Rust on an old block

So I have an original 302 block for a 67 Camaro. It is my wife's deceased father's car. I want to restore this motor and get it running. How can I remove the rest at home in my garage. I don't really have the abilities to give it an acid bath. Also I am a pretty novice mechanic.

Thanks for the help

A plastic tub big enough to hold the engine.

Some vinegar or CLR or beet pulp. Let it sit there for a few days.

Harder, but fun, is electrolysis, in the same tub.

If that block has a numbers matching car to go with it I would be vary careful with it and consider taking to to a shop for cleaning and inspection.

This is my electrolysis setup. You could scale this up pretty cheaply.

car to go with it or not, that is a very rare and valuable piece of iron. Handle with care. If you take it to a machine shop, make sure they are very well regarded. In theroy, there were only 602 of these made in 1967, and probably only a handful left. Check the stamping numbers on the area just ahead of the right cylinder head and the casting numbers on the back of the block. There are several places online to confirm what it is for certain. Do you have the complete engine or just a bare block?

Please post some pictures if you can.

In reply to Gearheadotaku:

+1000. That 302 is very rare. I would use a well know machine shop if it is a real 302.

Are there specific block numbers for the 302? I thought they were mostly a 327 with a 283 crank.

The 302 is just a 327/350 bore (4") with a 283 crank like Bill said. It is the stamp on the front (in front of pass side head) that is what makes it more valuable. I would take it to a trusted machine shop, they can clean it up for you and inspect it as well to make sure it is good.

Are you talking about rust on the exterior of the block, or internal rust? If it's just external that's no big deal - use a wire wheel on a drill and clean it off. If it's internal, then it may be more than you can do at home.

Please don't take this the wrong way: If you are a novice, please don't try to restore what may be an irreplaceable block yourself. Plain old small block Chevys are a dime a dozen, I'd say practice on a couple of those before tackling something like this. All it takes is, literally, an .010 (ten thousandths of an inch) mistake to turn it into an expensive table base.

As others have suggested, get the numbers and find out for sure what it is before tearing into it. If the numbers agree it's definitely a 302, the engine could easily be worth enough to buy a pretty nice car.

Here's a sort of primer page on those engines. Notice the '67 is all by itself as far as the casting number goes, it's also the only year for the 'small journal' crank, that's what would make it so valuable to someone who might be restoring a '67.

http://www.holisticpage.com/camaro/camaros/302.htm

Odd story: My ex father in law was a very! successful dirt track racer back in his day. He said that at any time there would be a dozen engine blocks buried in the dirt in his backyard. He said that it "seasoned" the block and time. and rust, made them stronger. After X years or so they would dig up the block they needed, clean it up and have it machined for the race car. The longer in the ground the better the motor, (if it would machine out). He was "Da Man"! to beat, racing North Ga and Al.

I have doubts,......but he certainly has rooms full of trophies.

Allegedly Rolls Royce seasoned engine castings the same way. Dunno if that's true or not.

An uncle of mine used to race cars back in the 60-70s. He used old engine blocks as fill under a garage he built There were several TR3 engines in there, but they weren't put there to season.

The motor in Roger McCluskey's stock block Indycar was a "seasoned" block that sat outside for several years. The theory/reasoning is that the oxidation stress relieves the block.

Bit more to this "Seasoned" routine than just sitting around. My memory drug up something from a book that "grumpy Jenkins wrote and it involved running an engine block in a delivery vehicle to validate its durability and then rebuild with new internals. The heat cycles would do the stress reduction if there was any to be relieved.

Back in the day fancy equipment to check core shift and voids was not available or not in the budget. Torque plates were in their infancy and I suspect Mr. Jekins was an early adopter if not a pioneer of this now common technology.

I'm not sure what it is that you would get from letting a block rust since you are going to bore it out anyways.

By the way, the electrolysis will not work on this application since it is line of sigth and wont clean inside the casting such as oil passages or cylinders. Take it to the machine shop and have them boil it out for the 50 bucks or so. And maybe I am being paranoid, but just to make sure you don't get an exchange block, make a point of writing the numbers down and tell them you want YOUR block back.

spitfirebill wrote: Are there specific block numbers for the 302? I thought they were mostly a 327 with a 283 crank.

You are correct, there is nothing unique to the block. The casting number for a 1967 302 block is 3892657, the exact same as it is for a garden variety 327 or 350. To identify it as originally being used in a 302 C.I. Z28 requires checking the characters stamped on the deck pad in front of the passenger side cylinder head.

A 1967 or 1968 302 will have "MO" as the last characters in the location where this one has "FL". The V10I2 designates engine plant and production date while the numbers on the left are a partial VIN of the vehicle it was installed in.

Not surprisingly unscrupulous characters have been known to deck a 327 or 350 with the same casting number then restamp it with a more desireable/valuable number to create bogus "numbers matching" 302 blocks.

Jeff

I gave away a set of heads with the right casting number for that engine, I had them for years but they were completely worthless.

Well I was mistaken, my wife informed me that it is the original 327 block. Now I have to decide on rebuilding the 350 in the car now or fixing up the 327 and bringing it back to matching numbers plus all the body work to get the car up to par.

P.S. I hate when she corrects me. I never hear the end of it.

More back round info on this build please. Is it the original engine for the Camaro?

Yes it is the original engine. The car started life up in Wisconsin and is now in Tx. It has been neglected for many years. I married into the family and have a goal of getting the car fixed up. The build is in the planning stages right now.

If the Camaro is to be a fun car, rebuild the 350 and put the 327 away for later... If you are doing an accurate restoration of the Camaro the 327 should be rebuilt...

My .02

jrflying wrote: Well I was mistaken, my wife informed me that it is the original 327 block. Now I have to decide on rebuilding the 350 in the car now or fixing up the 327 and bringing it back to matching numbers plus all the body work to get the car up to par. P.S. I hate when she corrects me. I never hear the end of it.

Expect that to happen for the rest of your (married) life. 'If a man says something and there's not a woman around to hear him, is he still wrong?'

327's are not as valuable as the 302, they are also plentiful enough to practice/learn on. Have fun with it!