bureau13

I thought I read somewhere that soda blasting is safer than sand blasting...is that true? Or will pretty much any blast media be just as dangerous (and apparently, hard to get out)?

Speedtoys

Nah...5min with a toilet brush will get it all out.

Rob Edwards

That wrist pin is just amazing- Not your typical source of 'rod knock'...

kevinr

Worth posting to the 'new visitor' thread, I would say.

zekgb

Not even close to my experience with the S3 intake, there are many spots in the plenums that a large brush can't possible reach.

Speedtoys

Good data point for the S3 then. S4 was a breeze.

BC

Flexible brushes, vinegar (to make the intake fiz and release the particles), soap, and repeated cycles get these things clean. For the OP, the mistake will not be made again - and what else can we ask for? Learning from mistakes is one way we grow and gain knowledge.

At least he posted it. Imagine how many mistakes we don't hear about through ego and embarrassment.

You are in good hands.

olmann

^^^^^^^^^^^^^
That's what I did. However I had the intake blasted with Aluminum Oxide. It seemed to clean up real well.

Ken P

I did an intake refresh on my 86.5. I had considered powder coating it, but did the spray can route. It didn't look bad, but was not the finish or color that I had wanted. It was too silver.

I have an intake refresh in my future on my '89, coming up at some point. I was going to look into powder coating this one.

I might have to do more research on the cleaning if I go with powder coat.

vanster

I just spent a few hours with GB and he was pleased that I posted the pics. We went thru all the damaged bits which is really dramatic. Inside the lifters and yes most of the walls are scored. The wrist pins are grooved! My neighbor here in LA owns a Jaguar repair shop and he told a similar story of beed blasting a block and not getting everything out of it....There were places in the intake that I would have never found that still have pockets of glass beed.
In regards to slinking into a corner or blaming the powder coating shop would not be fair to our community as we are all in this together.
At the end of the day I will have a new motor, motor mounts, clutch and a bunch of other little things that would have taken years to chase.

bureau13

You have a great attitude about this. I would be out on a ledge somewhere...

Captain_Slow

Vanster - Sorry this happened. I would replace "dramatic" with traumatic to see the extent of the damage. Your pictures do a huge service to all who are considering stripping their intakes for painting or powder coating. Very strong and good of you to do this for the team.

jcorenman

Van, those pictures are amazing. Especially the wrist-pin, that is hardened steel against aluminum. Thank you for posting.

A question on the piston-ring picture: The ring on the right side is obviously a very worn ring, were they all like that? What is the left ring? A ring from another cylinder or from a different engine altogether?

Rattle-cans work great, we used Duplicolor silver and clear-coat before GB did it properly.

Here's to getting that car on the road!

GregBBRD

The damage varies from cylinder to cylinder, depending on how much of the cleaning media got sucked into each cylinder. (One plenum had more media than the other.)

The ring on the left was from the "donor" engine, an amazing looking unknown mileage late 1986 from an automatic.

Cosmo Kramer

I have media blasted both an S3 and S4 intake, the best method I have found for cleaning is filling my laundry tub with water and completely submerging the parts then going to them with a bottle brush. After that agitate the parts vigorously while underwater to get all the little bits. I drain and fill the tub and repeat a couple of times.

You have a great attitude Van we all have these moments, best to look at it in a positive manner and move forward.