What’s everyone doing for an easy, at-home, almost-as-good-as-hot-tanking block cleaning method? I lucked into a real clean 59A that I’m planning to put in my truck after it’s all back together, and I don’t want to have to wait on the machine shop to eventually get to it, so I guess I’m doing it myself. Aside from the grungy exterior, I want to be sure the rust is out of the coolant passages, and though a pressure washer might do most of it, I’m interested in others’ methods. -Mike Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I've got a buddy who has a complete (hobby) machine shop of his own, with all equipment for a complete engine rebuild except for a crank grinder. He even has a cleaning vat. But he still takes his blocks to the local machine shop (Arnold Motors) in town. For the $100 they might charge on a really grungy block, he says it's not worth his time to heat the vat up, let alone the expensive cleaner chemicals inside. After you get it back I highly recommend sand blasting the water jackets out. Buy/borrow/rent a sandblasting pot and shoot every which way into every water port to clean all the rust out. It will require another boiling out after this, but not near as co$tly as the first time since it isn't grungy.
Oven cleaner and pressure wash for the really grungy/greasy stuff. For water passages... I'd put the heads, intake manifold and water pumps on, and set up a pond pump (or similar) to circulate vinegar or citric acid (or store-bought radiator flush) through it to remove rust. Flush with baking soda. Poke and prod water passages with a wire or rod. Pressure wash. It would be a lot of fiddling around, but remember, you're looking at 70+ years of corrosion. Good luck!
I'll second the easy off HD oven cleaner but make sure you are outside, that stuff is hard on your lungs but it will amaze you. HRP
Quarter car wash, Simple Green and paint thinner have worked well for me. I always pay special attention to all of the water passages.
Depends on how much energy you want to put into it. An easy way is to get a plastic 55 gallon drum, or a tote that the block just fits into and use citric acid. Buy the powder in bulk and it's not expensive. When you are done with it you can neutralize it with baking soda. If you set up a recirculating system you can use CRL as the cleaner.
Add me to the EasyOff list. I was surprised how well it worked on a grungy 302. Probably should have used my pressure washer to clean it off but the garden hose did just fine. I'll second the suggestion to use it outside. Nasty stuff.
With a flathead, before you take it anywhere, there is a lot you can do at home. You need to get into the water passages and manually prod the gunk out. For some reason on 59-style motors, gunk collects in the rear most water jackets. Get the block on an engine stand so you can tilt and hang it upside down. Here are the items I've used to get down into those water passages: 1) A 3 ft. piece of cable or thick stranded copper wire chucked into a 1/2" drill 2) Long straight blade screw driver. Don't get too aggressive. Sometimes a soft spot or large rust pit can poke a hole in the bore. 3) 2" diameter, long handled gun cleaning brush Scrape and prod and prod and scrape. Use a shop vac and a air gun to help get out out as well. Some use a piece of plywood and roll the block end over end to help jar the crap loose. You will be amazed how much will come out of those water jackets. I can see crud in the top center so I'm assuming there is much more down below. Once you've done all you can at home, bring it a shop to get cleaned.
I guess you haven't been reading the replies, or understanding them....there isn't an easy, quick way to do it, besides taking it to a machine shop. Expect to spend hours of hard labor getting that water jacket cleaned out, and yet more effort on the outside of the block. Have fun! At least you'll know every square inch of the thing, inside and out, by the time you're done with it.
Jim is straight to the point,,,,,,it is labor intensive,,,,,,do all you can,,,,,,but be prepared to work at it . Tommy
I'm currently working on a 1954 Buick nailhead block. Looks like this engine was rebuilt shortly before it was scrapped. It doesn't need a trip to the machine shop. After removing everything save the cam bearings, I cleaned it with Oileater and rags. Used a die grinder to remove casting flash. Cleaned the machined surfaces with razor blade scrapers and scotchbrite pads. Refreshed cross-hatch on cylinders with a ball hone and cleaned the cylinders, lifter bores and oil passages with nylon bottle brushes, Oileater and Hoppes number 9 passes. Cleaned loose rust out of the water jacket with a telescoping pocket magnet and set up a DYI hot tub with a 44 gallon plastic trash can. Filled it with water and lowered the nailhead block into it. Placed a submersible spa pump for circulation and a submersible heating element, digital thermometer and a small amount of Dawn dishwashing soap and watched a bit to see that the suds didn't get out of control. Took almost thirty-five gallons of water to submerge the block. Had to monitor the operation closely as the heating element would have the water boiling if left alone. No switch or thermostat on it. The pump turned out to be more of an aquarium pump than a spa pump. I kept the heat between 130 and 140 degrees as I did not know how much heat the plastic tub could take. The water moved in a slow circular pattern without suds. When the nailhead was pulled from the dirty soup, it was blown dry with my electric weed blower and an air hose. nailhead derusting is next. The water was drained and will be replaced with twenty gallons of Evapo-Rust for the waterjacket derusting. Since I don't have the quanity needed to completely submerge the block, the operation will be a two-step dance, front half first, then the rear half of the block.
Won’t you need to have it checked for cracks anyway? I would hot tank and magnaflux. Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
@LAROKE - great stuff, love seeing your process. @Kevin Ardinger - I'm not planning to. Once it's clean, I'll look over it and see if there's anything suspect, with further dye penetrant inspection if there is. I'm confident this one is in good shape.
Good information and timely for me. I have a 283 that was rebuilt but sat for about 30 years that I tore back down. It looked great inside other than some mud dobbers that made their way into the water jackets through the water pump ports... That is my main concern to get cleaned out and I was considering trying to do it without taking it to the machine shop.
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