Acid Dipping Engines

[spewey at comcast.net (Spewey)]

John S. Lagnese wrote:
> Isn't phosphoric acid naval jelly? I seem to recall the name as familiar.
> John

Naval jelly appears to be sulfonic or sulfuric acid dissolved in 
vaseline.  Google for "<chemical name> msds" to find out properties and 
hazards of anything.

http://msds.ogden.disa.mil/msds/owa/web_msds.display?imsdsnr=195590

The phosphoric acid I used was a "Clear, colorless syrupy liquid" like 
the muriatic (hydrochloric) acid you can buy at the hardware store. 
Strong acids are not very easy to work with but can be useful to the 
shadetree mechanic.  I don't know what BH is trying to etch, but I'm 
saying if you want to do this to clean a block at home to save $$, 
don't.  Unless you have a small part like my scaly water-jacket and 
safety gear and chemical handling training.  I also did not want to 
disassemble the crank/pistons so a dip was not an option.

http://www.jtbaker.com/msds/englishhtml/P3973.htm

"hot-tanking" at a machine shop can be approximated with soap and lye 
(as nasty a base as they come) from other Googlings.  There are probably 
commercially available powders for this purpose for use in shops. 
Again, having enough of these dangerous solutions to submerge a part 
(especially something the size of a block) at home is not a good idea 
but some people seem do it.  They must be on LSD.

http://realbig.com/detomaso/1999-05/491.html