Cleaning an engine without stripping

[Andy M]

I have seen threads on this but can't find much on it.
What is a good way to clean an engine without stripping it, I am looking at stripping the A4 getting the frame coated and doing a general tidy up, not a resto so not going overboard.
Soda / aqua blasting ?? what works?? Thanks in advance....

[tedsonthezed]

Ok, I'm no expert but did get some soda blasting done last year. Brilliant for paint and crud removal and will not damage the engine - the guy who did it said how he had seen an Aston Martin cylinder head blasted with the cams still in situ with no ill effects. Mmmmm.

But because it's so gentle on the metal, it's crap at getting rid of corrosion, which on a bare A4 engine, I'd guess you would have.

[martinz1000r]

here you go

http://www.z1ownersclub.co.uk/forum/vie ... ht=#160665

i actually ended up stripping as it was easier and as the bits come back i am really pleased that i took this route.

Would also add that if i had not had head stripped the f**ked valve guides would not have shown themselves resulting in doing the job twice

[Z.O.A]

Soda does a great job, but as said before, it does not remove any of the oxidisation or corrosion, it can't do this because it's not an abrasive, I believe it works by the tiny particles actually exploding on impact with the surface and so the resulting energy only removes anything on the material that is'nt supposed to be there.
I soda blasted the head on my A4 and it came up great, however the rest of the casings were a different matter (not corroded as such but badly oxidised on the surface), I ended up buying fine glass bead and doing the entire engine, did a fantastic job and left a nice smooth finish.

[Andy M]

This is the engine.. it may not need blasting, ??/

[Viktor Larsson]

I'd just give it a good scrub with some degreaser, a hard brush and then paint it. Worked really good on mine. Looks better than new.

[Zed man]

This is the engine.. it may not need blasting, ??/

Andy, I was thinking the same thing. As there's people with bikes, That's running fine, But could do with just a clean up. Polishing/soda blasting/ with the engine in situ.( still in the frame) But no one does it?

So need must, This is me, not right finished yet but soon.





FRAMES TOO



This is a Suzuki gt750j frame, and i have 3 to do, and might offer this service, but not just yet sorry. This cabinet is 6ft 2" tall. as i might spray this one, gloss black. to this finish, main stand.

Soda to this standard.



Still not finished, the workshop yet.

[Z903]

Depends on how much time you care to put in to cleaning it up, versus how much money you want to spend cleaning it up?
I chose the the time method and spent quite a lot of it. All done with paint stripper and polishing. Maybe not as good as vapour blasting, but it can be done without pulling down your engine.
But you can go from this....


To this with a little effort, all in the comfort of your own home.

[coldsummer]

I really, really, couldn't be arsed.

[Is Vic There]

This is my GPZ900A1 engine.

I stripped it with paint which basically did bugger all, then had it sode blasted, the problem with sode is it does leave a residual, then had it blasted with a special process http://www.wetblasting.net/ now its at the painters. The finish is fantastic.

[RAYZ1]

Soda does a great job, but as said before, it does not remove any of the oxidisation or corrosion, it can't do this because it's not an abrasive, I believe it .....bead and doing the entire engine, did a fantastic job and left a nice smooth finish.

I had a problem with it not removing corrosion until I managed to aquire a building contractors site compressor for a day - it removed corrosion and oxidation well. I soda blasted my gs750 engine and carbs complete and it worked a treat - I then stripped the top end and side cases off to apply the engine paint to the top end and top case

[hillbilly]

fourth pic back,you might want to swap the inlet rubbers round.

[Z903]

fourth pic back,you might want to swap the inlet rubbers round.

had that comment before! If you look closely you'll also notice there are stainless discs covering the inlet holes behind those inlet rubbers, to keep the crud out of the engine. It was pure luck that I'd clamped them on this way at the time.

[Andy M]

Z903, what did you use to get your engine so clean ??

[Z.O.A]

Plenty of options for doing it Andy and people will probably have pros and cons for each process, I have my own small rig for soda or hard media blasting, it was cheaper for me to buy all the gear than sending it off somewhere to someone I did'nt know, plus I can use it again and again.

There are more than likely a lot more options for you to get stuff done in the UK than over here in Ireland and at much more reasonable prices too.

Here are a couple of before and after shots of my motor, sealed it up and did it complete before strip down.