engine cleaning

has anyone got any good ideas for bringing a black painted engine back to bright alloy? i did plan to have it hydro bead blasted, but the shop tells me i would have to strip everything out of the engine & gearbox & give them empty casings. my dilema is, the motor was running fine before removing from the frame, if it needed a rebore or crankshaft bearings, i wouldn't hesitate, do you see where i am coming from? what do you think guys?

 

If it is a factory finish,disassembly may be required,as many components were powder coated (tougher than John Wayne on steriods).If it is a rattle can job,using spray on,or even brush on,paint stripper may be a viable option,but it will be messy and tedious.
Should you choose the latter option,be sure to mask off the areas that you wish to remain painted. And wear the appropriate safety gear,as this is pretty caustic stuff.

 

yeah i know what your saying and yeah i have a black case and head but the paint is chipping off also and me taring it down i would have to replace all the gaskets also and bearings and all the fun stuff and i think the intake side of the carbs cause mine are cracking but i was thinking the same thing

 

I've gotten good results from the folks at PJ1. Their Case Black paint works really well at touch-up and full on re-painting. They sell a variety of finishes in manufacturer matching spray cans. Just hold on to your hat, they cost close to $12 a pop now-a-days.

 

so new to the thread but I've got an xj750 engine that is currently covered in oil from the leaking (or perhaps spewing is a better word) valve cover gasket. I'm wondering the most efficient way to clean this off well enough to be able to repaint as I also have the black paint chipping off my engine which looks almost as bad as the oil . . .

Any advice out there?

 

The proper way is a new gasket.

A quick fix is gasoline and a toothbrush to clean the immediate area, followed by a blast of starting fluid as a rinse. Now you have a clean dry spot. Apply RTV silicone and rub it in the crack with your finger several times over, tidy up with a rag, then apply a small, neat bead.

I did this to a case gasket that was leaking on my Silver Wing 6 months ago. A repair like this will last a few years, before it leaks again.

Hey folks, where do we get the "black body emitter" paint? Sounds cool !

 

Wizard I would look into baking soda blasting the beauty part of Soda Blasting is it only removes the paint it will not harm the block at all I dont how shiny it will be but you could always do some polishing. And you wont have to disassemble the engine you just have to seal it up real good

 

yep. engine goes for soda blasting this tuesday, i will post pics.

 

engine after soda blasting, the best 100 bucks a man can spend! :wink:

 

Man, that looks awesome!

 

Looks great saved a whole lot of time and sweat.Soda blasting have to remember that one.

 

Very nice!
And to think I'm trying to figure out how to get mine black again.
:lol:

 

Soda blasting?

 

You are welcome!

 

I have an air compressor, and 2 cheap sand blasters ( a suction style, and a cup style) I can just buy Arm N Hammer and go at it ???

Looks awesome !

 

That really is impressive. I've heard of this, but never saw the results. I do a bit of old car restoration and have a bead blaster, but if you want to blast an engine part that even comes close to an oil passage, you better be very, very careful. You've never heard a sound equal to a rod bearing that has a couple tiny glass beads in it. One of my cars has an aluminum alloy turbocharger on it that has discolored over the 40+ years and I have been afraid of blasting and polishing it. This may be the answer and it looks as if the polishing would be pretty quick.

Thanks for the pics.

 

Not quite but you are close. The media is pretty expensive if you use A&H but they sell it in bulk like you would need. I believe the tip on the gun is different but you should be able to buy that. Don't know the pressure needed but you can always experiment with it. The higher the pressure the greater the polishing effect.

Sean

 

I remember seeing a show on the History Channel that was dissecting why various disasters happened. One was a CH-47 helicopter crashing at an air show. Long story short, part of the reason was the blasting medium the depot had been using when cleaning up the machine... ground walnut shell. Supposedly it's good for removing stuff but won't damage the metal. As I've never done this sort of thing, take it with however large an amount of salt you deem appropriate.

 

I remember seeing a show on the History Channel . ground walnut shell. As I've never done this sort of thing, take it with however large an amount of salt you deem appropriate.[/quote]

Speaking of salt- - Arm N Hammer dissolves in water, and walnut shells dont. (well, it would take years!) so if you accidentally blasted a bunch of media inside the motor, you could flush it with water, then deal with getting the water out.

The History Channel also had a show where Allied troops sabotaged German motor pools with a mix of walnut shell dust and motor oil.
The trucks would go about 20 miles and break down.

 

The Black Body Emitter paint is very interesting. I have a guy that does it locally in Vancouver, I'm sure you can get someone to do it down in your neck of the woods. Search the internet. The other name for it is Thermal Dispersant Paint or Coating. You will need to disassemble your engine for the procedure as it does require a high temp curing process. I've put quite a bit of research into it and it would really only make sense to do your top end (Heads and pistons) with this coating. You could paint the rest of the engine with high temp paint. Ive read quite a few papers and reports on these specialty coatings and my feeling (not based on math) is that If you painted your fins and heads with BBE paint and ceramic coated your exhaust header(s) you would probably net about 20% better heat dissipation. Even more if you were going from a powder coated engine to this coating. The powder coat actually hampers the engines ability to dissipate heat so removing your powdercoat / paint will help on it's own. The ceramic coating on your exhaust helps by not dissipating heat. It will convey the hot exhaust from the front of the bike to the muffler thereby increasing your temperature differential at the front of the bike and increasing the airs ability to take more heat off the engine as it passes through the fins.

I'm currently doing this to my 650 Maxim so I will be able to test out my theories in about 3 weeks.