I'm rebuilding a 440 stroker motor for one of my local customers, it had a older 4.150 440 Source stroker kit in it assemble by another local Mopar racer a bunch of years ago.
It spun a rod bearing(not badly) so I suggested having the crankshaft magnafluxed and if it magged good to resuse it by offset stroking the rods down to BB Chevy rod journal size and increase the stroke as much as we could get. It ended up with a 4.322 stroke,
I ordered a se off Molnar 7.100 long BB Chevy type rods and a set of CP pistons to match this motor pistons through them
I normally disassemble and clean the rods in my solvent tank and then blow dry them and reclean them with brake cleaner and blow dry them again.
It snowed here early this week and the outside air temps haven't been above 25F during the day and my shop where the solvent tank is right at 50F so I decided to use a small amount of solvent in a small steel oil drain pan and hand clean them with brushes, I use two pans and put 4 rods apart in the one without solvent and clean the other four in the pan with solvent.
I'm amazed how much gunk was washed off those eight rods
They looked like the shop I had balance and check both ends ran them through a spray washer when they where done so maybe some of that gunk is from them
My main message is to clean them and every thing else that goes into the motor, NEVER ASSUME they(any parts) are clean enough to use brand new

Thanks.

This wound up a multi-million dollar medical malpractice lawsuit years ago. The manufacturer of some artificial joints (hip, femur ball) used chemical wash to sterilize them, and they were inserted in the patient without secondary inspection (supplied in sealed, single use packaging). Yes, the cleaning fluid was still there, and infected the wound - the whole thing had to be done over again, in some cases the patients suffered permanent disability.

I shiver every time I see someone handle freshly machined & cleaned engine parts with bare hands. This was known to be a problem 80 years ago: some corrosion developed in critical weapon manufacture (WWII), and it was traced to... assembly line workers with red hair. Their skin oil (transferred through their fingerprints) was highly acidic compared to other workers. Re-purposed them to another line: problem solved.

No such thing as too clean.

Yes, I believe the lawsuit you are talking about is the one where the spec said to ultrasonic clean them and they didn't. They saved $1 per part. It's hard to believe that invisible oil can cause such a problem but then the glue wouldn't stick. Made those peoples lives miserable.

Very interesting. I have been wearing latex gloves since the mid 1990's and everyone made fun of me when I started. It was mostly because I was having some medical issues and I just wanted to keep the solvent and everything else off my hands. I did notice very quickly how the parts and tools I handled and used never formed any spot stains or anything else. It wasn't long and everyone was wearing them.

1. Note to self: I ran out of latex gloves and need to buy more.

2. I bought a set of new Harland Sharp rockers that showed up appearing to be assembled and ready to install. When I disassembled everything to mock up, I unplugged the shafts and cleaned them out... found a horrendous amount of metal shavings still in them.

Anyone remember Mr. T? "I pity the fool who a$$umes those parts are ready to bolt on!

Madscientist, Agree with you 100%. I am a retired tool maker and I worked in Gardena Calif. When I machined steel I had to wear cotton gloves. If I didn't the the parts I machined would be covered in rusty finger prints the next morning.

Everyone has their own routine, for better or worse.

I had 2 parts washers. One to clean parts. The second had a good filter in it and was only used as a final rinse for previously cleaned parts. Lots of compressed air. Depending on the part, it may also have had a hot water rinse and blow dry.

Bearing inserts got lightly rubbed with fine scotchbrite. Washed multiple times. Wiped with acetone and blown off multiple times before they were assembled. Bearing journals were also wiped with acetone. Paper towels used exclusively, no cloth wipes. This eliminated the snotty wads of cloth fibers that would show up in the oil filter. You do look at your oil filter, right?

Everything got blown off with dry compressed air and maybe brakekleen to get the last bit of dust and lint, just before the assembly lube and assembly.

And don't forget to bag it while it's on the stand.

I just spray them down with brake clean and wipe clean. Wipe clean again with a fresh clean cloth. I bottle brush all oil galleys, spray with brake clean and lots of compressed air. I wear a new pair of mechanic gloves when I assemble.

I forgot to mention that I used a brass wire bottle brush to get into the threads in the rods to remove the lube, anti rust what ever they used, out of the threads. Maybe some of the gunk I saw in the clean pan was from up in there
I use lacquer (SP?) thinner on a pice of clean white cloth from a old cut up T shirt as my final cleaner on all steel, cast iron or any other metal surfaces like bearings to make sure I have not left any residue from my hands or fingers
I do use motor oil only for bearing lube, no special assembly lubes for the engine start up, I always prime the motors first before starting also

W/r/t/ serious cleaning products (Brake Kleen, MEK, acetone, lacquer thinner, Gun Scrubber):
Do it outdoors, wear SCUBA, or hold your breath. No mask* filters out these solvents - cancer to follow in 5 years.
* I've heard that activated charcoal is better than nothing, but no way to tell when it's saturated.

I've had three different types of cancer, two types of skin cancer and Prostrate cancer, I quit handling Toulene and Toulol with my bare hands in the mid 1970s, I use to wash parts in my solvent tank without gloves
I've used spray brake cleaner, spray carb cleaner as well as 5 gallon dip buckets of carb cleaners with no protection ,
I have use MEK, Acetone, Toulol and Toulene to mix with pure methanol alcohol with race gas back in the mid 1970s to make one of my old bracket cars go faster, it would pick up right at .3 ET and 2 MPH with 25% methanol and those other chemicals I used to keep it mixed with the race gas, some of the things we did before we knew better
I first heard about Toulol and Toulene being a cancer causing chemical in the mid 1970s, I use to buy them both in five gallon containers from the local paint stores
I am truly blessed that I didn't suffer worst results from those days, Thanks be To God
To all on here, be careful and pay attention to what you put through and on your body, be safe

NO ONE used gloves or respirators back then. And the solvents were better (worse from a health standpoint?). I'd wash parts with no gloves and my hands would look like gray parchment. Even the good carb dip solvent to some degree, but very much of that on you and you would soon be wanting to get it off, burned. Make a fist and the knuckles split and bleed. Hell, I was the guy in the parts washer, no gloves, scrubbing parts with a Kool in my mouth.

I suppose I'm lucky. Probably a few issues now related to that stuff, brake dust and some other crap, but nothing major (yet). Heck, I still use a little brakleen or acetone on towel to wipe crap off my hands when I don't want to stop and wash. And probably don't use gloves every time I should.

Don't be a tough guy or tight a$$. Use the PPE available to you.

I'm sure some of you remember ricxrt , use to post here , I helped him with his legal issues , some of the photos in his case, 30 years in the Coating industry . takes it's toll on the human body, some people their body chemistry can absorb high amounts, some people well genetics can be a b!tch.......over that time period (with masks and protective clothing) he's reached a toxicity level where certain chemicals react with his body chemistry. ........................So take care , be safe , PROTECT YOURSELF

The first thing we used to do right after SafeTclean changed the solvent in the parts washer was pour a new quart of 10w30 in it. It took some of the burn out of it when your hands were doused with it.

It's a miracle any of us saw 30 give some of the stuff we did.

Kevin

Some of the stuff we are exposed to on our jobs is crazy bad. In the steel mills asbestos was almost everywhere and we never had training on it till my last five years. We made primarily specialty steel and when we had to service our dust collectors we had to wear two trybex paper suits l, two pair of rubber gloves, plastic hoods, and full face respirators. Chromium, cyanide, lead, and many other chemicals while dealing with 120-180 temps in the dust collector compartments. Our body is remarkable

And, as we all know, if you ever heard someone say "asbestos" Johns Manville owes you $1 billion. If those claims were true, every shipyard worker, plumber, sailor, etc. ever born died of it a hundred years ago. I remember that distinctly.

Next: another wave of "your vaccine gave my child autism".

Trust me: juries do not need proof of actual causation to award huge sums of money to someone who claims to be affected. These travesties persist because of the trial lawyers associations and insurance companies.

That can't be right, insurance companies HATE paying money.
"Don't fling me in that briar patch!" Insurance premium rates are controlled by State agencies, they can recover only a fixed percent of their investment. Would you rather have 3% of $100 million, or 3% of $100 billion?

Hey Poly, you left out toothpaste that cam in a lead tube. Used Colgate like that for years. I must dead from lead poisoning and don't know it.

Now for cleaning blocks and parts.I have cleaned a lot of blocks over the years and never used solvents. First I used pressure washer, then super hot water with a good cleaner,soap based. then lots of brushes and elbow grease. Would do this twice then rinse with very hot water and blow dry. Wipe out cyls with Acetone till I could wipe a white T shirt through the cyl and came out clean.Then wipe the cyls with WD40 and the rest of machined surfaces. The most important part is the oil passages. A shop hot tank was does not clean those passages. Use some good engine cleaning brushes and lots of hot water and cleanser. And I don't wear gloves, good genes I guess?

Im 70 should be dead by now I guess or just good genes. I do where a mask when grinding-painting now, gloves too.
I use the Nelly-pot nose rinse, what comes out of your nose-sinus will scare you.

Have you been looking for the right cleaning agents to maintain your upholstery in the best shape and form at all times?