Reverse Electrolysis

[ferball]

Has anyone used "reverse electrolysis" to clean their cylinders? I have had quite a bit of success bringing my engine tins back from the brink of death with this technique. I am planning on trying out on my cylinders and valve covers this week but wanted to know if there was any concern about weakening the steel from a chemistry stand point before I take the plunge.

[WhirledTraveller]

Electrolytic rust removal won't make the metal any weaker than it already is. It doesn't remove any metal or alter the chemical makeup. In fact it technically converts rust back into metal (well, powdered metal). I'd say go for it. On cylinders, only thing I'd watch out for is "flash rust" after you remove them from the water bath. A spray with WD40 should prevent that.
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1977 Westy, Automatic. Big Valve heads, CS Cam.

[sdavidg]

If you take the plunge i'd be interested in seeing the before and afters, and maybe some pics of the process.

[Lil Lulu]

Used this process for years. Works like magic. No damage. I let it flash rust again and then use Jasco Prep and Prime (Ospho X 10) then paint. Would not use the Jasco on cylinders tho.
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'65 Beetle "Lil' Lulu"- Ruby Red
1600 stock from '71 bus

'72 Deluxe - Niagara Blue w/pastelwiess Camper Special 2L dual 40 Webers 002

'74 Hightop Weekender "Dixie" 1800 34 Del singles

[ferball]

The cover on the left is after an overnight soak and quick rinse. The cover on the right is untreated. I will probably let it soak another night.

My next question on doing the cylinders is should I paint? I know current wisdom is painting cylinders is stupid and bad idea and only done by teenagers who don't know any better. But my experiance with the tinware is that if I don't paint it or treat it with something the rust comes back with a vengeance. how bad is a light coat of high temp paint for the cylinders/cooling "system"?

[vwwestyman]

Are you asking about painting the cylinders, or the tin surrounding the cylinders?

Cause you should paint the tin! But not the cylinders in my estimation.
_________________
Dave Cook

President, Wild Westerner Club

1978 Champagne Edition Westy, repowered to '97 Jetta TDI
1973 Wild Westerner
My Thing

[Lil Lulu]

Paint would burn right off the cylinders and make a mess, stink like hell. The remaining mess will reduce the cooling too.
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'65 Beetle "Lil' Lulu"- Ruby Red
1600 stock from '71 bus

'72 Deluxe - Niagara Blue w/pastelwiess Camper Special 2L dual 40 Webers 002

'74 Hightop Weekender "Dixie" 1800 34 Del singles

[WhirledTraveller]

Some people do paint cylinders with high heat enamels meant for engines. But the consensus AFAIK is that it reduces the cooling ability albiet not dramatically and is therefore not a recommended practice.
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1977 Westy, Automatic. Big Valve heads, CS Cam.

[borninabus]

[SGKent]

Raul talked about it a couple times and suggested google videos on it.


Link



Link

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“Most people don’t know what they’re doing, and a lot of them are really good at it.” - George Carlin

[busdaddy]

[old DKP driver]

I also painted the cylinders on early 1200-1600 engines as most did back
in the day but, i quit when i heard it was not needed with cast-iron cylinders.

But, i have cleaned a lot of parts with Electrolysis over the years and i never
knew Raul did it too!

Small World
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V.W.owner since 1967

[ferball]

I soaked a cylinder with decent results and it cleaned up nice, the only problem is the post bath scrub between the cooling fins. I probably won't paint because it looks decent and I am not sure the paint will last because I can't get wipe all the dust out between the fins. Anybody have a trick that works for getting it clean between the fins? I am happy with the job my wire brush did but I am open to suggestions.

[Tom Powell]

[Maticus]

My experience with electrolysis was very positive (no pun intended) when I was restoring my gas tank. It was from a very crusty, filter-clogging mess to very nice, clean tank.

My setup:

I used my car's battery (she wasn't going anywhere anytime soon ) with a trickle charger attached to it, because the charger didn't just give off power all by itself.

As the videos above warned, you DO NOT want to have any open flames or allow electrodes to spark and ignite the Hydrogen gas coming from the electrolyte solution.

For de-rusting the cylinders, I think it would be a very good option. It doesn't take away the base metal so it wouldn't affect the bore negatively (pitting, warping) and it would be gentle on the valve covers.
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1969 Rust Bugget AKA "Blitzkrieg"

[scrivyscriv]

Bob Hoover has a good article on painting cylinders.. He essentially makes the argument that unpainted metal is best, but when it rusts you have a worse heat conduction than if you'd just painted it black to begin with
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Robert in Memphis
Dünkelgrügen 1967 Java Green bug thread
Engine rebuild thread
If you're ever in the Memphis area, you are welcome to stop by for advice and help.

[busdaddy]

[SGKent]

I'd use radiator paint if you must paint a cylinder. It is a thin black paint designed for minimal heat transfer loss. Use as light a coating as you can get by with. Some radiator shops used to just thin their paint way down so the coat was thin. Some very long discussions on this topic go on in the racing world especially when the radiator is limited in size or thickness.

A US Navy commissioned study available online shows that painted metal surfaces regardless of paint type emit 95% - 98% of the amount of heat they did prior to being painted. The paint acts as an insulator.
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“Most people don’t know what they’re doing, and a lot of them are really good at it.” - George Carlin

[ferball]

Here is one of my cylinders after soaking, the bath dislodged some rotted cooling fins, ideally I should replace the it but the budget and time constraints won't allow it.

[SGKent]