Replacing Pistons and Such 1935 era

[maple_leaf_eh]

Originally Posted by Lionelgee

G'day Terry,

Thanks for the link about molasses - it is great stuff.
...

P.S. With the magic of the Interwebby ... Molasses will start "moon crater" pitting cast iron if left in too long. ...

From the same forum/thread .. Be warned I let a Cylinder Head set in this solution for over 2 weeks and it started to eat the cast iron. I should have pulled this no more than 3 days.

From another forum... DON'T place Any non-ferrous metals in molasses as you won't get it back. It converts alloy and brass to a horrible sandy mess in the bottom of the tub.

Got it - this was the old post I was looking for ... A 1:4 (molasses:water) will eat white metals like aluminium, lead and zinc. Put a seized block into a bath and in a couple of weeks you'll have a clean block with the rings sitting in the hollow bores. The author of the message used the properties of molasses to their favour

...

Kind Regards
Lionel

I'm in Canada, and the quote is from an old TV show's throwaway joke.

Your research on molasses' reactions is very interesting. It goes to show that not all metals are as durable as we would like to believe. My understanding is that when rusted steel was the intended material, the results met expectations without the chemical solvents leftovers. I will be careful!