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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Engine prep query

Hi All.
Scraped , Gunk'ed & jet washed all the crud & filth from an engine I'm rebuilding.
Obviously I wont paint it until its rebuilt, but as its now bare block & head( without the nice comfy layer of crud) do I need to wipe it with oil or something to stop any corrosion before I get around to painting it ?
The engine is living in my dry & cold garage.
Cheers all
Happy Christmas etc
colin
colin frowen

Greetings Colin,
On this side of the pond, many engine shops perform what is referred to as hot-tanking. It is an extremely caustic soaking bath that also cleans out all the little internal passageways. I personally would not rebuild an engine without doing that and then giving it a good soapy washing inside & out. After that, I would paint all the exterior surfaces to protect from rusting & then spray & wipe all the other areas with WD-40 or a similar protectant. I like WD-40 because it will help absorb any residual moisture. Then place it inside a clean plastic garbage bag until it's time for machining & assembly. After machining a good soapy wash inside & out including brushing out all the little passages (use a gun cleaning kit which will have long handled thin brushes) and another spraying of WD-40. If you wipe it with oil now you will probably end up with a lousy paint job later since you will never get all the oil residue cleaned off. Cleanliness is an absolute imperative for a proper rebuild & once you have it down to a bare block it is silly to not do the proper prep work.
s1

I certainly would not apply any sort of oil as failure to remove any trace of it at a later stage will risk the finish of any future paint job. Any reason why you cannot apply some sort of primer as both a key for the topcoat and an interim protective measure?
Oggers

I always use an oil based paint for engine blocks and heads. Oil impregnates the pores of CI and however careful one is at de-greasing it will always still have traces. Using an oil based paint ensures against adverse reactions.
Guy W

Duct/Duck tape the top.
Daniel Stapleton

All the above... but id clean it just before rhe machine shop so no oil added

I powder coated my block ...the head didnt hold up well with piwder coating to much expansion contration but rhe block did really well

On the head i used enamal automovive body paint and that has done really well also as its very flexable

Im not sure what yiu call enamal in the uk

Dont use rattle can. It looks good for about 6 months then turns to crap

Prop
1 Paper

This thread was discussed on 19/12/2016

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