What's the best way to take care of it?
a scotch bright pad will take care of the rust that and a little oil eater did mine ok and if your gonna store it coat it with a thin coat of oil to prevent further rust
ps there is a castoroil cleaner out there that works great agisnt all sorts of grime and rust
I'd coat the deck and bores with engine assembly lube, or grease. The motor oil will likly run off and it can rust anyways, i leaned this the hard way.
For removing surface rust on NON-machined surfaces, something like Castrol's Super Clean (as lost and found mentioned)will work well on FERROUS metals without damaging the metal. One drawback is that, even when used at FULL strength, this is a very thin liquid and it doesn't like to stay on vertical surfaces for long.
This is a VERY strong alkaline solution (opposite of acid) and will damage PAINT, clothing and you if you are not careful, so use good chemical resistant gloves (and eye protection to guard against splashes) if you use it.
I've used this type of product with good results for small and larger parts cleaning when I didn't want to spend a lot of time in the AFTER-gunk-removing scraping/brushing/scrubbing phase, and to avoid possibly removing too much metal or changing critical dimensions as might happen with vigorous wire wheel brushing, like with threads on bolts, also on nuts and other attaching hardware and some gears small enough to immerse and leave. It doesn't remove everything, but if given enough time, even without scrubbing or agitation, it LOOSENS stuff even that which is in nearly inaccessible places so that it can then be either brushed off with a non metal brush or flushed or even pressure washed off.
The best idea is to remove the heaviest deposits of wet or loose gunk and or rust before dropping the part into the solution, so that the liquid can get to the metal surface faster and more evenly. For larger pieces, using a pressure washer is just the thing to do this, and I've hauled stuff to a do it yourself car wash more than once just for this type of prep.
BELIEVE them when they say not to use it for immersion of anything aluminum or non ferrous metal alloys for more than a quick dunk or scrubbing it with an occasional spray to keep it damp, it will eat away at the metal significantly. I've seen it nearly dissolve some test aluminum left in it overnight.
By the way, they may not mention this on the container, but this stuff CAN be reused, so after removing the parts from a soaking you can let the used solution settle, and then filter the cleaner part of the solution back into a second bottle for later reuse. (I use paper towels) You will KNOW when it is no longer effective.
All in all, while it does the job for some purposes, there are some things for which it isn't suitable for use, so just keep that in mind.
For VERY light surface rust on machined surfaces, using something like progressively finer grades of Scotchgard or a liquid rust eating compound may do the trick, but if the rust is any deeper, it will take forever to remove enough metal this way to get to the bottom of any pitting or deeper scratches, plus you run the very real risk of adversely altering the surface you're working on by inadvertantly rounding, softening edges, narrowing or widening sealing surfaces, etc, especially if you use a rotary tool with a Scotchgard or other abrasive.
A better way for removing even heavier surface rust on machined surfaces, is to either use valve lapping compound and a piece with a matching contour, or emery paper or cloth wrapped around a matching machined surface. These are the best HAND methods to prevent altering the plane of the surface and possibly causing a problem with tolerances or fit later. In other words, use something TRULY flat for a flat surface, and something uniformly curved for a curved surface, not just a piece of emery and your fingers.
Essentially whichever method or combination of methods that you use should be determined by how tight the tolerance or what the final appearance has to be for the part involved. Something like a steel oil pans' gasket surface could be easily cleaned by a rotary wire or high speed abrasive wheel, without the risk of significant damage but you wouldn't want to do that on an aluminum one, for one example.
For longer term storage of metal parts that may rust from being unprotected, there are several brush or spray on products that are available, specifically made for this purpose. Most of the more readily available (and less expensive) ones are paraffin based with additives. I use one sold mail order by New Technology International (they advertise in Pop. Mech and other mags.) and another sold by Kano Labs, and I believe that Eastwood has their own house brand product, but other brands are turning up in some auto parts stores, farm supply stores and tool stores.
Quote from: lostandfound on September 13, 2006, 09:47:45 AM
a scotch bright pad will take care of the rust that and a little oil eater did mine ok and if your gonna store it coat it with a thin coat of oil to prevent further rust
ps there is a castoroil cleaner out there that works great agisnt all sorts of grime and rust
I like scotch brite and WD40.