Removing Rust from the Block

[cas3]

The military does their own rebuilds, with a tag on it which will show the date, the work done, and which base did the work. So most likely the fire dept did the rebuild

[pistonbroke]

Ken , after reading your post's if I were in your shoes I would be inclined to pull both water pumps and clean out the block with a stiff wire and compressed air. A shop vac would also be helpful. When the pumps are off you'll be able to access most of your water jackets and see what shape you water pump impellers are in. My buddy up in Billings had a 1940 V8 in his old school 32 roadster that we played around with after sitting for almost 50 years. the lower hoses were completely full of crud. We used air, high pressure water and coat hangers. As far as I know that deuce is still on the road with no issues . One road trip for it was out to Washington when I lived there . No issues at highway speeds in August says it all. It's worth a try . Tim

[Ken T]

Originally Posted by pistonbroke

Ken , after reading your post's if I were in your shoes I would be inclined to pull both water pumps and clean out the block with a stiff wire and compressed air. A shop vac would also be helpful. When the pumps are off you'll be able to access most of your water jackets and see what shape you water pump impellers are in. My buddy up in Billings had a 1940 V8 in his old school 32 roadster that we played around with after sitting for almost 50 years. the lower hoses were completely full of crud. We used air, high pressure water and coat hangers. As far as I know that deuce is still on the road with no issues . One road trip for it was out to Washington when I lived there . No issues at highway speeds in August says it all. It's worth a try . Tim

Yeah, I think this is what I'll do. It doesn't hurt to try cleaning it with the engine still in. With the radiator out, there's a little extra room.

A couple questions:

1) In the images showing the rust inside, is there anything behind it that I
could damage during the process of cleaning it? Like a wall or fins or what
ever.
2) Would a Dremel be a good tool to use to get the bulk of what's visible
out before doing the other stuff like a coat hanger?

Thank you to everyone with the different suggestion! Right now, I'm just trying to get it started. In the future, I'm pretty sure I'll be up to pulling the engine out, doing a complete rebuild and making it shiny.

[Ken T]

Thanks again to everyone with the much needed advice.

[Pete]

Since it is a display/parade vehicle only, most any Mickey Mouse band aid fix will work.

Be careful cleaning those pump inlets. After you get all the rust and scale out there may not be enough good metal left to hold a clamp.

[Ken T]

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Originally Posted by Pete

Since it is a display/parade vehicle only, most any Mickey Mouse band aid fix will work.

Be careful cleaning those pump inlets. After you get all the rust and scale out there may not be enough good metal left to hold a clamp.

It's not a parade vehicle now. I hope on making it drivable.

[Tim Ayers]

Pete brings up a good point. Have you spun the pulley on the pumps? With that much rust, the shafts may be seized and will need to be replaced anyway.

[kurt v]

When you start that motor make sure you have filters in the upper hoses or you will plug up the rad, don't know the name of them, their clear so the crud can be seen.

kurt

[pistonbroke]

Ken , take the pumps off and check them out or just replace or have them rebuilt. All you'll find behind them is a good access port of about 3" into the cooling passages of the block to clean it out . No fragile parts, just rusty old cast iron . Rusty scale on these surfaces is normal. It's the loose chunks of crud that you don't want . Again, scrape it ,flush it with a high pressure water hose and or air. I totally agree with filtering or completely disregarding your cooling water by letting it run out into a tub for the first 15 minuets of run time while pouring in fresh at the radiator . I did/do this after any rebuild or resurrection of a unknown engine. You would be amazed at what comes out of an old motor that has been through the shake and bake process when you first start it .

[Pete]

Originally Posted by Ken T

It's not a parade vehicle now. I hope on making it drivable.

It is not likely that is possible.

There is only ONE method that will get all of the scale and rust out.
That is chemical stripping the bare block.

[Tim Ayers]

Originally Posted by Pete

It is not likely that is possible.

There is only ONE method that will get all of the scale and rust out.
That is chemical stripping the bare block.

Agreed. With a cherry picker and that big of an engine compartment, it should be fairly easy to get the motor out if the picker can lift high enough. If not, an I beam and block with do the job.

[Yoyodyne]

Here's a post I made about cleaning water jackets with Ospho. I did similar to a Model T with the engine in the car. I made a filler and a drain out of PVC pipe fittings with a 1/4 turn valve on the exit and a large filler on the inlet. I poured the Ospho into the block and left it work for 24 hours, drained it out and flushed with water. Rinsed and repeated a half dozen times. Eventually it dissolved the flakes of rust and removed most of the hard water deposits. Last fill also included the radiator. This turned a car that was impossible to drive because of the heating problem it had into a car that runs almost too cool. The T is not as clean as the V8, mostly because I can't flush it completely in the car, I think I'd need to strip it to the bare block to make it perfect in appearance, but it functions perfectly, the motometer does not even enter the sight circle under normal conditions.


Be very careful handling the Ospho around the vehicle, it leaves a horrible phosphate mess on everything it touches.


https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showp...0&postcount=25


https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showt...90#post2191090

[pistonbroke]

Hey Ken Pm me. Tim

[Ken T]

I made it out to the desert and was able to remove the water pumps. What was behind the pumps wasn't as bad as I was suspecting. The driver side was dry and you can see into the block. The passenger side had some black gunk in it with some grit. Before I left, radiator fluid had surfaced on top of the gunk. Next weekend I'm going to to try the rust remover inside the block. I'm definitely going to need new water pumps.

Screenshot 2024-03-02 202143.jpg IMG_9538.jpg IMG_9535.jpg IMG_9537.jpg IMG_9536.jpg IMG_9530.jpg IMG_9532.jpg

[hotcoupe]

Here is a link to a thread that I started on the H.A.M.B. This process worked for me, and is a lot cheaper than the commercial products. One other thing, this solution is NOT, I repeat, NOT an acid. A point that I tried and failed to make clear in the original thread.
Hope this helps,
Tom
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...moval.1285516/