Rust Removal

[lowspeedlife]

Hi Ade, i'm affraid any thing acidic including coke is going to eat your nice copper cylinder before it does any real good inside your engine, including your copper head gasket. If i were going to do something like this i think i would plug the lower cooling port & fill it with a mild acid, maybe diluted, for a few hours then drain & flush it. there is a mild acid used to clean brick but i can't remember what its called, maybe the forum can help with what to use. I would have a spare head gasket to change it if the worst happens.
keep us informed of your progress if you can.
    Scott R.

[AdeV73]

Hi Ade, i'm affraid any thing acidic including coke is going to eat your nice copper cylinder before it does any real good inside your engine, including your copper head gasket. If i were going to do something like this i think i would plug the lower cooling port & fill it with a mild acid, maybe diluted, for a few hours then drain & flush it. there is a mild acid used to clean brick but i can't remember what its called, maybe the forum can help with what to use. I would have a spare head gasket to change it if the worst happens.
keep us informed of your progress if you can.

Yeah, that would put a crimp on things.... I have the head gasket from the dismantled engine as an emergency spare, but I'd rather not have to use it.


Maybe I'll just see how it goes with the rust in place, to begin with. I'll add some central heating inhibitor to prevent new rust, and I guess I'd still better have a filter of some kind in case anything flakes off...


Thanks everyone for the input 

[compig]

I don't think the heating system descaler would affect copper as these systems have copper pipework apart from copper hot water tanks.

[AdeV73]

I don't think the heating system descaler would affect copper as these systems have copper pipework apart from copper hot water tanks.

The trouble is, it's rust I'm trying to remove, not scale.... Now, I know there's de-sludging stuff available, and I'm guessing that "black sludge" is essentially suspended rust... but will the descaler pull the rust out first?

Agreed that the descaler won't affect copper, as you say, there'd be heating systems all over the UK falling to bits right now if it did! 

[compig]

I reckon it would sort the rust out too. Worth a try anyway , it's cheap enough.

[AdeV73]

If it's a real issue, why not pull the head and cylinder and have it hot tanked ? Assuming it's a Listeroid or CS, it shouldn't take too long to pull it apart and reassemble it .... it's not like a modern engine where you need a degree in rocket science and a spare year of your life

The main issue is impatience - mine    I'll do all the fancy rust removal stuff (erm, electrolysis, that is) on my disassembled engine... but I want to get a feel for the heat available from this engine, firstly through the water jacket (which is rusty... but I hope, not TOO rusty). Plus I want to be able to run it for more than a minute or two at a time, which means putting some cooling in place.

The worst thing is, I want to go and play with it NOW, but I can't, because I'm over 1000 miles away!

[lowspeedlife]

I can see how a 1000 miles would make it tough to turn a spanner!

  Scott R.