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I paid $20 for that complete engine and it included a Turbo 400 with Variable Pitch Torque Converter. Sold the block for $200, $100 for the crank, $100 for the heads and sold a few brackets that probably brought another $100. And I still have the Variable Pitch Transmission and converter.
You just use the battery cable clamps on the battery charger. Yes, I did use copper tubing. That was like my 1st real big project and I hadn't yet fine tuned the process. I later found out you should NOT USE COPPER for your electrode and for sure don't use stainless since it can be toxic and harmful. Just use a piece of scrap steel as your electrode. Doesn't matter what it it. You prefer something you can bend into a circle or half circle and kind of surround your part if possible for best results. For small parts, I've even used a large bolt and it worked great.
I figured it would be easy enough to do and if i ruin a 350 block who cares. I know if the block is not rusted you don't need to do it. now the copper tubing seems to look easy to bend and if i leave the barrel outside how bad could it be? Another thing is can i just use tap water or distilled the way to go?
The before results were after I picked it up from the machine shop after being hot dipped and rinsed. He called to tell me no dice, block is trash, there is to much rust throughout and as it broke loose in the engine it would trash the new bearings. Told me it was scrap, we've worked on it, left it in for 3 cycles with other parts, it just can't be saved. I went and picked it up and asked what I owed him. He said well, since can't use it, I'll eat this one, we did soak it with other parts so we'll be OK, are you really picking it up? I put it in the scrap pile. I said Yes, you know how rare that block is I have to try and save it. I took it back about 4 days later. He wanted to know where the hell I can come up with these old rare blocks like this, I said that's the same one, he said NO it isn't. Noway is it the same. I said look where you stamped your invoice # and tell me it's not the same block. Then I showed him pics of the process and he just sit there with his mouth open. He couldn't believe it and yelled for his wife, come here, you're not going to believe this. She about **** too.
Small parts in 5 gallon buckets gets great results. You can use whatever you want if it works for rust removal. The thing I liked about this process is, I just let it soak and cook overnight, no labor. And it releases and pulls the rust from the innards too where you're not going to be able to get a wire brush or other tool in there to scrape, sand or brush it away. The process releases the rust and then the rust is carried to the electrode like a magnet and sticks to it. If you can get a perfect combo set up, and you have to experiment with different things for different projects, then I'd go this route every time. I've had great sucess with engines, heads and transmission pumps that I've found sitting out in pastures for over 20 years. Old Pontiac, Olds, Buick Nailheads, Variable Pitch Th400's etc. It was a gold mine out there and I bought them all for $20 each complete engines with brackets and all, and a Th400 or Th350 attatched to them. The people even gave me 1 for FREE if I'd take it. They were more concerned about getting the junk hauled off than making money.
