Block cleaning

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Krooser
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Re: Block cleaning

Post by Krooser »

rfoll wrote: Wed Nov 29, 2017 5:34 pm Don't ever use 409, it will make everything rust.
Is 348 OK?
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Matt80
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Re: Block cleaning

Post by Matt80 »

Can you advice any brand/type for nylon brushes? Thanks
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Re: Block cleaning

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Re: Block cleaning

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booger1 wrote: Thu May 01, 2014 5:13 pm Dish soap and hot water....toilet bowl brush for cleaning bores......scrub until suds are white.

x2 on toilet bowl brush and DAWN dish soap.... and boiling hot water to clean the bores after a hone.

soapy water is really the only way to "float" the honing grit out of the cross hatch.

read it in some old sealed power literature i found in the garage back from the 80's.


remember when ring manufacturers were saying "don't hone the bores, just stick these new moly rings in that old shiny bore" ? they were saying that because the bores weren't being cleaned properly with HOT soapy water and big bristled brushes. Rags don't work, they smear the grit into the cross hatch.


rags and solvent are fine for a final "white glove" of the bores however.
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Re: Block cleaning

Post by modok »

It must be very difficult to clean a large engine block without the usual equipment.
a hot tank/ recirculating cabinet machine, then heated pressure washer. I take it there isn't anybody in the area that will do it.
Maybe you could get a hot-tub? Some people will pay to have them hauled away.......
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Re: Block cleaning

Post by The Radius Kid »

Krooser wrote: Wed Nov 29, 2017 8:59 pm
rfoll wrote: Wed Nov 29, 2017 5:34 pm Don't ever use 409, it will make everything rust.
Is 348 OK?
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Re: Block cleaning

Post by BILL-C »

Speed clean by DRIVEN works well.
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bentvalves
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Re: Block cleaning

Post by bentvalves »

modok wrote: Sat Dec 09, 2017 5:31 pm It must be very difficult to clean a large engine block without the usual equipment.
a hot tank/ recirculating cabinet machine, then heated pressure washer. I take it there isn't anybody in the area that will do it.
Maybe you could get a hot-tub? Some people will pay to have them hauled away.......

A pressure washer is great for cleaning the water jackets of calcium lime and rust and pushing water exactly where you want it to go. I'm talking about cleaning the cylinder bores of honing grit alone. This must be done with a big round brush, and hot DAWN dish soap water after the block comes out of the jet spray.
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Re: Block cleaning

Post by modok »

I heard you fine the first time. If that's the only right way to do it is debatable.
If I did the whole job start to finish and skipped the soapy scrub on one side I'm pretty sure you would never figure out which side it was. Pressure washing the cylinders right out of the tank does seem to me more important in my experience, as does how hone job is done, so the soap and brush would be the fourth most important step....IMO Like they say in the commercial "part of a balanced breakfast", you know, just fruit loops alone isn't going to cut it.
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Re: Block cleaning

Post by Matt80 »

Do you use Dawn dish soap, boiling water and brushes even in the oil galleries?
Or brushes and ATF oil to remove all the particles there?
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Re: Block cleaning

Post by modok »

No. Just for cleaning honed surfaces.
A honed surface is INTENTIONALLY full of small grooves, and you want those grooves clean and open to receive oil. So a lot of guys want to do clean it every way they can think of, and that's fine.
The cleaner it is, the better it works. So it probably pays to OVERDO the cleaning, rather than half ass it.
Caustic cleaning solutions for cleaning iron OR those for aluminum, is really more the way to go for general cleaning as that stuff won't promote rust like dish soap. Dish soap really rusts everything terrible, so I'd avoid it otherwise.
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Re: Block cleaning

Post by Matt80 »

modok wrote: Tue Dec 12, 2017 8:33 pm No. Just for cleaning honed surfaces.
A honed surface is INTENTIONALLY full of small grooves, and you want those grooves clean and open to receive oil. So a lot of guys want to do clean it every way they can think of, and that's fine.
The cleaner it is, the better it works. So it probably pays to OVERDO the cleaning, rather than half ass it.
Caustic cleaning solutions for cleaning iron OR those for aluminum, is really more the way to go for general cleaning as that stuff won't promote rust like dish soap. Dish soap really rusts everything terrible, so I'd avoid it otherwise.
How to avoid it will rust immediately after pressure washer?
Which caustic cleaner do you use?
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Re: Block cleaning

Post by modok »

ZEP, but it's no secret blend, -basically- just caustic soda, aka, sodium hydroxide. Not for aluminum!

The boiling temp of the solution is far higher than boiling, so you can CRANK the temp to....really hot :shock:

And if you KEEP it hot and rinse thoroughly the water will evaporate quickly and leave almost no flash rust, at least with the water here.

Cleaning iron, that's the way to go IMO. Cleaning mag, pot metal, zamac or whatever you call it,,,,,,now theres a puzzle.
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Re: Block cleaning

Post by peejay »

Matt80 wrote: Sun Dec 17, 2017 3:29 am
How to avoid it will rust immediately after pressure washer?
That is why you get it as hot as possible while cleaning, and rinse very quickly. Blow dry just enough to blow the standing water out of threaded holes and stuff. The heat will make the water evaporate before it has time to rust.

You still need to wipe all machined surfaces with light oil afterwards.
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Re: Block cleaning

Post by Matt80 »

And caustic soda will evaporate with its water, or will stay in the galleries?

What about tap water's particles in the caustic soda mix staying in the galleries after evaporation?
Maybe better to make the mix with (filtered?) distilled water?
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