Howdy all- Working on my Dad's '47 Chevy with the 216 in it. We're trying to resurrect the original motor and get her running under her own power without spending a ton of cash or doing a total resto. The motor sat for a while and needed a new flywheel ring gear and clutch. We got that replaced, oiled her up got a new battery and tried to start her last fall, and low & behold the #1 exhaust valve is stuck and won't budge. We shut that operation down quick. So now the head is off at the machine shop getting cleaned & freshened up over the next couple of weeks. My question is now that the bottom end is freed up and we cleaned up the cylinder walls, what should we use to clean the surface of the block so it all seals up nice when the head comes back? Here's what it looks like... There's just a few areas where there's some minor rust / pitting / misc crust that looks like we could buzz with a Scotch-Brite whizzer wheel on a drill or something...but I don't know if that's recommended. The head gasket jobs I've done on newer cars didnt' have this rust, it was more of a scrape & clean job without any trouble. But this has a few years on our other projects . What do you guys do when doing a head swap / gasket change that makes for a good prep before slapping it all back down again? Thanks as always.
We use the Scotch Brite type wheels all the time, they work great. Sounds like a great project, good luck and welcome to the HAMB.
Thanks CTFuzz, we'll post up some pics once we get her running. Its been a long winter and too cold to work most weekends. I appreciate the advice.
I would not use Scotch Brite pads. I worked at a GM shop as a service manager for years and the material in the pads was found to get into the bottom end and eat bearings. They make green discs with little finger looking things on the disc that do a good job.
Allyoop, I've heard the same about the green 3M wheels I think you are describing. You can see the brass fibers in them.
X2---I hung around a machine shop a few years ago, a staple of their rebuild business was uninformed techs using scotchbrite wheels on the 2 inch grinder to clean the gasket mating surfaces.
Are these what you're referring to? I think its called Roloc by 3M. Would they be strong enough to buzz off some rust? I'll look and maybe we can try a few things. Start soft and go more aggressive if the rust is not coming off. Still we should probably cover the open cylinders with rags & oil to keep the debris down right?
I wouldn't worry a lot about the rust around the cylinders in the area the head gasket does not cover. Just knock the loose off and don't worry about surface finish there. Get it good and clean where the gasket seals and put it back together.
Yes, those are the discs that GM approved for our shop. I normally try to put something into the cylinders and then blow them out best I can afterwards.
Aren't the heavily rusted amoeba shapes connected to the cylinder bores part of the combustion chamber? It looks like the actual gasket surface is relatively rust free, so may clean up pretty well with scraping. Those sixes sure had complicated combustion chambers. http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2676/4009562943_53431c0fae.jpg
I always oil the bores before starting clean up, then put an oily rag in each bore prior to cleaning. One will always be higer and may not be able to get a rag in it, but try to get ehm to a point where most are low and put a rag in them. After thorough cleaning you can pull the rags, blow out anything they don't catch, then spray down the bores well.
you need to pull that bottom end apart, hone the cylinders and put in a new set of rings, theres just to much rust on those walls, you can do that yourself, you have nothing to loose, putting a nice tight head on an old bottom end is a mistake, but if your determined then i would start with a paint scraper on the top of the block, then i would use some pb blaster and a 3m pad and clean the rust out of the cylinders and top of the block, then use my shop vac to suck up all the crap, i wouldnt worry about any 3m pad causing you a problem, that rust on your walls is one of the worst abrasives know to man, but really put some new rings in there you wont regret it.
I've always used one of those knife sharpening stone blocks with plenty of WD40. Like others have said, put some rags in the bores to collect most of the junk.
I thought so too, until my old man busted out the PB Blaster and a rag. most came off and the tops of the pistons look much better with just a little work with a putty knife. In a perfect world I know we'd tear her apart and do it right...but we're not at that point financially yet. Plus we have also never been that deep into a babbit bearing motor and are nervous about taking out bottom end parts. Eventually we will do this, but right now we just want to get it to move and get back on the road. Even still, I know those rings will get chewed up in the first few miles.
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