I should share one more thing I did this weekend since I think itās going to be best for me to keep the thread up to date as I make progress and then do a catch-up post on the engine build portion later.
I didnāt want to put crappy looking injection lines on my freshly painted engine and I also didnāt want to spend money on new lines. I tried quickly cleaning up the lines with some Scotchbrite and that looked pretty good. However, I knew they would rust again in short order. I started thinking up ways to protect the lines.
I thought of a clearcoat, but I didnāt like that option for a couple reasons: 1. A durable clearcoat would be a 2-part mix and would be kind of pricey for a small job, plus I would have product leftover that would be wasted. 2. I didnāt want something that increased the tube diameter significantly for when I install the clamp for my timing meter. I figured the clamp would also mar the clearcoat and maybe even chip it off.
I then thought about gun bluing. I did some asking around and research on that. I found out that the wipe-on stuff you can easily find at most places doesnāt do a ton for rust preventionā¦.you still need to oil the metal to keep rust at bay. While the idea of having the best smelling 6.5 diesel out there and cool looking injection lines was tempting, that didnāt seem like a great option. There are other bluing kits where you submerge the parts in a hot mixture of product, and this is much more effective at preventing rust, but I didnāt feel Iād be able to effectively mask the ends of the lines, so that was also out.
So I started searching for products to protect bare steel. There are a few products out there. After some reading of reviews, I landed on Sharkhide. Itās pricey, but it sounds like the right product for me. Plus, Iāll be putting some aluminum wheels on the truck later and this stuff should also help with protecting those.
We provide a thin, invisible coating that protects against oxidation, corrosion, streaking, staining, and discoloring. Easy to apply and dries in seconds!
sharkhide.com
So I took the line sets apart and cleaned up each individual line. I used a wire wheel and 180 grit sandpaper on the spots that had more corrosion and then I went over the whole line with a Scotchbrite pad. I then hung up the lines and sprayed them with lacquer thinner for cleaning and then let them air dry. Finally, I used a rag made from an old t-shirt and wiped the Sharkhide on. The stuff is interesting. It smelled familiar, but couldnāt place it. It started getting sticky on my hands as I was wiping it on. It went on nicely without streaks or smudges. I checked on the lines after 10 minutes or so and they were already dry - not tacky at all. They didnāt smudge while I installed them. I donāt know how well this will protect from rust, but so far I like how the product is behaving.
I also repopped my injectors to make sure they had survived storage ok. They all popped to 1950-2000.
Installed.
The line clamps were being painted at this time, thatās why there isnāt a clamp in this photo.
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