>11/7/99
>Hi all,
>Yesterday i met with a young chap who was of necessity getting rid of the
>leftovers from 3500 rebuild. Seems 2 years ago he'd bought a '72 RR which
>had a rebuilt engine & the seller chucked in a bunch of "spares". The lad
>had run out of places to store the bits & was giving the stuff away to a
>home. So what've i ended up with? ...(i) 10.5:1 cr block all clean with new
>freeze plugs but lightly rusting bores, (ii) a machined crank with label
>attached saying ten thou over (iii) very clean prep'd heads along with a
>bunch of tatty gaskets, valves ,bearings etc. Problem is that the water has
>got at the con-rods & they're really coated in rust but appear to have been
>worked on too. NO pistons.
>Question time: the only usable part could be the crank so should i assign
>the whole lot to a hoarding place in my garage or is this stuff just really
>junk? i already have a spare untouched engine ready for a truly serious
>performance rebuild to replace the animal that i reco'd for my kitcar.
>Any suggestions appreciated.
>Pete
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7/11/99
Pete:
I am not a real expert on this stuff, but I would strongly suggest
checking out the possibility of cleaning up this stuff, oiling it, and
storing it better. Cylinder bores lightly-rusted should be cleanable with
honing, no problems, I would think. The only critical areas of the
crankshaft are the machined journal surfaces. If there is no pitting from
the rust, then a crocus cloth (or 600-800 wetordry paper) cleanup should be
OK. Rust on counterweights and other non-machined surfaces should just be
wire-brushed. Con rods are the same-the critical areas are the machined
bores at each end. If not pitted, then a crocus-cloth cleanup on those
surfaces, along with wire brushing of the non-machined surfaces should be
OK. This doesn't measure up to the "modern" expectation of absolute
perfection in every detail but the parts should be completely usable. If
these procedures don't meet your expectations, then, at least check with
your local automotive machine shop about glass bead blasting, or some such,
before relegating everything to the scrap heap. If, on the other hand,
anything is badly-pitted from the rust, then it probably should be
considered as just junk. That's one man's opinion for what it is worth.
Regards,
David Kernberger
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