So after sitting for a week waiting for the head to get back from the machine shop, I remove the plastic sheeting covering the holes and there's a few small spots (1mm diam) of rust in #3. I must've missed a splash of coolant when I disassembled. I took some brake cleaner on clean rags and wiped the rust out of the bore the best I could, then took a clean rag w/ 5W30 and put a light coat on the bore to protect it, and covered it again for the night.

Needless to say, I'm pretty bummed, and had a hard time sleeping. All the painstaking work, cleaning, I thought I had all the bases covered, and then something that seems really stupid made it less than perfect.

230K miles, but it was tight, no burning of oil before this, so I was just going to do the top end and call it good. I don't want to pull the engine (don't have the time or space), so what's my best action here? Hone a little? Not sure about that, as I don't want to make it worse possibly... Rotate by hand and remove anything that is scraped off? I'm thinking any abravise cleaning by hand would completely mess it up, and for that matter, in retrospect, removeing the rust w/ brake cleaner might not have been the best either... Or am I being overly paranoid on an engine that is old to begin with, and I should get over it and accept that it's never going to be perfect anyway. Any helpful thoughts from experience?

Thanks-Tom

You are being overly paranoid. Relax. It's fine. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

>>>*Yep, not prob. It will do that sitting in the driveway on a foggy evening, it vanishes in a couple of seconds after startup....*EB

Thanks, a buddy told me the same thing. There were probably some fumes involved in the paranoia, lol...

i was kinda paranoid after leaving my engine bare for 3 weeks waiting on a machine shop with my head for the same reason.. rust/corrosion spots here and there on the rocker arm ass'y and on the block + stuff.

to make myself feel better i ran the engine really hot the first startup and chainged the oil + filter shortly after.
then changed oil + filter again after 500 miles when re-adjusted valves + re-torqued head.

i wouldn't worry *too* much tho.
rest assured.


... no really. get some sleep. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/notooth.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

If I have a head off a motor I clean the bores and spray them with lanolin oil. Best thing i've found so far for rust prevention on bare metal (and it just wipes off with a bit of kero or fuel)