I know everyone is thinking in the back of their head (if you've got cylinder wall rust, you need to have the block machined, get new pistons, etc, cus the rings won't seal) but I would like to try anyways. I just purchased a rebuilt head, because my old one was warped and unrepairable. I don't have alot of money, nor do I have the right tools, so I would like to reinstall the head without doing any machining on the block. My questions is, what can I clean the cylinder walls with that won't damage the rings? Any suggestions on preping the walls before reinstalling the head?

Do you mean that you still have the piston in the hole and just want to clean up the top portion? If so, steel wool and WD40 will remove most of it. The engine should be able to eat any stuff that lanes in the ring area and can't be wiped out.

Yeah, that's exactly what I mean. Steel wool it safe to use? Sounds great

quote Originally posted by neghcho: Yeah, that's exactly what I mean. Steel wool it safe to use? Sounds great

Yes, it is not ideal, but nothing will be. Just get as much back out as you can when you are done.

When you scrub the rust go around, not up and down like the pistons.

Try one of those springy copper pot scrubbers with some oil. Those won't shed like steel wool. You'll have a little easier cleanup that way. The copper is softer than the steel so shouldn't add to the damage.

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The only thing George Orwell got wrong was the year...

The Ogre's Fiero Cave (It's also at the top of every forum page...)

You can hone it out without changing the diameter of the bore. That would clean it up and put a nice finish on the cylinder walls. Just make sure you only take off as much material as you need.

I agree with the cleaning method, but I think I would use a Scotchbrite (aka, greenie pad) rather than steel wool - it will not shed stuff that will hurt your cylinder walls. Second choice would be using one of the copper type pan scrubbing pads, last choice would be steel wool.

It's not really going to be so great for the motor.. and likely, if your cyl walls have rust, I suspect that the rest of the motor also has some pretty significant damage.

My opinion would be that if you HAVE to do it this way... use one of those green pot scrubber pads and WD-40 to get as much of the loose surface rust off first. Then, if there is any significant amount left, use a brillo pad.

Whatever you do though, it's a good idea to have something protecting your pistons.. like... if you can find a plastic lid to a coffee can or something, see if you can find one that just fits in there.. you really don't want any of this stuff lodging itself into your rings when you finally start it up. At the VERY least.. put a rag in there at the bottom to catch the debris... your bearings are going to have a hard enough time as it is.

This of course goes without saying.. but make absolute sure that you empty all the oil out of your motor.. (there's probably water / milkshake consistency in there) and put 4 or 5 quarts of fresh 5W-30 motor oil in there (and a new filter). Do NOT.. ABSOLUTELY NOT put heavier weight oil in there. Our motors are not meant for it.. and in addition, your motor is going to take a LOT of wear on it's first startup having sat like this. You want good 30 weight oil... I would go with regular oil.. not synthetic.

Also, I would make sure that before you put the cyl head on.. your coat the walls of the cyls with some 5W-30 oil as well... it will help reduce the likely hood of damage to the rings when they make their first couple of passes.

Good luck... and make sure you change your oil and filter again after the first 30-40 miles... (don't skip this step)

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Todd,
2002 Ford Crown Victoria LX
1997 Pontiac Grand Am GT
1987 Pontiac Fiero SE / V6 5-Speed
1987 Pontiac Fiero SE / V6 (3.2L) Auto
1984 Pontiac Fiero 2m4 SE
1981 Pontiac TransAm (sbc 350)
1973 Volkswagen Type-2 Transporter

for superficial rust, ive used a scotchbrite (green scrubbie) pad, followed by a honewith good recults.

[This message has been edited by lurker (edited 04-26-2005).]

Anyone ever just done a "Duke refresh" as in clean, port and hone, new rings then check cam and all bearing on the crank, add a new timing chain (or is it gears) all gaskets, top-end rebuild then re-assemble??

Not to "hijack" but its a little like thats whats happening in this post..

Oh and for Dukes sake, Use a nice powerfull shop-vac after you do the cleaning of your rusty sleeves.., you should also have some terri-cloth rags in the holes to catch any crap that is going to come off with the scotch-brite pads.. and dont use the scratchy stainles steel wool pads.. picture having tiny threads of stainless steel in the rings.. not good..

At least with the scotch-brite pads if you miss some its not going to scratch the piston walls or get caught in the rings, More than likely it will get blown out the exhaust or under the extreme heat melt and desintegrate into powder as its more of a plastic material and not stainless steel micro wires...

Rob

[This message has been edited by BERKELUSA (edited 04-27-2005).]