Hi,As my block is split in half iam wanting to give it a good clean up,any sugestions on best way to do this,.Was thinking about getting it bead blasted,would this be ok ,cheers

 

IMHO - No to the bead blasting unless you can be 100% sure you can remove every last grain of it from the oil gallery's and inside the crankcases/bolt holes.

 

I took mine down the local jetwash, stuck it on an old pallet and got to work with the brush and spray jet. First took out all the gallery plugs, oil jets etc. That got the majority of the crud off. The rest was attacked with an old toothbrush and plenty of degreasing foam. Top tip is to bring a can of WD40 so you can spray the bores afterwards. The aluminium of the block will just dry itself off, but the bores are iron and will start to surface rust.

 

Cant go wrong with a dishwasher on the highest setting.

My mates mum went mad at us when she caught us doin his. I'm 32 and he is 27. Very funny. LOL.

 

LOL that's not the first time I've heard of the dishwasher. However, I avoided it as I don't want a divorce.

 

They also get annoyed when you put the cam covers in the oven to cure the paint !!

 

Thing is it was absolutly spotless

 

how can you fit a block in a dishwasher

 

It would go easily! I'm wondering whether I could do my sump tomorrow if I can get her out of the house for an hour or so?

 

slip her a few bob and tell her to go buy something nice for herself...house = yours!

 

Do half at a time. one head at a time etc etc

 

Don't whatever you do, do the sump in the dishwasher it will leave a black film that takes about 20 washes to get rid of. You'll never get away with it without her knowing.

My solution was a cheap second hand dishwasher it cost me £25 and its been incredibly useful.

 

THAT is hardcore, buying an old dishwasher just to do manly garage work. I take my hat off to you!

 

Considering I'm doing a 600bhp build and I have to make sure everything is cleaned, cleaned, and cleaned again I don't think that £25 for a second hand dishwasher is too off the wall.

Its also good for cleaning my tools too

 

i hihihihi, wish i had a dishwasher, i used brake/carb cleaner, brushed it in and jot the pressure washer on it did quite a good job i think.

 

take it to ur local garage, vauxhall ford etc, they have parts cleaners, pumps a cleanig agent through as u brush as u clean, sure if ur not aloud in due 2 health a safety one the the mech wud do it for a few quid. cleaned my block a treat but i work for vauxhall

 

i work for VW/Marcades nd i found my pressure washer did a beter job than the parts cleaner, maby we need a new one!haha

 

Of course we have a proper hot chemical cleaning tank, but I wish I'd thought of the dishwasher trick! Hysterical ! I love you guys...

 

Cheap but effective Alan

 

Quality like your thinking you must have a huge garage
You use any detergents in with it?
Now where can I put a second dish washer

 

Yeah just whatever you normally use in the dishwasher, then one empty to clean it out

I was offered one for that money too but had no space

 

Mine's outside I just fit it to a hose pipe when I want to use it.

I just use cheap tesco's own dishwasher tablets. They do a fine job too. As a final precaution when doing my heads and block they got a good going over with a jet washer afterwards. Make sure you spray the bores with WD40 though as they begin to rust straight away.

 

do not use bead blast as you will not get it all out even if you take it to the jet wash, it would be worth taking it to be chemically cleaned at any engineering shop they will have to appropriate facililties to do this imo