Soda blast questions

Hi All,
About to soda blast and paint my 81 550 motor. It's not in too bad shape right now, but around the headers its kind of grimey. Was thinking of simple green, brush, wash, let dry, then soda blast.

Now, I haven't decided if I'll use the homemade setup or get the HF blaster, but either way my question is what air pressure do you guys use? Also, I assume it'll remove all the grime, but it will not remove the powdercoat on the fins/head, right?

Soda blasting only removes staining to aluminum. You have to THOROUGHLY clean all the grease and grime first.

Oh. Great. Lol. I was under the impression it'd take grime off. Damn.

Bad idea to use a pressure washer?

You would have to keep all the water out. If the cases are coming apart no big deal.

apbling wrote: Bad idea to use a pressure washer?

Thats what i did but as kaw-a-holic said you have to make sure no water gets in. i made some plugs with o-rings to seal the intake and exhaust ports

Hmmm. Well I think I'll just do it the old fashioned way...by hand. I made the homemade soda blaste tonight. Worked ok...had feed issues. Might try that HF pinkish colored gun.

I soda blasted my 750 cylinder head.

I cut some small 10mm MDF plates which I bolted onto the inlet ports (with a line of silicone sealer around each one) and on the exhaust ports and starter hole,I stuffed plastic bags into them,then filled the port with silicone. Worked a treat No water getting in there!!
The next time I do it though,I would grease the exhaust ports so the silicone will come out again with no drama.