Ke6oqc

I have started to tear down my 3.0 motor to do some repairs. As i am sure as i get into it i will have more questions. But for now because i have the motor out of the car and on a stand i would like to clean it up and make it look nice once again. I have put most parts at this time in the parts washer. They have came out looking much better than they did when they went in. However since i have the hole motor out i would like to make it look fresh and clean... There is still quite a bit of baked on crud on many of the parts... I have tried scrubbing with a scotch brite pad or a wire brush. But it doesn't clean up all the way and also many sections i can not reach with such tools.

So the over all question is how do i make an old motor look like new? i was thinking of light sand blast to get back down to clean material??? Or would that ruin the part or the value? Also if i did sand blast i know it may leave the part etched and slightly ruff? Would a good high temp paint be in order after that? would painting the motor de value it?

Bottom line is i want to make my rebuilt motor look as nice as i can without devaluing it

wolds

Bead blasting will give you a nice finish. I did that to the case on my BMW R60/6

Steve Weiner-Rennsport Systems

JMHO,...

Never, ever,...sand or bead blast an engine case. Such media gets in places that you never imagined and will ruin an engine in short order. You would never believe what I've seen people do in the past 40+ years,.....

Pressure washing only with solvents and cleaners of choice.

race911

I'll guess you'd rather extract blown up bits internally, than blast residue.

You really need to give us a 10 Best from over the years. I could do one, but it would be amateur hour.

Ke6oqc

I am not sure if a pressure washer will even get some of this stuff off??? And if i would like to make the parts look as close to new as possible how do i achieve that?? High Temp paint???

Amber Gramps

I agree with the pros above, but have had success with 'soda blasting' all kinds of parts....parts that I was certain were toast. Buddy of mine swears by it in his resto-mod Corvette hobby. I've got a small harbor freight unit. It leaves no sign of use at all on anything. Like it never even happened.

http://www.harborfreight.com/15-lb-p...ter-66742.html

Reiver

Believe them, if you 'blast' something particles will get to places you do not want them to inhabit.....look at it this way, function over form. Who cares how it looks, to a point, if that might destroy its ability to finction properly.
I don't even like pressure washing an engine and do it sparingly only when required (or way past due).

irobertson

I went through the same process when I dropped my motor to do the clutch. I was planning a clean up, then a reseal. I soaked it in engine cleaner, scrubbed, pressure washed, repeated. But I was still not real happy with the results.
Then I found 3 broken head studs, so she came apart. Then I got a blasting cabinet and a bag of glass bead and started cleaning things like valve covers, chain boxes, heat exchangers,, etc..... The results looked so good that I got carried away and figured I'd do the case halves as well.
MISTAKE!!
I soon realized that even though I had masked off all the sensitive areas (machined surfaces) and openings to any oil galleys, I still managed to get fine glass bead into places it shouldn't go. Soooo, off the case halves went to a pro who pulled the galley plugs and piston squirters and cleaned out the mess I had made. I now have a clean case with new piston squirters and threaded galley plugs.

Here is what I probably should have had done, if I wasn't tearing it down.
Dry Ice Blasting
The dry ice beads evaporate and leave no residue.
It is widely used in the food service and packaging industry to clean machinery.
http://www.coldjet.com/en/informatio...e-blasting.php

Reiver

BTW, what kind of jugs/psitons do you have..Ausil or Nikies and what is your plan?

Ke6oqc

I dont know what all the engine has on it. It was out of a stock 911 i believe untouched. So as I venture through the rebuild i will possibly do some upgrades. As for now the only problem besides being greasy and ugly is that it needs to be re ringed as it smokes some. But runs well.