CALLING ALL ENGINEERS - Metalurgy quesiton.
This message has no Tiger content, the the questions and answers may be of
assistance somewhere down the road......
Based on all of the discussion over the past months concerning mixing iron
and aluminium in a aqeuous enviornment, I believe there is no better list
from which to derive some sound guidance as to how to proceed on a friend's
project.
I stopped by a friend's shop today who does some real classy restorations
and work on old Brit cars. A customer recently brought him an old 3.8L
Jaguar motor (early E-type) for a complete re-build. The motor had been
sitting in some idiots back yard for over ten years.....Unforuanately sans
spark plugs. Removing the head confirmed his worst fears. Each cylinder
was completely filled with water. Obviously the engine is frozen. After
some discussion, we decided that the penetrating oil he had filled the
cylinders with would be of no help at all. Then the discussion this list
had concerning radiators came to mind. I told him to hold off until I
could ask the list........
Question: does anyone know of a combination of chemicals or an available
commercial product that will free this puppy up?? My suspicion is that we
are dealing not only with rings rusted to the walls of the cylinders, but
as well the chemical reaction (basically a battery) that occurs when iron,
water and aluminium are mixed together. Obviously, it would be nice to get
this thing apart WITHOUT ruining the pistons, which I suspect may already
be toast. Most importantly, he wants to minimize potential damage to the
block. I think this is one of those situations where torching things 'till
they are cherry red and then hitting 'em with WD-40 will probably just
waste acetyline and O2.
Comments? Suggestions?? Your help is greatly appreciated and thanks for
putting up with this non Tiger content.
Regards,
Allan
B9472373
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