Good Morning Fellas, I have a pair of heads off a SBC. They have been sitting around for a few years, the springs, valves, ect are off of them. The issue I have is there is quite a bit of surface rust through out. Ive read that I should use Naval Jelly to remove the rust, by soaking the heads in it. Is that a proper way to solve my issue, and what should I use as a container? A plastic 5ga Bucket? Hefty Bag? Momma's Tupperware?? ... -James
Well I cleaned a carb in "Moma's Tupperware" once, bad deal for sure. I have never heard of soaking a head in naval jelly I am thinking it is going to take a wash tub (about a #10) and several gallons of naval jelly. It may be cheaper to have them hot tanked then finish cleaning the ports and bowls with a wire brush and a dremel or drill.
Use the white vinegar bath trick. Or the baking soda/water solution with a battery charger trick. Or better yet, have em glass-beaded.
The white vinegar trick does indeed work very well- tried it a while back, cleaned up a bunch of old tools and parts
If you are going to use the Naval Jelly, I think you just smear it on, then cover with plastic wrap to keep it wet - if needed. I have never heard of putting parts in a vat of Naval Jelly. The vinegar will probably be for a day or more. But you might want to pull them out, brush off any residual crumbs, and make sure you don't go much longer than needed. It will attack the good metal eventually. And neutralize any vinegar residue with a baking soda rinse when finished, then rinse with clean water and dry.
Isn't there a post about molasses on here somewhere? I've been wanting to try that but haven't gotten around to it. Oh, and PNB, I've got you beat brother... I ran a greasy Edelbrock Performer intake manifold through the dishwasher with a healthy amount of Dawn. Oh, it got it clean alright, but the dishwasher erupted with foam and it left a thick grease ring around the inside of the dishwasher. Momma FLIPPED THE FUCK OUT. In the time it took me mopping up the foam (kitchen was full, 6 inches deep, wall to wall) and scrub out the dishwasher, I could have just cleaned the intake by hand. Dishwasher has never been right since then...
What ratio of molasses to water did you use, and how long did you soak it? I've got an entire FE 352, disassembled, that I need to clean up before I wrap it in grease and plastic for storage for the next 10 years or so. (I want to be able to unwrap it and build it when my son is old enough.)
Do not soak your valve springs in any type of acid such as naval jelly. Stress corrosion cracking will cause them to fail. Remove the springs before soaking.
I guess I'm old fashioned? I'd take them to the machine shop and get them cleaned up...they will glass bead blast them, and you'll have nice bare iron. Might get the guides checked, and a valve job while they're there.
Absolutely.... they hot tank them as part of the basic valve job service and no matter what I brought in, they came back clean. Bob
Just curious, but what would a ball park rate for a Machine shop to clean up the heads? I will look into finding myself a machine shop if the price is alright. But other than that, I dont mind doing some clean up myself either.
If glass beads, or any other abasive, blasting is used in a blaster, then be sure to tape over external threads, such as rocker studs, and plug internal threads, to protect them. Good idea to also chase the externals and retap the internals after blasting, then scrub with hot spay water, rinse and blow dry thoroughly before rust proofing spray and/or paint. All in all, I've been around bead blasting since the early days of industrial and commercial maintenance use, and I've seen some real fuckups when these rules weren, strictly followed. Personally, I wouldn't use it on parts inside a piston engine, and I have a blasting cabinet in my shop. Dave
Just an update for what I did, I used the white vinegar trick on another set of heads, let it soak over night in a bin, and used a soft bristle brush to clean up.. I must say it did an amazing job, 6 bucks and some elbow grease did some wonders.. Im sure an acid dip by a machine shop would come out 100x better, but I would definetly do this again.
I've been thinking about this. Yes--the stuff like dawn foams too much. My buddy also used to use his dishwasher as a parts wasker, but for smaller stuff, and just with regular dishwasher soap like cascade. It worked really good. Man his wife hated that. ---What about having an old dishwasher in the garage/shop for a redneck parts washer, and using stuff like maybe TSP for detergent, or throwing some simple green in?
The Jalopy Journal
