Quote:
Originally Posted by Tony Corley
There was a time that I used to read about guys purposely leaving blocks outside to rust to "condition" them before they would completely clean and machine them. I have no idea if it actually made a difference or not. As far as cleaning and machining, I would think a shot blast cleaning oven would take care of all of the rust, and then just a matter of doing the machine work. Obviously, if the rust really got to it, you will probably be machining mains, cam journals, lifter bores, along with cylinders and decks, but if it's an all out race piece, you should be doing that anyway. Otherwise, it may be more cost effective to start with a non rusted block.
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I hear people talking about seasoning blocks, by letting them rust or even burying them for a year or two, that comes from back in magazine engine build days they would say the engine builder would start with a well-seasoned block, that means a used block, ran thousands of miles, ran through heat cycles of everyday use and somehow people not knowing any better turned that into the same process as seasoning wood/lumber leaving them outside or burying them.
letting a block rust serves no purpose that improves anything, that comes from ignorance, not an insult, ignorance by its definition. When I read ND ads at about 7 years old and it listed a car with strange axles, I thought it meant some kind of strange axles, IDK it was a brand of axle...I was ignorant, now I'm just dumb LOL
To season an engine block, you run it 100K miles, the heating, cooling "seasons" the block stress relieves the metal and settles, shifts and then when it is machined after that it doesn't shift and move, settle as much or you do some method of vibratory or cryogenic stress relief.
If you plan on using rusted up block, take it and have it thermal cleaned at machine shop,baked,blasted and tumbled then magnafluxed. the correct shot(.020 or smaller) will not damage anything