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I finally got to the step of prepping the cylinders for engine assembly for the Beetle.
VW cylinders are raw cast iron, which corrodes very easily. They come coated in "cosmoline" which is a thin wax that prevents the metal from rusting. I cleaned off the cosmoline with mineral spirits
and then dried them via compressed air and heat, and set them to finish drying in the sun.
The first cylinder I did this with, I tried to clean off the mineral spirits by scrubbing the cylinder with soapy water. The cleaning and rinsing took less than 2 minutes, but it ended up with some rust down in the crevices of the fins.
Here's one cylinder that hasn't been in water:
and here's the one that did go into water:
Before painting the cylinders, I needed to mask off the sealing surfaces, and to make sure that the interior doesn't get paint on it:
I did end up painting the cylinders, and they're drying in the garage
The painting is to improve the cylinder's heat transfer characteristics and prevent them from rusting. Here's what a cylinder looks like that came off the engine:
Tomorrow, hopefully I'll be balancing pistons.