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Old 01-18-2021, 08:29 PM   #1
TomT/Williamsburg
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Default How To Remove Cosmoline

I have a French block that will be getting built soon but how do I remove the cosmoline?

What I know is that it’s a wax and hot water will melt most of it and then WD40 or something like it will remove the rest.

Have any of you ever Erne it and, if so, how did you do it?

Thanks for any help you can give .....
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Old 01-18-2021, 08:41 PM   #2
Brian
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Default Re: How To Remove Cosmoline

there's probably an easy way, but I've always used a solvent and elbow grease!
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Old 01-18-2021, 09:25 PM   #3
DavidG
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Default Re: How To Remove Cosmoline

It melts rapidly in the presence of lacquer thinner.
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Old 01-18-2021, 10:00 PM   #4
TomT/Williamsburg
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Default Re: How To Remove Cosmoline

Thank you - lacquer thinner it is then. And elbow grease will come in handy I am sure!
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Old 01-18-2021, 10:05 PM   #5
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Default Re: How To Remove Cosmoline

gasoline, and use a brass brush
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Old 01-19-2021, 12:34 AM   #6
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Default Re: How To Remove Cosmoline

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We used a heat gun on surplus rifles. Followed by ATF, then mineral spirits. Worked great.
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Old 01-19-2021, 08:51 AM   #7
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Default Re: How To Remove Cosmoline

https://www.amazon.com/CRC-Heavy-Deg.../dp/B000R833ZE

I've used this CRC product with good results.
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Old 01-19-2021, 11:52 AM   #8
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Default Re: How To Remove Cosmoline

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Originally Posted by WABOOM View Post
We used a heat gun on surplus rifles. Followed by ATF, then mineral spirits. Worked great.
Followed by the ATF?
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Last edited by GB SISSON; 01-19-2021 at 11:59 AM.
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Old 01-19-2021, 01:29 PM   #9
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Default Re: How To Remove Cosmoline

A million GI's have used gasoline, but do it outdoors and do it safely.
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Old 01-19-2021, 01:34 PM   #10
Krylon32
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Default Re: How To Remove Cosmoline

I to have a French block and since I can't get any interest in buying it I may have to build it. Can't you just have the machine shop hot tank it to remove the cosmoline?

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Old 01-19-2021, 01:37 PM   #11
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Default Re: How To Remove Cosmoline

Hot tank or parts washer is what we used at the Cat dealership. For small parts, the solvent tank. The pressure washer outside was often used to knock the majority off first.
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Old 01-19-2021, 03:22 PM   #12
Hal Beatty
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Default Re: How To Remove Cosmoline

For aircraft brake rotors in cosmoline we always used Avgas; sometimes it had to soak for a week or so on parts that had been coated for 70+ years.
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Old 01-19-2021, 03:44 PM   #13
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Default Re: How To Remove Cosmoline

In the military we used PD-680 which could have been perchloroethylene or trichloroethylene depending on the suppliers at the time. We would drop the component in the vat and let it set there a while (usually overnight) before brushing the goo off.

The stuff will melt if you have some form of hot tank when the crap is too hardened to get it all off in the solvent only method. Just don't heat any chlorinated solvents up too much or the gas from it will kill you. Hot water or normal water soluble parts cleaning solutions would be better under extreme heat but you have to get it all off of there after cleaning.

Last edited by rotorwrench; 01-19-2021 at 04:07 PM.
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Old 01-19-2021, 03:54 PM   #14
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Default Re: How To Remove Cosmoline

For the pistons I did recently I used white spirit (mineral spirit) in an ultrasonic cleaner. It worked really well. I think the heat helped a lot. If using cold then a different solvent may be better. I showed the pistons being cleaned in a recent video. While this might not be any help for a whole block, the main caps can be done like this.

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Old 01-20-2021, 08:08 AM   #15
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Default Re: How To Remove Cosmoline

Can’t see why hot tanking wouldn’t work, I cleaned a surplus rifle stock with boiling hot water once.
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Old 01-20-2021, 10:48 AM   #16
Seth Swoboda
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Default Re: How To Remove Cosmoline

I bought a nos crank shaft covered in cosmoline. I had my machine shop bake it to remove the cosmoline.
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Old 01-20-2021, 10:59 AM   #17
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Default Re: How To Remove Cosmoline

My mechanic has great luck with a heat gun !
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Old 01-20-2021, 11:25 AM   #18
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Default Re: How To Remove Cosmoline

Quote:
Originally Posted by GB SISSON View Post
Followed by the ATF?
Lol... not THE a.t.f.
haha
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Old 01-20-2021, 11:56 AM   #19
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Default Re: How To Remove Cosmoline

After seeing all of this, I guess I was lucky that nobody was able to deliver on the "Harley 45's packed in Cosmoline" they talked about when I was in high school.
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Old 01-20-2021, 12:01 PM   #20
GB SISSON
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Default Re: How To Remove Cosmoline

Quote:
Originally Posted by WABOOM View Post
Lol... not THE a.t.f.
haha
Somebody got it! There was a line from some movie... "I heard a knock at my door and a voice from the other side said 'Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms'. I thought it was a delivery".
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