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Cleaning Engine

Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2018 4:44 pm
by jojob
Just wondering how everyone cleans their engines. I have 1976 Gt500, that I basically pulled out of a barn, after at least 6 yrs of sitting. Right now I have the engine off the bike, and the jugs off. I decided that I would go ahead and clean all the yrs worth of grime and oil off of it. I found out real quick, that it sucks. So just looking for anything that makes it easier. I wasn't sure if I could soda blast it with the jugs off or anything like that. Thanks for any suggestions that yall can give.

Re: Cleaning Engine

Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2018 10:02 pm
by Jimroid
Two cans of GUNK engine deagreaser, a parts cleaning brush, and a good nozzle on your garden hose. Maybe a cup of coffee or a cold beer. Time to bond with a fine machine.

Re: Cleaning Engine

Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2018 11:47 pm
by Alan H
You can soda blast it with the cylinders and barrelss on. But it's VERY dusty. Block all holes first

Re: Cleaning Engine

Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2018 9:14 am
by Zunspec4
Hello jojob,

There is a process called "Dry ice blasting". it uses solid pellets of carbon dioxide, which of course will evaporate leaving zero trace of the blasting medium. An assembled engine can be cleaned this way, although you still block off all openings (ex ports etc.) You would need to find a specialist though.

I would completely strip your engine and get the cases vapour blasted. At the same time it will give you the chance to properly clean the crank and inspect the main bearings and big ends.

Cheers Geoff

Re: Cleaning Engine

Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2018 2:36 pm
by sportston
I've not heard of that dry ice blasting before. That sounds great!
But most cleaning is laborious and obviously dirty and often smelly.
I used petrol and paint brushes on my engine to get it clean, then got it blasted to make it look like new. It took ages to soak and clean all the crud off. A powerful jet-washer may be a useful tool, but I only had a little one, which did very little.
Whatever you do, don't use wire brushes on aluminium or alloy castings. It leaves lots of marks and makes it very hard to make look nice again.

Re: Cleaning Engine

Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2018 2:48 pm
by jojob
These are some great ideas, I forgot that I had a steam machine. So when I get back into town on Monday, I am going to try some gunk, and other degreasers along with my steam machine. I use it to detail engine bays in cars, and it works great. Hoping it will do the same for the engine.

Re: Cleaning Engine

Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2018 9:44 am
by sportston
That sounds like a great idea too. Would say soaking in Gunk first is also wise. Looks like you have a good plan! Don't forget to take before and after pics. Would love to see the results

Re: Cleaning Engine

Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2018 12:54 pm
by m in sc
1 case of brake cleaner., brass brushes and a scraper. it was NASTY. that was after 2 cans of engine cleaner and a trip to the car wash.

Image


regarding the ice blasting, im familiar with the company that invented that process, cold-jet. we sell to them actually, IF you can find a place that will do it, its the way to go. however, its not cheap.

Re: Cleaning Engine

Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2018 2:10 am
by Craig380
@Mark - how are you doing? I hope all's well with you and yours.

Re: Cleaning Engine

Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2018 12:29 pm
by m in sc
craig! beena while ! Doing well man, really good. Hope you are as well. :up:

Re: Cleaning Engine

Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2018 1:02 am
by Craig380
All good here, thanks. After 18 years (over half its life!) I finally killed my 380, holed a piston while making some sweet music from the J&R chambers. If I was young and stupid, I'd have just flushed the cases with diesel and fed it another piston.

But I'm old and stupid, so I started totting up the costs of an engine strip & rebuild ... then repainting the frame and bodywork ... rechroming ... etc. Just couldn't face it. So I moved her on and went to the dark side with an SV650.

Re: Cleaning Engine

Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2018 11:49 pm
by jojob
So I decided to get a blasting cabinet for some bike parts, and other items. I tried playing around with soda tonight, and I'm just not for sure if it will work on the jugs or maybe I'm just not good with it yet. It cleans the items a little bit, but I can still see the oxidation on the items. Plus it doesn't really clean the 40 yrs of grime off so easily. I have watched plenty of videos, and they make it look simple. Should I be using glass beads to try and glean the jugs?

Re: Cleaning Engine

Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2018 5:55 am
by akendall1966
Blasting media will depend upon what your trying to achieve. I switch between garnet for cleaning / crud removal and glass bead for improving surface appearance. All being a mechanical process, i.e. they knock stuff off or cut into the surface using the energy of the particle blown at high speed, they don't do so well with oily gooey stuff that too readily absorbs the energy without much effect on it. I find a thorough de-grease and pressure wash to remove the muck, a garnet blast to removed oxides and cut through harder deposits and a bead blast to condition and polish the surface is the quickest route for alloy parts.

I have used one of those sand blasting lances you attach to a pressure washer with kiln dried sand, very messy but combines steps 1&2 and results in a better surface than dry blasting garnet but not quite as nice as glass bead on alloy. This is how I did my crank case and was happy to leave it at that finish.

Of course lots of careful washing after to remove the media from any knooks and crannies. That's where Co2 and soda are advantageous as they either evaporate or dissolve in water when you rinse the part.

Re: Cleaning Engine

Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2018 9:30 am
by jojob
Thanks for the advice, but I'm not to sure on what garnet is. This is what I am coming up with, using Soda. Will glass beads help take this oxidation off, or is there another media type that I should be using like sand? The surface is smooth and clean, its just the oxidation or darker areas that I am wanting to get off.

Re: Cleaning Engine

Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2018 9:58 am
by akendall1966
Don't use sand you risk silicosis ( as nasty lung disease) from the dust.

Garnet: vitreous silicate mineral a naturally occurring mineral that when ground up can be used as a sharp abrasive. There are other options like aluminium oxide. Soda is quite gentle good for things like paint removal and light cleaning, Aluminium oxide is hard so you need something equally hard or harder to attack it with.

Glass balls being round is like hitting the surface with a tiny planishing hammer thousands of times a second that smooths and polishes the surface. Not very effective for cutting into the surface so would take time to achieve the same as something more abrasive. Imagine using sandpaper vs metal polish you'd spend a lot of time and effort using polish alone, where as if you use coarse sand paper you can get the surface uniform quickly then improve the finish by using less coarse sand paper and finally polishing to a level of shine you want.

Depending on the depth of the corrosion on your chain cover it might still be noticeable as surface irregularities after blasting. Showy parts like outer covers I have wet sanded to get the surface uniform then either polish for a mirror like finish or glass bead for a satin finish.

Depends on what your objective is, glass bead might clean it up and disguise the pitting enough for your tastes. Now you have a cabinet the beads will always be useful and an abrasive like garnet will leave the surface dull so you'f need beads or polishing after the garnet to make the part presentable.

Hope that helps.
AK