Salt leeching into iron block\heads

[McGary911]

I did a search and didn't find a thread that dealt with this completly. I did re-read this great thread on closed cooling: http://www.donzi.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2141&highlight=closed+cooling+salt

Anyway, me and a couple of friends were having a discussion at the bar (where many good "discussions" are born) and were talking about converting my raw salt water cooled 502 to closed cooling. I was arguing that the salt has already leeched into my water passages, and it is very difficult to get out. I could end up with a briny closed water circuit, which may be even worse, because it is always in there. They argued that closed is better no matter what, and that it can't make much of a difference as long as i flush the block a few times before hooking it up. i know cuda had a block that he left out, and saw a ton of salt sweat out of the thing after sitting.

This isnt about closed cooling....if i ever repower, I'm going closed cooling for sure. Just wondering about the extent of salt leech, and whether changing to closed in my situation can leave me with salty closed circuit. Or if the closed benefits would outweigh this potential downside.

Curious as to what everyone thinks.....

Off to work on the boat......some more......:)

[MOP]

I feel is is much better to start fresh, but I have converted several over after running a season or two. I use what I call an antique process, I have a friend that dives historic wrecks. He brings up all sorts of iron items like cannons, anchors and the like. They are put in tanks with distilled water so items for many months. The water is cycled with fresh and is tested until all salinity is gone, so I applied that to my S/F conversions. I filled them with just distilled water which I changed once a month, since I had no fancy test equipment I tasted the water when it tasted of no salt then ran 30 percent anti freeze mix. Honest on a side by side comparison who knows! It no matter how you look at it is an arguable and iffy subject. It is worth trying and you may well be rebuilding the 502 you have now. I have rebuilt quite a few salt motors that lasted far longer than most would think.

Phil

[gcarter]

I'm a big fan of closed cooling. However, I've not converted a saltwater engine to closed cooling.
The point here is, I'm in the water treatment business and it's important to know basic fundamentals. One of them is, one gallon of clean water( I.E., distalled water, reverse osmosis water, deionized water) will dissolve about 3 1/2 # of salt. If an engine and heat exchanger hold let's say, five gallons of water, it should be able to absorb 17.5# of salt.
You can see that eventually most if not all the salt in the castings would be gone. It may take awhile. The water may have to be changed frequently. During the summer I wouldnt use antifreeze to start with if you're trying to do this. You might add a small amount of corrosion inhibiter.
Eventually, like Phil says, it should come out. And it should be cheaper than a new engine.
My $0.02.

George :wavey:

[MOP]

George I was not to use anti freeze by my friend saying it would slow the process down a lot. After I wrote the post I got to thinking about using Salt Away for the first few changes. What do you think, I am relying on you wet talents!

[gcarter]

These trailable boats are new to me. I don't know anything about Salt- Away.

George :wavey:

[Cuda]

As I said, I know that salt is leached into the cast iron istself. This isn't conjecture or hypothesis, I saw it with my own eyes. There was a pyramid of salt on the block where the water passages went into the head. And this was only brought out by moisture in the air. As far as it turning into brine, I've never done it, but it would seem to follow. I guess you could keep changing the water out until there was no salt left. I imagine there is a way to test the percentage of salt in the water, George may know if there is or not.

In my opinion, if an engine hasn't been in salt, I'd put CC on it, but if it's been in salt, I'd wait until I had to replace the engine. Just my thoughts.

[gcarter]

Joe I think you're exactly right. What I'm talking about is purely theoretical, and it might take so long as to not be worthwile.
However if someone wanted to try it, and they had their own R.O. under the kitchen sink, it might be interesting. I would change the water probably twice a week and run the engine long enough to open the T-stat and circulate the new load of water. I have a Chloride test, I think, but it would be far easier to use a TDS meter(Total Disolved Solids). Sea water has a TDS of about 25,000 mg/L, and clean water is near zero. Tap water will vary from 50 to 1500 depending on geology.
If someone wants an inexpensive TDS meter, I have them for about $20.00 plus shipping. These only read to 1999 mg/L but you're only interested in the lower end any way (when you're close to being through).
Anyone interested can always PM me, or my email is;
gcarter763@aol.com.
IMO if you want a closed system you don't have anything to lose. The heat exchanger and all other fittings are copper so they shouldn't be harmed while going through this experiment.

George :smash: