Help - engine is turning into dust!

[Thenutinthemiddle]

Hi all

Lifted the bonnet today for the first time in about 2 months and to my horror I saw loads of white powdery deposits all over the block and inlet manifold etc.

This looks horrible so I would like any advice on how best to sort it and prevent a re-occurrence please.

You can see the cam cover is a bit tired looking - repaint or powdercoat?

Cam cover resized.jpg

And here's the inlet manifold looking particularly horrible

inlet manifold resized.jpg

Finally a couple of close ups of the engine bloc

left side of engine resized.jpg

front of engine resized.jpg

Thanks guys all tips appreciated. I guess I will end up having to remove the inlet manifold for decent access anyway. Has anyone else got a success story for this kind of problem?

[944BLOKE]

I wouldn't worry about it.It's probably just down to the cold weather.I'm sure you could clean it off but wait till it's a bit warmer.

[broady_6]

Its the damp reacting with the metal. cheap and easy way to stop it corroding is to spray with WD40 after youve cleaned it. It might not look the prettiest but it will look after it

[EL Gordo]

get it all blasted, lightly!! then a thin coat of vaseline

[Thenutinthemiddle]

Vaseline? really? I would never have thought of that! Surely it would get hot and run off?

Anyway, I have finally got around to stripping parts off the engine in order to get them blasted and painted etc.

I have removed the cam cover, intake manifold and also the brake servo as it has gone rusty.
(The cover on there at the moment is a spare one kindly supplied by Te33a)

Here are a few pics...

First a view of the engine:

rsz_engine_with_bits_removed.jpg

I have had a little go with a dremel and a wire brush in places but I'm wondering if I have bitten off more than I can chew! I might end up calling in a professional with better tools and more patience than me!
For sure it willneed either painting or coating with something once all the corrosion is removed but I don't know what I'm going to do with it yet.
Here's an underside view of the intake manifold

rsz_intake_underside.jpg

The underside is not actually in too bad nick and gives an idea of the colour that it should be.

Finally one very rusty brake servo which I shall get resprayed. It was a bit of a sod to get to one of the three nuts attaching the servo to the firewall, two extensions and a UJ socket joint were required! I am getting a bit old to be upside down at full stretch in car footwells these days!

rsz_brake_servo.jpg

The little blue sticker peeled off very easily so I have put that to one side and will stick it back on later so it looks original again.

Ok more piccys once its all done.

I just hope I can remember how it all goes back together again.