• Hi Guest!
    If you appreciate British Car Forum and our 25 years of supporting British car enthusiasts with technical and anicdotal information, collected from our thousands of great members, please support us with a low-cost subscription. You can become a supporting member for less than the dues of most car clubs.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

TR2/3/3A Block treatment post cleaning

Share this page

P

pcalley

Freshman Member
Country flag
Offline
Just finished tearing down the engine in my 59 TR3 and am slowly working through degreasing everything. Since it will likely be months or even years before I can afford to fully reassemble it, I’m wondering about how to treat the block post cleaning. I’m planning to use CLR to remove rust from the innards after degreasing, and then priming the outside surfaces. Should I use some sort of an aerosolized oil (wd40) to coat the inside?
 
PC, you posted your question in the "Forum Navigation Questions" forum - which is a place to ask questions about navigating the forum. I'm moving your post to the Triumph forum with a TR3 prefix on the subject. If you're reading this now, you are in the Triumph forum.
 
Good luck with the CLR. I had to spend hours scraping crude out of the block.
Once the block is clean I would Not recommend any product that will later mix with the antifreeze and water. Just leave it bare and dry. Go ahead and paint the outside of the block.
Those are my thoughts.
Charley
 
WD40 is not a long time preservative. Where are you located? The humidity in your area is the key to how well you have to preserve and what you have to do on a continuing basis.
 
I would not put anything on the inside. If you keep the block dry it should be fine. Keep an eye on it if you are in a humid climate and the block is subject to big temperature swings.
 
I’m in coastal South Carolina, so we do get a touch of humidity from time to time (sarcasm). Maybe I can brush some motor oil on the inside of the case to help prevent surface rust , but resign myself to minimal rust in coolant area.
 
I'd take off the heavy rust from the coolant area and leave it alone. Brush the top and inside of the block with oil. Check it periodically. This doesn't have to be a big deal.
 
I'd recommend LPS3. It coats the metal with a wax like coating that lasts. It's what they use for corrosion prevention on aircraft. If you use a lighter weight preservative, you will have to re-apply every few months. There are also some decent marine anti-corrosion sprays that are similar to LPS3, available in Autozone or O Reilly's, and cheaper.
 
Have you pulled the wet liners from the block? It would make cleaning the crud easier. If you have not pulled them are the liners clamped down to prevent movement?
Would Fluid Film be a good option. It is used as a rust preventer and is Lanolin based.

David
 
I’m not sure about Fluid Film because when your ready to revisit the block for reassembly you’ll probably have to clean that out. Why not just use engine oil and store it wrapped up in as dry a place as you have available (dehumidifier close by or silicon packets). If the block is coated with oil, then it’s going to be oil mixing with oil at a later date. I use Fluid Film all the time so by no means am I “anti” but I don’t think it was intended to be a preservative on machined surfaces.
 
You could try Ospho or similar. I use Kleen Strip Prep and Etch. Same thing just cheaper. Sure slows down flash rust but no oily residue. I haven't used it for this myself though. I would think a real weak mix like 8 to 1 with water.
 
Interesting topic, someone years ago painted the inside of the block, but I have not heard anything about how it worked out. At the time I thought it was a bad idea, but no I am so sure. Do not do what I did and just put plain water on the first start up at least use antifreeze. I used just water because I was afraid of a leak and did not want antifreeze everywhere and too cheap to waste the antifreeze. Anyways I forgot and left the plain water in and that created a rust film that I am still trying to get out.

I might start another tr3 and this time I am going to do something in the water jacket , maybe an acid etch, or epoxy paint, or some other X factor.

But I will say my daily diver tr3 only has about a 60/40 mix of antifreeze and water only and it is always nice and green. So I really do not know what to do for sure.

steve
 
pcalley said:
Just finished tearing down the engine in my 59 TR3 and am slowly working through degreasing everything. Since it will likely be months or even years before I can afford to fully reassemble it, I’m wondering about how to treat the block post cleaning. I’m planning to use CLR to remove rust from the innards after degreasing, and then priming the outside surfaces. Should I use some sort of an aerosolized oil (wd40) to coat the inside?
Click to expand...
 
Why touch the engine until you are ready for it?
I see this so often the engine is the first to be done then it sits for years whilst the chassis and body is done.
reverse this order and you don’t have the worry or $investment deteriorating.
A used tired engine left inside is not going to get much worse with oil down the bores. And you’ll be rebuilding it anyway when the time comes.

but you are already beyond that.
stick it all in a crate and fill it with cat litter that will absorb moisture.
 
I would use the cat litter made of silica, it' the very lightweight type, the same stuff used in the small pouches that are packaged with electronic equipment and cameras.
 
I'm with lram59 If you could get the OSPHO to circulate through the block so it could cover all (or mostly all) of the exposed cast iron, you'd convert the iron oxide to iron phosphate and it would protect the insides with a long'ish lasting, durable rust preventative without having to introduce oil or other contaminants in to the cooling jacket. Once its in place, it generally parks and protects for a long time pretty well. Most home centers sell the Concrete Etch & Prep in the paint department for less than $20/gallon.

Once you're ready to un-shelve it and use it again, a soapy water flush is enough to remove the acid film left behind and you don't have to worry about toxic waste clean-up. Just get coolant in behind it soon so as to stave off the flash rust once the phosphate coating is rinsed away.

--Jake
 
Back
Top