[Wizard-of-OD]

These days I am disassembling on average 5-6 engines/week and selling off the parts I do not need and keeping the ones I do.
I am getting to the point where the sink + simple green is not working for me so I am looking into a professional parts cleaner like a Cuda parts washer & a media blaster rather than using a friends own (after hours on fridays and saturdays is starting to suck).

What I was wondering is how many of you media blast your parts?I Have a rebuilt 16V head that I bead blasted with glass beads and I am trying to sell it to a guy on vortex.He does not want the head now because he showed me an article

http://www.enginebuildermag.com/Article ... ctive.aspx

which states you should not media blast the cylinder head.Now I have always been super careful and I have sold lots of parts in the past that were all media blasted.

This is the technique I use:
* Soak part in Hot water
* Spray simple green over parts
* scrub in simple green
* Wash off part
* let it dry
* mask of machined areas like cam journals and upper valvetrain area
* toss in bead blaster and go @ it with glass beads
* blow off any extra media
* toss back into hot water
* using citric based cleaner just scrubbing off what may be left of the media.

Anyone else doing this?

Selling old ass aluminum has never been an option for me.

 

[gruppe5]

The outside of a cylinder head can be blasted all day long, as long as you mask off the areas that you already stated you won't have any problems. No one can really say that you shouldn't glass bead the intake ports or combustion chamber, if that were the case than you shouldn't perform any port work or modify the combustion chamber with an air grinder with abrasive tools. Engines injest large amounts of dirt and debris, thats what oil is for. If you are as thorough as those listed in that article in your post blasting clean-up I don't believe that you will have any issues.

 

[quattro87]

This sounds like a write-up of my procedure. I throw the head or parts in my harbor freight cheapo parts cleaner that has a mix of simple green and other asundry cleaning liquids. I have added a great add-on by taking a $15 pancake griddle, taking the plastic handles off and grinding the lip flat, then placing this under the parts cleaner and having a t-stat controlled heated parts cleaner. The tank will heat up to a to hot to work with temperature in about two hours time. I have hot tanked heads that looked like they had been run a million miles without ever once having the oil changed and cleaned them up pretty good.
I still like the "NEW" look though, and usually bead blast the head afterwards. I do just like you say taping off journals, lifter buckets, etc and then blasting it clean. I have found that blowing most of the media out with high pressure air is better than trying to wash it out, as the moisture seems like it can trap the accumulated media. I just make sure that all the oil ports are pressure washed out after blowing out most everything with air. I NEVER try to bead blast anything, especially heads,that are assembled.

 

[glibobbo21]

i agree with all those things...

I can see how the one article could scare him off...but thats how internet know-it-all's get all there info they spend all day online getting the "latest and greatest" and its like the saying...opinions are like assholes...everyones got one...
I also see there logic but its not like youre attacking these dangerous regions....like gruppe5 says maybe noone should ever P+P ever again...because of the heat exchange when youre grinding ...mayeb your warping the head...bullllll

if hes convinced, let it go...maybe just stay away from the ports from now on to feed popular belief...get out a screwdriver and wrap some scotch-brite around it i guess

 

[derracuda]

the machine shop my dad's shop deals with bead blasts all their heads, and we've been using them for 20 years... never had a comeback due to their workmanship. i don't know their procedures, but that might help some.

 

[JShadzi]

There are lots of good media out there that won't cause engine damage if a stray piece gets left in, plastic beads, even walnut shells will get the job done and are quite harmless.

Though I agree if a good thorough cleaning is done, glass beads can be made to work, but I've heard of a few horror stories. Our machine shop has this "super, dooper, hot jet streams of scalding water machine" they put parts in, that seems to get everything off including grease and various types of schmegma.

 

[Wizard-of-OD]

Yes for sure that article did scare him off and it made me question whether even though I do scrub the aluminum after it comes out it could very well be not good enough.

How does plastic media clean the aluminum?Anyone got comparison pics because I cant seem to find any :? .

 

[JShadzi]

Plastic media does a nice job and does more cleaning than beads, beads take off the top layer of aluminum and leave a "blasted" finish, softer media will just clean the surface w/o taking it off as much.

 

[Wizard-of-OD]

Looking to take a corroded block and bring it back to that *new* aluminum finish.Plastic will do this?

 

[JShadzi]

If you want to take off a corroded layer, then glass is the way to go. Eastwood has a pretty good blasting explanation section.

 

[jitsu303]

Our machine shop has this "super, dooper, hot jet streams of scalding water machine" they put parts in, that seems to get everything off including grease and various types of schmegma.

:lol:

 

[narlycarly]

aqueous hot water parts washer. Won't do corrosion, but make parts nice and clean.

 

[scottmandu]

The cleaning process I use, is soak the part in a spray on engine cleaner (foamy engine brite or equivalent) then pressure blast at 3000 psi and 200 degrees. Not much will stay on the part. After that I only bead blast or plastic blast is the alum has bad ozidation on it.

 

[Wizard-of-OD]

If you want to take off a corroded layer, then glass is the way to go. Eastwood has a pretty good blasting explanation section.

And a forum!
http://forum.eastwoodco.com/
Going to give that a try before I go out and buy some media.

After that I only bead blast or plastic blast is the alum has bad ozidation on it.

This has it bad on one side the intake manifold side.

 

[JShadzi]

Agreed, we have a 3k psi pressure washer, a great $450 investment.

 

[Wizard-of-OD]

investment.

Speaking of investments,thinking of getting 1 of these with all the space I got.

http://www.karcherpartswashers.com/Front_Load.aspx

 

[Wizard-of-OD]

Looks like the recommend media is Aluminum Oxide Abrasive:

http://www.tptools.com/p/351,183_Alumin ... asive.html

And here is why:

"I have glass bead and have heard that it should not be used on somethings or at least make sure it does not get into the inside of something like an intake? And also heard it does not wash out like sand will on a part?

I would have to say that Aluminum Oxide is one of the best abrasives to use. DON`T use glass bead. They do NOT produce an etch and they will embed themselves into the substrate. Some like Coal slag, but I think there are very few grits. As long as you have appropriate breathing gear sand is also a good media for blasting.

When Talking about gear I am not talking about an old pair of glasses and a T shirt rapped around you nose and mouth. You need to get an air supplied hood from Bullard or Apollo. The air creates positive pressure inside the hood so no dust from the sand can get in. VERY IMPORTANT!!!

http://www.eastwoodco.com/jump.jsp?item ... ubCat=1531

 

[Wizard-of-OD]

investment.

Speaking of investments,thinking of getting 1 of these with all the space I got.

http://www.karcherpartswashers.com/Front_Load.aspx

Revisiting this...

Ok it is winter time and that means I am trapped in doors with all the parts that I accumulated over the summer.

http://www.karchercuda.com/mainpage.aspx

I am serioulsy considering making the plunge and getting one of these.Anyone have experience with part washers (front loading or similar) that they care to share.

 

[Josh]

I've seen some videos where they shoot straight baking soda at the head without any masking. I'm building a sodium bicarbonate pressure blaster out of a craftsman 15 gallon air tank, and I built a sand blasting cabinet out of a 55 gallon drum kinda like this setup: www.barrelblaster.com. I just need to start saving up for a large compressor setup.

 

[PxTx]

I've got one of these Cuda units http://www.cutechhpi.com/cuda_washers.html

Funny how both have a cuda name. I am very happy with it for cleaning. I asked the guy if he had any units someone wanted to trade towards an upgrade, so I bought what he had. As long as it is large enough to put an engine block in, I think you will be happy.