I was pretty worried the cylinders were rusted but they weren't. The real problem was mice. Big nest in the engine. So the question is do I need to hot tank the block or is tearing it down and checking everything and cleaning up the lifter valley with ATF enough? I'm most concerned with the lifter bores. I got the lifters out and preliminary look they are ok. Thoughts?
Low buck solution ~ Disassemble, pressure wash, go over it with a cup brush, check for damage afterwards. I'd emory the lifter bores too. It should be good after clean up. Glyptal could also be considered it there is any rust pitting in the valley.
You could wash it down into the pan and crocus cloth the lifter bores and call it done. At the worst pull the oil pan and make sure nobody built a home in the pickup screen.
The thing in my mind, if you wash the mouse piss rust away, some of it may find it way to a place that gets into the bearings. Heck, the piss may have dribbled down anyways. The cam sure looks like it caught some
That's a big block right ... are you sure that isn't rat piss? I sure hope you charged them a good size security deposit before they moved in.
Hot tank and new cam bearings. Do it right and don't let it sit another 17 years. For Pete's sake don't use a cup brush EVER inside of a motor! Those wires will break off and find a hiding spot just waiting for its chance to get to a bearing or oil pump.
@greybeard360 I always clean up my blocks with a cup brush. They get cup brushed inside the valley area, timing chain area and the outside of the block. Rust and crud seem to vanish. They get a deep cleaning before and afterwards. So far no problems. I'm always open to learning about new ways.
Everything is expensive here and I have had bad luck with the local machine shop in terms of taking forever. Took them 8 weeks to do a sbc valve job for me. I called and said $48 bucks to hot tank and could do it in a day. What do I need to do to prep it? Pull the cam bearings and freeze plugs I assume? What do I need to do when I get it back? Will cylinders need to be honed? As you can see this is a first for me. Its a 454. I was trying to avoid mentioning since technically OT. It is going in my 47 ford. Another question - It came with a small B&M supercharger. Can I still get parts for it? Is there anything that would wear out from sitting?
I believe this is what you're looking for, just double check that's the right series of blower https://www.rbssuperchargers.com/Products/B_M_142_144_Powercharger_Rebuild_Kit--700-038 .
The smallest B&M kit for the BBC used the 174 Power Charger, but I’d expect the bearings to be the same. B&M blowers used Teflon strips on the rotors, if it was used you may want to check their condition.
I agree with complete disassembly & clean. I have no idea how long mine sat. The farmer parked it in a barn with the fuel pump removed. I'm guessing it had very low miles on a rebuild when parked. The mouse piss did some damage on mine. It got down into the rear main bearing & had the bottom end locked up. The crank shows a little discoloring on it .... I just wiped it down for now. All the bearings, rings, pistons ... look great, just the 1 bearing is damaged. I was only inspecting it as I saved it from the scrap pile, curious what I had and where I was going to store it ... I have no use for it at this time. I still have the valve train installed & it is locked up from 3 frozen lifters. From the piss. I think it will be a pretty simple engine to get running when the time comes. That piss will get everywhere .... I assume the longer it sits the worse it gets. Because I'm not a mechanic with all the special tools, I would want the machine shop to install the cam bearings for me after the block is hot tanked.
If a real hot tank, the shop will take out the cam bearings, they contaminate the solution. You’ll have to ask them to remove the core plugs though, or do it prior.
Those mice really are wretched little creatures! I have a Caddy Flathead that I am trying to resurrect- not nearly that bad though.
The mice didn't bother with the mouse motor in mine, they preferred the exhaust system. The squirrels liked the passenger rear frame rail. All gone now.
If you get it cleaned in a Jet washer (the giant dishwasher) instead of hot tanking it, the cam bearings should survive.
My last 350 sat for 30 years, all taped up but the critters still made it their home. I tore it down, mainly they lived in the exhaust manifolds, I did find seeds mostly in the intake valley. The bearings were worn, but no mouse whiz on them. If you do have some, it will be fairly obvious. Pull a cap or more, but I think you are heading to a short block rebuild.
I missed the blower part, but the nest you had in the valley, assuming the blower was on the engine, would make me think the critters went into it as well. If so, probably should be taken apart some to see what it look like in there.
Tear the engine down and hot tank it then inspect and clean everything during reassembly. By the looks of the supercharger tear that down and inspect it. Do it once,do it right and there should be no worries for years to come.
Take it apart and clean it, hot tank doesn’t remove rust anyways, and after it comes out you still have to scrub the crap out of everything before you assemble it.
I would vat it. As you said, remove the cam bearings and oil galley plugs and soft plugs. Number the pistons and install in the proper holes. I have done that many times with good success.
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