66 200 ci,,, 3spd,,, the inside of the engine block is rusty as all get out,,I have a filter on the return radiator hose,, I've use almost all the radiator flush stuff and it's still bad as ever,, I don't have the money to rebuild/hot tank the motor right now any ideas?

thanks for help/info

 

You need to fork out some money to do something.

Option 1) Bring the car to a radiator shop. They can do a complete cooling system flush and get rid of most, if not all of the crap in your cooling system. This usually runs about an hour of shop labor, which isn't bad at all.

Option 2) Buy yourself a good radiator back flush kit, including the piece you have to splice into the heater lines and a good flush. There used to be two-part flush/neutralizer kits, with the first part containing muriatic acid, but I haven't seen any in years. Cold be because I'm in CA, though. Lacking one of those, something like Prestone's radiator flush should work ok as long as you follow the directions.

 

Frankly, if it were me I would just endeavor to keep a 50/50 mix of coolant/water and just PRETEND everything is more than OK....

This is pretty much how I have ALWAYS handled this issue between new and rebuild(s).... even if it is years and years...

so far so good...

If that filter of yours is on a big hose, you will need to make sure it does not get plugged up, this would be a lot worse than no filter at all.

Seriously though, don't give "coolant discoloration" much thought.... other than being ugly it ain't going to matter much.