Just wanted to know what the easiest way to get a decent amount of surface rust off some heads would be. Nothing major but I want them to be ready to paint soon. I'm letting them sit with some white vinegar to see if that works. Someone told me to use coca-cola.

What are some tricks you guys have used? I really don't want to bust out the wire brushes for a lot of work unless I just have to.

 

You dont have to work hard with the wire brush. Just knock off the loose stuff. Then spray the remaining rust with a rust converter. Its one of the better ways to be sure the rust will not come back. There are a lot of manufactures out there, I think even walmart has one.

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/ite...Paints-_-5HE25

 

I didn't want to use a rust converter due to all the places I would've had to shoot it. The vinegar worked o.k. but would've taken a long while and some effort with the brush. The rust wasn't in the bores, runners or decks but across the top where the rocker/spring assembly was and on the exterior by the exhaust/spark plugs walls. I just dropped them off at the machine shop and they media blasted them really quick and they're sitting in cylinder head bags in the dining room right now. 30 bucks isn't too bad for me to avoid sitting outside in 30 degree weather with a wire brush and vinegar right now.

 

Blasting should do a nice job but just FYI the acid in vinegar/soda is not strong enough to get into the root of the rust if its anything more then just flash rust (a day to two). The rust can return even if you can not see it anymore. In the future if you think a acid is the best way to go get some navel jelly. I am not a big fan of acids to remove rust. Blasting is a great way to do it as long as you can clean everything afterwards and its not a precision surface.
BTW: How the T6 upgrade going?