Done for the season ?

[Crofter]

supposed to mark the orientation of the con rod bearing shell when disassembling. Well I kinda didn't do that  
How important is this

I have not yet removed the cam or crank or idler. These are 'supposed' to have timing marks on them. I seem to recall that some engines do not have timing marks because the marks are a stress point. How do people mark the gears if there is no factory mark ? Since stamping seems to cause cracks and scratching is probably worse and since any paint markings will disapear in the cleaning, I am a bit stumped on how to mark things before disassembly.

BTW, I found some Lye and will try the cold water and Lye bath on #1 piston - nothing much lost if it gets eaten



Use a white marker to put your own marks on temporarily, preferably at TDC compression stroke. Give the teeth a shot of degreaser to make the marks stick better. After disassembly but before washing you can use a dremel with a small stone to put a shallow dot on the very side of the teeth. Very shallow yet easy to find after washing and then re daub the shallow crater with white marker for permanent visibillity. Stay away from the tooth roots. I have used this as a low stress riser way of marking gears and such that would be too hard to stamp even if you wanted to.

[vdubnut62]

Jens, my Grandmother IIRC added lye to the water until any more would not dissolve, then she washed the paint off stuff with it.
She used an old long handled broom to apply the lye solution.Be careful.
Ron

[billswan]

Jens

I have done what you are doing, pound of lye and 5 gallons water but I always had the kettle on a propane stove to get the whole batch up to near boiling.

Be careful and add more lye if you want, use a face shield. One drop in your eye would be HELL!

Billswan

[Wizard]

Question still on cleaning old parts: Lye any effect on rubber vibration isolators that are molded into the two piece steel parts?  I have one or two pieces that holds up alternator that needs cleaning completely, in order to repair the cracked rubber (still healthy and intact but cracked around the boss of through hole steel with most of rubber still glued) with urethane injected into cracks to fill throughout and cured completely.  Will that work out?

The said parts are NLA by the way, this is more like restoration of the "classic" vehicle parts.  This is for my 1987 caravan with carbureted 2.2L engine in it.  Reason for this I need to replace the dying 78A that was only effectively 50% power output alternator with later 90A alternator I repaired and waiting to go in because of these vibration isolator parts I'm asking about.

I limped around on that 78A alternator for few years and I need to do it this year as it is hard on the battery and running stuff overwhelms that ancient, dying piece.

Cheers, Wizard

[vdubnut62]

From my experience with lye, cleaning drains, parts, making soap, cleaning old tractors with oven cleaner(lye based) no effect on steel, cast iron(might turn it black but it usually washes off),plastic, or rubber hoses & mounts, wiring, etc.
But I would try it on a worthless item first before I went whole hog on something that I needed and was irreplaceable.
Just my .02, and that's more than it's worth.
Ron

[Wizard]

No worries, I have 2 isolator pieces, one to keep, one to trial on.  Only difference is length of the part, but the rubber portion is same.

I need to find urethane rubber in high tensible strength as this design of this isolator imparts huge torque on the molded rubber bushing itself.  If shove comes to be real, I can make solid rubber from mold and make a new through steel bushing by threading two pieces together like a hollow bolt & nut but special made.

Cheers, Wizard

[elnav]

Jens  I think you are already  over the max amount of Lye. Back in my younger days when I was rebuilding  hot rod engines  I would use a one pound box of lye for  20 or so gallons of water and I was warned that this strenght would eat away  bearing  inserts and ruin  any aluminum by eating away at close tolerance  machined  surfaces.  After boiling for an hour the cast iron blocks would come out squeaky clean but discoloured.   A session with a soft  brass wheel brush would clean that up.
My boiling pot was a steel drum cut in half  so  capacity was no more than 25 gallons  and less when block was placed into the barrel.

[billswan]

Bummer, I guess the cold soak is not working then. Looks like I will be fabricating a dip tank. Heck, I was short of projects anyhow Did you actually go to boiling temperature? Did you use agitation besides the boiling bubbles ?  If you were actually boiling, are the fumes corrosive ? Does the Lye get neutralized by the oil fairly quickly  or did the mix last a long time ? In other words did you add Lye as you ran more parts through ?

BTW, this morning showed some progress with the piston but it is nowhere near clean. I have no agitation yet so this, combined with no heat, is likely the reason why.

When I do Cook parts which is not very often I would get the water up to boiling and then lower the heat to a point where you could just hear a little bit of bubbling. I would think a single batch would be enough to clean up both heads and both cylinder blocks sleeves and pistons. I like bobs idea of spraying down the crankcase with oven cleaner and sealing it into a bag for a while. Rinse it off with warm water and hit it with that 4000 psi pressure washer. The fumes off the boiling lye aren't that bad but I had a lid on the kettle that kept the steam inside the kettle. I wouldn't make a habit of breathing it in though, cook outside if at all possible I would.

Billswan

[veggie]

Foundry ?
Heck...just cast new pieces and have done with it ! 

veggie

[Apogee]

Since you're driving to the machine shop anyway, I'd advise just spending the $100 and being done with it.

You will have a better result and less risk to your health.

Not to mention minimizing the impact on the environment.

I'm cheap, but also know when it's cheaper to just pay the money.

Just my $.02

Steve

[vdubnut62]

Jens  I think you are already  over the max amount of Lye. Back in my younger days when I was rebuilding  hot rod engines  I would use a one pound box of lye for  20 or so gallons of water and I was warned that this strenght would eat away  bearing  inserts and ruin  any aluminum by eating away at close tolerance  machined  surfaces.  After boiling for an hour the cast iron blocks would come out squeaky clean but discoloured.    

I used to work at a torque converter rebuilding facility with access to a sho'nuff hot tank. I dipped an International Harvester
diesel block and rebuilt same. I left the cam bearings in the engine when I dipped it too. Close to 20 years later it's still running like a top
with the same oil pressure that it had at day one. I don't think that caustic soda will bother bearing shells, based on that experience.
Although it would make aluminum just disappear.
Ron

[mobile_bob]

some brg shells are attacked by caustic soda hot tank solution, however
we used to soak with cam brgs in place, by leaving the cam installed

the fit of the cam protected the cam bushing from being attacked, and we never had a problem

bob g

[vdubnut62]

The cam wasn't in it, but we are talking 1958-1960 USA made bearings, maybe, they could have been made in India(gasp).  After checking, they were designed to be installed and then line-bored to size. Anyhoo it was a BD144 in a B-275. The old engine had an enormous number of running hours on it, the safety wire from the rod bolts was in the bottom of the oil pan and the bearings shells were worn down to the brass, several rings were just gone, from too many starts with ether. I don't know how it stayed together.
Would the cam bearings be a different composition than most? I'm not terribly familiar with them. (meaning I don't know Jack)
Ron

[mobile_bob]

i don't remember that far back, but i seem to recall some cam brgs that were bronze/brass bimetal to steel backing
those iirc held up fine to the hot tank

most were babbit type brgs and we just were told to always leave the camshaft in unless we were planning on installing a new
set of brgs.

the hot tank was really hard on babbit lined brgs, that much i do remember

bob g

[billswan]

Jens

That mix won't hurt the castings even if you leave it in for 2 days, let it soak over night at least.



Billswan