Saltwater 88hp cleaning out the crap behind the heads

[northrivergeek]

Hey guys .. I bought a Erude 1988 88 SPL from a guy that had used it in salt prob most of its life ...he said he flushed it every time ??
I wonder if he did at all or very often now lol
I took a chance it was a good price $350 for the motor and it did run..any way .. I got the carbs cleaned out it had been sitting for 2 yrs since he moved from FL to TN .. fixed several other issues replaced the water pump .. got it up and running good flow from the pee hole .. but the heads where getting hot quick .. So I jerked the water jackets .. eww all kinds of white salt crap in there.. I had several of the bolts break off on the water jackets damned corrosion.. so I rounded up to used good freshwater heads.. any way ..
I want to get as much of the junk from the salt out of the water flow area from around the outside of the cylinder walls ... but dont want to get that crapola in the cylinders.. whats the best way to clean as much of that excess junk out of there as possible.. the motor will never see salt again .. just good ol TN river water.

I should say what is the best way other than disassemble of the block and bead or soda blasting the whole thing .. something liquid preferably that can be sprayed in there and sucked out .. to help dissolve the junk build up without eating the aluminum or damage to the pistons and cylinder walls !?!?!

Oh and I dont expect anything to remove every trace .. just to remove as much as possible

 

[northrivergeek]

Re: Saltwater 88hp cleaning out the crap behind the heads

Ive been doing some research on the net .. I think I may have answered my own question .. salt away etc .. looks like may be the answer I was looking for .. but not availible in my area due to not being anywhere near the coast . what about CLR or Lime-Away ?
I took a very small screw driver and scraped the largest portion of the stuff off of the water passages that cool the cylinder wall .. and shop vac the loose stuff out .. would it be advisable to spray CLR in there with the heads off making sure not to get in cylinders and then flush out with water before I put the new heads and gaskets back on ?

 

[mikesea]

Re: Saltwater 88hp cleaning out the crap behind the heads

cant hurt,you can stick some paper towels or rags in the cylinders that the piston is not at top to help keep debris free,can you mail order salt away,maybe not,if its caustic,i know alot of guys that use salt away down here in fl.keys,so,are u sure about where its not sold,one other point,there are passages in the exhust of the eng.behind the big cover with all the screws,hopefully your flush deal will work out,but the real culprit is likely down in the thermostats,all that crud in the eng settles in the thermo areas,they are located behind the piece the 2 hoses connect to,its held in place by 3 screws that can be a mother to get out without breaking on a salt motor especially,thats just hard fact,after you get in there and clean things up,remove the guts from the thermostats,cut the sides at bottom of legs ,just above the round ring that holds the plunger and the stainless piece,you will see what i mean when you see the part,there are also springs for the reliefs ,you can see all parts in a breakdown,found on this site,pick yr and hp,proceed softly,use heat if you get stuck bolts,mapp gas with a push button igniter tip is a good alternate to oxy/acetalene
http://shop2.evinrude.com/ext/index.aspx?s1=bf6ad09c53cead335fcfd8a6471c0f7f

 

[northrivergeek]

Re: Saltwater 88hp cleaning out the crap behind the heads

I already removed the thermostat housing changed thermostats gaskets etc .. that when I found out the heads running hot.. new that the stats was not the issue .. there was a bunch of crap down there as well.. but clean as a whistle now .. after was still running hot.. I then removed the water jackets.. found a bunch of crystallized salt in there .. and of course the corroded 1/4 bolts snapped off in the head! 5 on the right and 3 on the left ... I had a good set of heads almost mint condition .. thanks to a buddy .. so I pulled the heads found more crap in there the right ( Hottest ) head was the worst including the head gasket ..
Im just trying to clean as much of the old salt junk out as possible .. before reassembling the new heads and head gaskets.. I guess I will wait till I get all back together.. then run salt away, barnacle buster, or one of the others Ive found to remove the left over crud.. Saltwater is a pain lol.. Glad I dont have to deal with this day in and day out