Rusty engine head

Yes. All of the above.

My personal fave is Sandblast.
My next best fave is electrolytic recomposition
My next best fave is a wire wheel
My next best fave would be chemical Naval Jelly or others.

Many like Molasses. I have not tried it and can't see the mechanism to why it should work. But not to dispute. Whatever works for whomever.

Joe K
 
I've sandblasted them, but molasses is probably the best to get rid of the rust on the inside. I've used molasses, but it needs to be warm, like in a dark blue tub in the hot summer sun, and it takes about 5 or 6 days.

If there is a shop around you that still hot tanks engines, that is another good way to go. I used to hot tank at the shop I worked in, and I'd cook the engine overnight.

BTW, I don't understand the chemistry of molasses either, but it works fine with the parts I did.
 
If you have a good machine shop near you, just take it to them and have them clean it up and magnaflux it. $85 in Portland. But the active ingredient is a "good" machine shop.
 
Molasses works by "Chelation" whatever that means. I have Googled chelation and am none the wiser but in any case it does work, as long as you're not in a hurry. In my experience you don't need warm temperatures, and if its cold you just need to leave it a bit longer. I have had really good results at six parts of water to one part molasses and leaving it submerged for 2 or 3 weeks. Also, molasses does not work on an oily surface, so would have no affect on the interior of the engine.
 
I don't want to sound condescending but, why would anybody want to clean a rusty one when there are so many good ones out there? I recently took 29 to the scrap yard and kept 4 nice ones because I had so many lying around. I now have about 8 or 10, I think they reproduce at night.
 
Chelation means to hold something in suspension and is the idea behind Detergents (Oil, soap, etc) carrying away sludge, dirt. The original formula was Ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid (sp) EDTA for short. You sort of want to write a song about that!
Terry

Mad Mac said:
Molasses works by "Chelation" whatever that means. I have Googled chelation and am none the wiser but in any case it does work, as long as you're not in a hurry. In my experience you don't need warm temperatures, and if its cold you just need to leave it a bit longer. I have had really good results at six parts of water to one part molasses and leaving it submerged for 2 or 3 weeks. Also, molasses does not work on an oily surface, so would have no affect on the interior of the engine.
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