Barrel stud corrosion - need a fix please

HI All

Looking for suggestions - what is the best way to prevent corrosion on the studs at the bottom of the barrel ?

Water is seeping past the head bolts and collecting at the bottom of the barrel on the cases.
I'm thinking silicone around the studs heads once the barrel is on the cases..

Comments and suggestions welcome

I like to cover the cylinder studs with some copper paste, but that is more for the threaded part of them.
I'm not sure if I got your message right, do you have long studs that goes all the way from the bottom of the cylinder up to the head ?
Is it a 4T watercooled engine or is it water from the outside ? Maybe you can use copper washers on the upper section to avoid the water from going down the stud ?

Cheers !

The cylinder studs are usually heat shrunk installation. Sealant for the threads should not be needed

I zinc plated mine. Hopefully I won't have to check them for a while. Every cycle motor I have pulled apart had the same problem, some not bad, others OMG!!

Have a whole bunch on bench waiting to be plated, now on rebuilds I seal the top with plain old silicone seal. I put a small rubber O Ring in first and apply a top coat of silicone. Just to keep out the car wash spray and crap out.

Now my question, was going to plate them but with zinc or nickel ? Not sure.

Hate just hate trying to keep any rust dirt etc
out of the bottom end when taking those heads off for inspection. I even lay the bike on it side to push up cylinder when takin it off.

Couldn’t agree more. I had to split the cases on my 84 240 when I simply wanted to check the rings! Crap from the studs dropped into the bottom end when I wasn’t aware of the risk. In future I will flip the bike upside down before I slide the barrel off.

I doubt that the shmegma in the cylinder holes is washed in by pressure washing or other external source. I think it is the rusting of the studs themselves. The nuts are torqued to 15-22 FT# and there is a gasket on the bottom! The raw steel studs are the likely culprits as they are in such close proximity to the cylinder holes, very little rusting will quickly result in terror when removing the cylinder. All of the worst motors that the cylinder will not come off of are usually the ones neglected for there entire life. (Everyone I have!) It is very prudent to roll that motor over when doing an inspection, on engines that are to be rebuilt completely why bother? I think the studs should be plated by zinc, nickel or whatever process that will mitigate the corrosion. But nothing is as good as a frequent inspection, on a yearly timeline. I think I just broke my brain!

Can water get into the passage for the cylinder studs at the head junction on the air cooled engines?

I just smeared the last one or few with anti seize compound which I think has lead in it. I try and not take the studs out unless necessary. May or may not help.

Kind of wonder if pressure washing to clean the bike would be worse than leaving it dirty as likely the water turned to steam and left between the last water crossing and the hauler. Need the electrolyte, water with ions to complete the corrosion two half reactions. Unless condensation gets in there somehow.

Zinc would be a sacrificial anode, the zinc corrodes instead of the steel. The Nickel would be a protective coating but make for faster corrosion of unplated things in an environment with electrolyte. Not sure about the corrosion products of the zinc, they would not be able to go very far.

Its easy. Just put a small bead of silicone around the top of each stud before you put the head on. It is caused by the water from jetwashing forcing mud between the small gap.

problem solvered

Silicone it is then - thanks boys