how to remove light rust on bores? pic included

[cri_ag]

while lending my engine stand to a mate for a week or two, my block was sitting on the ground in the garage. whilst it was on the ground the garage leaked and developed a very slight amount of surface rust in one of the bores. what i would like to know is the best and safest way to remove it, would finest grade steel wool be to harsh?


http://users.tpg.com.au/haack6/4ageblock.JPG

ive only go the one pic as i moved the phone when i took the other few and they blured.

p.s. it looks a whole lot worse in the photos than in person! and the stuff on the face of the block is the remains of the old head gasket allthough it looks like rust it scrapes right off.

[hi-ace]

Just get a sheet of real fine wet & dry and use a bit of WD-40 or machine oil and wipe it around lightly. I've used this without any problems.

[ed]

i'd just oil it well, then give it a wipe with a coarse rag, and turn it over by hand a few times.

[nb86]

if it's a bare block just run a dunny brush hone through it again, use the fine stones and give it a real quick run with plenty of lube.

[mic*]

This has been one of the big points of the BHG prob in the "does this 7M have life" thread.

I have cleaned out light to moderate surface rust with kero & 1200? grit, swapped the ??grit wet & dry for a scotchbrite which seemed to work just as well but not so harsh.

So if i was doing it again twould be kero & a scotchbrite scouring pad - and patience.

[Bored?]

Stainless steel scrub pads also work well for this type of thing. Make sure you spray everything with WD40 to avoid the problem next time.

[EldarO]

light surface rust comes off easily with a good quality metal polish (the type thats in a tube, much like toothpaste) and a slightly course weave cotton rag.

I havent used it to remove anything off a block, but ive used a couple to get rid of surface rust off a couple of different things, with excellent results.

Eldar.O.

[The Witzl]

Inox and a rag - then some elbow grease.

[EVOSTi]

ideally you would give it a light hone with plenty of inox then clean it out with warm soapy water not just carby cleaner or whatever, but not everyone has a hone so id prob do as karl said above.

[4DaDrift]

Edited post!

[barned01]

I used Kerosene and a honing tool inside a drill for a bout 15 minutes, i don't know if i should have or not but it did work.
the honing tool cost i think 20 bucks from sprint auto parts.
i think also a bit of 1500 Wet dry sand paper was used as well with kerosene (I always used the kerosene when making abrasive contact with something).

[The Witzl]

i would tend to think that acid would destroy the cross hatching on the cylinder walls - which would cause some wonderful issues with lubrication of the bores and rings.....

Inox is a harmless, non corrosive, subtle, lubricant and cleaner..... It WILL eat away at the surface corrosion without eating away at the metal underneath.

Just last week i had the exact same problem with the 18RG i'm rebuilding. Cyl 1 was corroded thanks to some water getting in via an open valve. Attacked it with some Inox and a rag, it cleaned most of it up, whilst keeping what cross hatching remained (was badly corroded).
I then followed up with a hand hone though, since the corrosion was enough to demand it.

I have another block with the same problem, i'll see if i can do some pictorial before/afters


EDIT: I should also mention that with ANY abrasive metal actions, eg honing, wetndry etc, you MUST clean the entire block thoroughly!! All those wonderfully fine particles of iron and iron oxide will make short work of detroying soft bearing metals and lovely-smooth machined crank journals etc.
I cannot stress this enough!

I cleaned my block out with warm soapy water after a very light degrease.

[EVOSTi]

ill also add that anything abbrasive is probably not a good idea as this will mess up the cross hatching that karl mentioned. so if you do want to hone it make sure you look up the correct way to do it, there is a method for it so that you get the correct cross hatching angle which i believe is somewhere around 45 degrees.

[cri_ag]

ok cheers for the responses, seems like inox and a rag is the best place to start, and maybe work up from there if i need it. cheers all.

[Soarer_D00D]

When i rebuilt my old pulsar engine, and it started to have a little surface rust inside the bores, i just used the Honeing tool on he end of a drill, and loads of WD40. Its important to keep it well lubricated, or it can scar the bores.