Bead blasting engine?

I want to get my engine blasted, but I don't know how, where, etc. Can I just take it into a shop that does abrasive blasting and tell them to do it? Will I need to do any special prep on the engine like taping or plugging holes, etc, or should the shop take care of that and I can just drop the engine off and pick it up after it's done?

how much should I expect to pay?

Thanks!

or is there anyone close enough I can bring it do and have do it for some $$$ and a case of beer?

When i bead blasted my engine, i just got a bead blasting gun that hooked up to my air compressor and you put a hose in a bag of sand. I got the bag of sand(actually, tiny glass beads that had some name) for like 15 dollars from a local abrasive's supplier.

Problem is that those little bits of beads are everywhere. EVERYWHERE. All over your garage, even though you did it 20 ft away. In every crevice of your engine. Make sure to block everything off really really well. Also for weeks after if you take a bolt off or on, you'll hear the sound of little beads being crushed. You will have dunes on your driveway. And your girlfriend/wife will be very mad if she lives there.


Next time i'm going to build a box that i can get inside of and do bead blasting.

I bought a bead blaster cabinet from Harbor Freight for about $100.
I had to seal all it's edges to minimize leakage.
I did my forks, cases and engine covers.
The finish after blasting is a dull color. After that it was real easy to polish stuff.

anybody know anything about soda blasting?? all i know is they use baking soda as an abrasive. Would it make a nicer finish then bead blasting or do nothing to the aluminum

Might also check out possibility of vapor-blasting or dry-ice blasting which supposedly leaves no residue.

Some people use corn husks. Check out the orient express site. They say that they blast thier motors but have a special way of doing it. Maybe you can call them and ask real nice.

I looked into dry ice blasting, etc. for a rear-end housing for my car. Apparently, us Okies ain't that sufistiked, cause all I could find were sandblasters. They all told me you can't sand or bead blast it while it's assembled, as the media would work it's way into every seal.

I'd be really nervous about sand blasting or bead blasting a complete engine; especially if it's on th bike.

OK, I lied. Maybe these dudes can help you. If you call 'em, ask if they can de-rust an assembled rearend and, if so, what it'll set me back, will ya?

Continental Carbonic Products, Inc.

131 South 122nd East Avenue
Tulsa
Okalahoma, 74128 USA
Telephone: (918) 437-8622
Fax: (918) 437-6131

I sandblasted my motor while it was in the bike and thought it turned out k. When I took it apart this summer I found sand around every stud and in every little hole. :ohmy: It looked good but what a mess. Fromnow on I'll just thow a coat of paint on it. :laugh:

its amazing how those sand and glass beads will work there way into places that you would never think they could. I would not blast a engine that is still in the bike or one that is not taken apart so I could clean everything.
When I worked in the machine shops years ago we started to bead blast the alum heads, as I found out I spent more time trying to get the glass beads out of the head afterwards, seemed like no matter how hard you cleaned it you could let it sit over night and roll it around in the morning and still get more media out of it

I had my cylinders and cylinder head bead blasted by a local shop. The parts were off the engine and they did a beautiful job giving the aluminum exterior an nice rough casting finish. I liked the look so much I left it alone. They used glass beads then dunked the parts in their cleaning tank and blew them dry with compressed air to get out the little stubborn beads.

One of my buddies here on kzr secondtimearound had his cylinders cleaned with dry ice and it still left an oily residue on the aluminum. He wanted the parts to come out as nice as mine and he was disappointed.

From my point of view bead blasting is very effective but I don't know if I would want it done unless the parts were blasted individually.

Cheers-Colin Firth - Ontario Canada