beat blasting cases/covers. Clear coat/prep???

hey, i have been looking around lately for somebody i can have bead blast my engine cases, oil pan, and valve cover. The owner of our local body shop told me he was too busy, but i could stop in after hours some day this week and use his cabinet. Before i do this i was wondering if i could get a little help from you guys. What should be taped off, everything on the inside? Also, after the blasting is done, is there something that needs to be applied to the cases to keep them from rusting, or becoming discolored? Thanks alot for your help once again.

Is the engine in one piece or in seperate parts? If in several parts the best way to remove the blast residue is a bath of hot soapy water followed with several rinses and all passages blown out with air.

Sandblast/beadblast mediums are very abrasive and need to be throughly removed to prevent bearing, piston ring damages,and scoring of the cylinder walls.

The blasting will give a dull effect to the aluminum parts and will remove any clear coat on the factory polished parts. I think a member here(Old Man Rock) polished up his bikes cases. Search back a few weeks and see what he used if you want a polished engine.

As for taping up the pieces, I'd cover the oil sight window as it is plastic and will ruined by the blasting and anything else you do not want grit to get into.

the motor is completely tore down to just the two case halves. thanks for the info.

hey jordan i would run bolts in threaded holes cover all gasket surfaces with duct tape don't use masking tape it will just blow off take out your shift drum and blast away. when your done wash it many times with a pressure washer one that is hot and when you think it is clean do it again take a bore brush and clean out the passages and wash them many times over. be prepared to clean and clean somemore. it is a lot of work. that job is ugly that is the reason i paint every thing satin black or wrinkle finish.

You don't have to put bolts in the threaded holes as bead blasting won't hurt the thread unless you just hold your gun in one spot and try to make a hole. The main issue will be clean up as glass bead doesn't blow off. A good parts washer is best but if I didn't have a parts washer that could handle engine cases, I would hose the parts off good and then clean with soap and water and then hose again. After, I would take the parts to a powder-coating shop and have them apply a textured coating. The texture is necessary in that the cases will have small imperfections which show up more if you use smooth gloss coating.

i did my last 2 engines and be warned. It is very time consuming.
I would recommend taping every machined surface. Make sure to cover any oil passage very well. and put an old bolt in every exposed hole .If u don’t put bolts in, u will have to tap them to get the sand out.
If u are going to paint it i would use sand. It is a lot faster and the paint will stick better if u are not painting u can use glass.
If u use pain try the Gun coat product. It may save u from doing this all over again when the normal paint chips off.
Good luck.

wiredgeorge wrote:

You don't have to put bolts in the threaded holes as bead blasting won't hurt the thread unless you just hold your gun in one spot and try to make a hole. The main issue will be clean up as glass bead doesn't blow off. A good parts washer is best but if I didn't have a parts washer that could handle engine cases, I would hose the parts off good and then clean with soap and water and then hose again. After, I would take the parts to a powder-coating shop and have them apply a textured coating. The texture is necessary in that the cases will have small imperfections which show up more if you use smooth gloss coating.

Been there, done this, and I recommend it. Not saying other routes won't work, but this is a fo' sho'...I have access to a bead-blast cabinet and a parts washer, though.

Would soda blasting be a better way to go? One of the local blaster guys wouldn't touch my gs arm with sand because "it would tear it apart".

Sand is pretty difficult to find in most places as it has too many health warnings associated with it. Bead blasting the swingarm will produce a consistent finish but dull. You will have to brighten it and then clear coat... would use powder coat clear.

I'd go with silica beads. They'll cut like nobody's business; get it done in a few minutes and leave the finish even. Silica beads are more expensive, but they work best; they'll cut right through and leave it looking even. You're going to what...powdercoat?...paint? Which ever, the silica will do the job in a fraction of the time that sand would take anyway. And the guy that said the sand would "tear it apart"? Well, he's either running a blaster with way more power than anything I've ever heard of, or he's a Harley rider that wants you to go away. Our machine had a dedicated evac pump and compressor and it kicked ass; in fact the pressure and the silica combined to make it too agressive for some things, but your swingarm will be just fine. Sand is lame compared to silica in cutting power...I have no idea why that guy said that. Shoot, maybe his compressor makes a kagillion psi or something, but I've never seen anything that'd smoke a swingarm.
-KR

donthekawguy wrote:

Would soda blasting be a better way to go? One of the local blaster guys wouldn't touch my gs arm with sand because "it would tear it apart".

Engine parts are safe when blasting with soda. I have done several. Cleans up with water. I would never glass bead a engine case. You can't be certain of total residue being removed. Just a smidgen of bead in an oil galley and it's all over real quick.

Bad Kaw wrote:

I'd go with silica beads. They'll cut like nobody's business; get it done in a few minutes and leave the finish even. Silica beads are more expensive, but they work best; they'll cut right through and leave it looking even. You're going to what...powdercoat?...paint? Which ever, the silica will do the job in a fraction of the time that sand would take anyway. And the guy that said the sand would "tear it apart"? Well, he's either running a blaster with way more power than anything I've ever heard of, or he's a Harley rider that wants you to go away. Our machine had a dedicated evac pump and compressor and it kicked ass; in fact the pressure and the silica combined to make it too agressive for some things, but your swingarm will be just fine. Sand is lame compared to silica in cutting power...I have no idea why that guy said that. Shoot, maybe his compressor makes a kagillion psi or something, but I've never seen anything that'd smoke a swingarm.
-KR

I think the word aluminum scared him. :laugh: He has a boat repair and welding shop, so he is getting slow and I know he needs the work. Hmmm