Cooking the block?

[lhbradley]

My mechanic wants to cook the block (I gather this is an acid wash process) to remove the rust, crud, etc.

He said he would have to remove and replace the cam bearings, since the process would damage them. But how about the frost plugs? Will then need to be removed and replaced with new ones? (I don't have the Moyer manual here - it is at the mechanics place - so I can't see if Don says anything about it there.

[Don Moyer]

Larry,

If the cam bearings are in really good condition, your mechanic could actually drive them out and reuse them after the cooking (hot tanking) operation. A mechanic who is accustomed to working on engines with much higher compression and higher RPM might resist this practice, which would be his choice. I can only say that we reused many cam bearings before developing our own source of brass ones.

We do recommend removing the freeze-out plugs, primarily because the cleaning solution in the hot tank will be able to access the back side of the cooling jackets better with the plugs removed. Also, we believe it's good to check the ledge on which the freeze-out plugs seat. If the seat is deteriorated beyond the point that a regular dome type of plug could be reliably seated, your machine shop can install a cup type plug.

Best regards,

Don