years. I didn’t have time to really inspect it, just wondering if it’s worth checking out? Bones
Cast lasts for a long time but will waist away a bit, if it’s not full of cracks it might be worth saving.
"Is it worth checking ?" ONLY YOU can make that determination..! If it's been sitting in standing water, on one end...a quick visual should tell you how bad the rusted areas will be. You say "many, many years"... It might be worth checking, but It DOESN't sound too promising. And of course, cast iron rusts. Mike
Eventually it will rust away to nothing but that might take hundreds of years. In the meantime machined surfaces like cylinder, bearing saddles etc will get pitted and damaged. How bad it might be, and if a machine shop can save it, is an open question. You will have to clean it up and inspect it and maybe get an expert opinion.
Somebody hauled that to a cellar to "save" it and keep it out of the elements. Woulda been better to just leave it in the sun. The water its sitting in may be a recent change, the cellar could have been dry for years. Hope ya get some useable parts from it.
Cast iron rusts away just like sheet metal does. The difference...it's a lot thicker, so it takes longer to make it all go away.
Like others have said, eventually it will but if you catch it soon enough yu can save it. Cast iron frying pans & pots can be encrusted with rust and sandblasted to clean the surface much like a old flathead, then you can make a informed decision. hRP
I just located this engine last night, while checking this cellar at the request of my mother. Some kin folks had told her there was dynamite in that cellar. This cellar is odd as it’s open to the front and drains somewhat, but it wet a lot of the time and bone dry in the summer months. The Flathead is setting on it’s bell Housing area. I can’t remember putting it in there, but I would guess it’s been setting there for 30/40 years. May go back and grab it, if I can get a truck in there. And check it out. I just wrote it off, knowing that it had been there that long under harsh conditions, but then got to thinking,”cast iron doesn’t rust like mild steel” . So I may have another Flathead! Bones
Even if the block and crank end up being junk, there might be some valuable bits in there, considering it was disassembled, and assuming it's cheap or free, I would grab it. Even if all you end up with is some small bits/hardware/brackets and stuff, why not? As long as you don't blow up the TNT I guess.
Chrome vanadium steel Model T Ford front axle I pulled out of a river a 1/4 mile from were it feeds into Long Island Sound. Bob
Mine. It's a Model A that was mostly in very good condition. However, everything under the trunk lid was either rusted completely away or rotted severely. I think the car was left sitting with a few bags of fertilizer or a load of chicken shit in the trunk, because I can't come up with any other reason that it was so far gone in those areas.
You can clean off the rust using electrolysis. A plastic barrel of water, a buck's worth of washing soda and a battery charger will do the trick. Then you can tell if it is worth saving.
As long as it's fresh water it's worth looking at. I found DZ 302 that had been setting on the ground out in the elements for over ten years. It cleaned right up. Needed a boring, but it was o.k.
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