I have my crank and rods still sitting in the old 350 block I have until it's time to assemble my block that was machined. There is some surface rust on the crank but it's not on any of the journals because the rods are still attached and crank is torqued down. There is a lot of rust by the rear where the flywheel bolts too also. Can this be cleaned off with a wire brush and some chemicals or should the crank be hot tanked? wouldn't that ruin the finish on the journals though?

 

I would not use a wire brush on a crank. A little misguided stroke and you can do some serious scratching on the journals. I would use have a machinest shop clean it up weither they hot tank it or sand it down with super fine paper. I had a small scratch on one of my journals and the machinest just gave me super smooth emory cloth to tak it out. maybe you can do soemthing similar

 

that's true thanks for the quick reply. I'm taking the rods in next week so i'll ask them about it then

 

No problem. Good luck!

 

If it's not on the journals there's nothing to worry about.

 

None of the rest of it matters in the slightest. A bit of wire brush or Scotchbrite and all will be well. Maybe smear a light film of grease on it to keep it from coming back.