I was wondering what would be the best way to clean my engine with the intake and exhaust ports exposed. I am putting on a new exhaust header and new intake and want to clean the old gaskets and mud and grease, etc off the engine first. I want to make sure nothing falls down into the engine while doing so. Any suggestions that anyone has found helpful?

 

Get the big chunks off very carefully with a chisel or scraper. Then get a wire wheel on a drill and some "gasket remover" (comes in a spray can, makes gasket material soft so you can remove it) and go nuts.

As for getting bits inside the engine, you can plug the ports with shop towels when you're using the chisel or scraper, then hit the area with compressed air to get rid of all the dust and small bits. When you go to the wire wheel though you don't want shop towel in there because it could get caught in the wire... so just be careful about the direction the wheel is turning while you're doing it.

Jon