Rusty cylinders
 

Digging through my garage I found a set of lightly rusted Biral 2.4 cylinders. Can these be reused? What do I clean them with? Hone after I suspect... How about the corresponding pistons ? BTW, I wasn't the one that made them rusty...

Soak them in evapo-rust. You'll be shocked at how good they look after. Just make sure you clean them first in the dishwasher...

Cool. Where do I get this evapo-rust? Thx, SK

Here's the list of US distributors:

http://www.evapo-rust.com/usdistrib.html

It is expensive, but reusable. You should be able to soak every rusty part you run across in this stuff. The best part is the stuff isn't corrosive, so you can leave the aprts soaking as long as you want.

Hi

Rust looks bad but isnt, use wire wool or a scotch-brite pad and any rust kill (which is usually 15% phosphoric acid), I'd hone afterwards

HTH

Neven

Bore them .040 oversize and buy JE pistons. The result is better than new.

Evapo Rust results are better than phosphoric acid, but reboring w/ JE pistons sounds like the ticket.

The JE/85mm deal sounds good, and I'd do it otherwise, but the pistons are some sweet 2.4S models (nice condition)... I found them in a 2.2T motor last summer, full of water. If possible, I'd like to use the 2.4S pistons with the cylinders.. Otherwise I'll just do the JE/thing and sell the pistons by themselves. What do you think?

Are the cylinders rusty inside and outside? I'd still try the evapo-rust and see if they are within spec. As I said before, it is non-etching, so it won't remove anything other than rust. A hone might prove them to be OK.

They have aluminum outside, so just inside, yes. Thanks Kenikh.

If the 2.4 "S" pistons are so nice, use these cylinders for a .040 over conversion and go on the search for more serviceable cylinders. You won't have to look for 2.4"S" cylinders just 2.2 or 2.4 biral cylinders.When you've purchased the newer cylinders look at the final results and use the ones you like and sell the other set.
That's my 2 cents worth.