Blasting an engine?

I have an engine that is road weathered. It will be out of the frame, but not taken apart. Would it be insane to glass bead this in one piece... providing he 'holes are plugged'

I don't see why not. How are you going to recover the glass?
It might get a little expansive. I always wonted to try rice or walnut shells.
The only problem I have come up with, It's a lot easier to polish parts when you
can hold them in your hands.

XENU

FWIW, I've read in other threads here where people have said that it is not a good idea to try this--that no matter how well you plug the holes, you're going to get abrasives inside your engine.

The thought process was to "tent" the engine with a tarp to recover material. The engine is running fine and has a 1075 kit, so no need to rip apart and wanted a less time intense way to cleaning it up...

I got the idea when a sand blasted a swingarm with bearings in place, but heavily taped. Pulled bearings out after to replace (to see if my test worked), and I could not find any sand in the bearings or even on the outer edges of the grease. Maybe just lucky?

I did it once. ONCE! When I pulled the motor apart there was sand in all of the little nooks and crannys. Didn't hurt the motor from what I could tell but I think I got lucky. There was a lot built up around the base of the studs and pretty much everywhere.

In this case I would not use sand, but soda blasting and glass bead would be safer IMO.

Nick

Ive seen a number of engines ruined by glass but the parts were done when it was apart. The problem is no matter how clean you think it is the glass embeds into the metal and comes out when the oil gets warm. You will get arguments both ways on this , some say yes, others no. Personally Im a no. If the cases and head look bad I paint them black and polish the covers. Your motor, your decision

mtkawboy - you mentioned paint. Actually I was cleaning it to provide a good base for the paint, since I like the look of Satin Black engines.

I guess I was looking for someone who was successful with this method to give me the balls to try it.... so far no suck luck.

supercharged wrote:

Would it be insane to glass bead this in one piece... providing he 'holes are plugged'

Just my 2 c, I'm by no means an expert but this is my experience:

In my opinion, yes. Here are some reasons why: The glass bead media will go absolutely friggin' everywhere and it will stick. It will stick to your oil seals, to your gaskets and to any and all moisture it finds and it will embed inself in every little crack. Also in order for the glass beads to work properly, the engine has to be squeaky clean - any oil or grease left and the beads will cling to it and turn into a gummy substance.

I glass bead blasted a 650 engine (as prep to paint) that was completely apart and washed in engine cleaning solvent before blasting and it still took an obscene amount of cleaning to get rid of the residue: first compressed air to remove the loose residue, then rags and solvent to remove some more, then soapy water, followed by fresh water and compressed air to dry off, then pressure washer, compressed air to dry, soapy water and fresh water again, compressed air to dry, pressure washer again and finally compressed air to dry. It came out real nice but it was just too much work, I don't think I'll do it again.

If you're set on doing it anyway, go for soda blasting (or even better find someone who can dry ice blast it for you) - the soda will still go everywhere and cling to moisture so clean still applies, but unlike glass beads the soda media is water soluble, it's also a lot less abrasive than glass beads should it find it's way to the internals of your engine, which most likely it will.


Edit: if you haven't heard of dry ice blasting here's a link:

www.rsg-technologies.com/


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#228508
Calhoun (User)

1978 kz 1000 with b4 engine and wheels
Posts: 80



Engine cleaning. 1 Month, 1 Week ago
I cleaned up my engine by sand blasting it.I pull it out of the frame, sealed it up and sand blasted the whole thing. I taped up the side cover and breather. Next the ports were sealed by either rubber expansion plugs or by using silicone to seal a round object in the port.I recommend buying gaskets and new fasteners or painting your old fastener heads.You can remove your covers and polish them afterwards. Now you have a nice looking engine that is all sealed up and good to go for years to come!
My bike had an oil leak at the cam chain opening oring and the head gasket.I also found the right head gasket rusing and rust stuck to the top of the #3 and 4 liners. So it would have been a major melt down at some point.
This engine is a MK2 (like my wheels)and it has been painted black. Even the shiney side covers! The whole bike has a lot of spray paint on it! I also blasted and used grill paint on my mystery header.
Please note, although no boardcode and smiley buttons are shown, they are still useable

"I" have done it.

OnkelB wrote:

If you're set on doing it anyway, go for soda blasting (or even better find someone who can dry ice blast it for you) - the soda will still go everywhere and cling to moisture so clean still applies,...

.[/quote]

I have reviewed Various media for blasting and have not come across soda or dry-ice. I will review both!

and thanks for the points, that I didn't think of... the media sticking to the gunk. In my case the engine is clean on the top.. just aged. BUT the oil pan is gunked-up, so I'll be sure to strip that first.