As I was cleaning this center iron, I started noticing this chipping in the water jackets. Does this make the iron not reusable? Is there a certain amount of untouched meat that is deemed safe?

Please ignore the grooves, I haven't finished cleaning them ^_^






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thewird

 

They look usable, hard to tell with those pictures, looks like little bit of corrosion starting, there still seems to be lots of seal support.

 

Was the (chipping) on the iron shiny like a couple of the pictures show or is that after cleaning the rust out ?? is it visible inside or just on the edge?

 

The pictures were taken after cleaning but I haven't finished cleaning them yet. What do mean if its visable inside, how far the chipping goes? Ites pretty much just on the edges. the pictures are from multiple spots also.

thewird

 

I wouldn't use it...

 

What's it like in the middle of the iron half way from one side of the water jacket to the other ? Is it just rusty looking or does it have visible spots where it is eroded . If the eroded spots are shiny and don't have the scale etc. related to rust but almost black in color it is called Cavatational Erosion .. If not it is just rust etc. I am sure you already know that you should never run just plain water in any engine always use a good quality antifreeze-anti boil coolant ..

 

I think its actually eroded. After further cleaning, I found both the front and rear irons are boat anchors. They both wore over on that long thing water jacket support.

Engine only ever had normal coolant with current owner (2.5 years) but the engine was Tiger JDM engine that was swapped in by the previous owner. I also found evidence of that coolant leak sealer since some of the water jackets were full of grey sludge.

thewird

 

Cavitational Erosion is common in all internal combustion water cooled engines some types of cheaply made cast iron is more prone .. What happens air bubbles form on the rough cast iron surface ( in piston engines the bubbles form mainly where the heat is greatest on the coolant side of the cylinders ) It is exactly the same thing as bubbles forming on the bottom of a pot when heating water on the stove .. The greater the heat the more aggressive the bubbles are.. When these bubbles burst (they are still very small ) they actually implode against the cast iron .. Every time a bubble forms and implodes in the same cavity it plows away a very, very small amount of metal and there you have your erosion instead of corrosion .. Engines that are known to run overly warm do seem to be more prone to this problem... Some Diesel engines will erode so bad that the cylinder sleeve will start to leak coolant into the cylinder creating huge amounts of white or gray smoke.. The only thing that I know to stop this problem is to always use good compatible anti-freeze anti-boil coolants 50-50 mix with good clean water that in this case is good for both the cast and alum engine components and a good coolant additive ( there are products made for this purpose that work very well ) I hope this helps people understand that this problem is not just from rust in fact very little of it is from rust..

 

Sorry, I ment to say corroded, not eroded. There is no shiny areas, it has rust color everywhere even after extensive cleaning.

thewird

 

No problem but the additive thing still applies it will stop the corrosion as well as the erosion .. the rusting action is a result of the erosion .. there would be poor heat transfer where the rotor housing meats the irons causing an almost boiling action.. preventative maintenance can stop this problem..

 

I think the problem came from the JDM engine sitting in a warehouse for who knows how long and then put in and ran at some point. It was from Tiger and installed by previous owner. Had a good run though, 2+ years.

thewird

 

Buy my engine or trade for some stuff

 

building engines now marco?

 

Attempting my first ^_^.

thewird

 

apparently so

 

ROLF LMAO, catches me when I just wake up.

thewird

 

a little bit of booze, and next you know, its 4 am and we're cleaning rotors

lol some one looks a little too happy

 

I wasn't drinking any of that...

thewird

 

yeah right....the eyes tell the story

 

Denial is usually the first sign of trouble

I've always wanted to build my own engine. Never did. I shouldn't really have to since I have the uber motor.....

I wonder if I good build a motor with all of the scrap parts I have and see how long she runs

 

They appear usable but I wouldn't and I have reused lots of parts. The first and last pic show areas with very little groove support. You will have much higher chances of a coolant failure.
You could repair it if you are really good at welding cast iron - or just buy another.