VCCA Home Forums GENERAL DISCUSSION General Discussions Preserving cast iron

I have several cylinder heads, engine blocks, manifolds, and other castings that I would like to put into what you might call long term storage. All of these parts have been to the machine shop for hot tanking and machining and are absolutely bare of any oils or other preservative. I would hope to find something that can be sprayed on to protect the metal from rusting yet be removable without difficulty. I have reservations about cosmoline due to it's high cost as well as issues in removing it. Any thoughts?

I use CRC SP400 for anything i plan to store longer than a few months. anything short term i put a light coat of oil on it. both are easily removed with some brake cleaner/ acetone.

the SP400 dries to a yellowy waxy like substance. when i had my head rebuild i sprayed it down while my engine was being machined, supposed to be 3 months ended up being over a year !! when ready to install the head, cleaned it up and installed it. all machined surfaces were clean and clear, no rust, only some dust !!

been in mechanical industry over 20 year in a OEM machine shop and for storage we always say
short term use a wet coating maybe 6mo
long term use a dry coating over a 6mo up to 18 mos
past that requires more

CRC SP400 is readily available here and in a spray can which is nice, keep a can on my shelf :)

Thank You for the advice. The CRC SP400 sounds just like what I am looking for. I'll give it a go.