I just spent quite a while trying to clean up my irons and housings. Do i need to clean the water jacket area until it is spotless? Here is what i have done so far, i used a scotch brite pad on the irons and 400 grit wet/dry sand paper on the housing sides. I followed the instruction in the rotary aviation video... it just never showed exactly how clean things should be.

Here are some pics.







thanks

 

looks pretty clean to me

 

the iron looks good, time to street port them

 

They look good to me. You going to re-paint them? A pretty engine is a happy engine.

 

I actually blasted all the exterior with some silica particles ( kinda very smooth sand blast that doesnt eat up the metal )

After that to clean all the junk inside, I put the housings and irons in a auto part dishwasher with degreaser and soap.

Then to remove all the existing rust in the coolant passages, I blasted them too, then rewashed the part to get rid of all the silica that would have been trapped inside.

After that, if you wanna store your parts, be sure to store them in a heated, dry place.

Or if you can't do like I do (I just put my entire rebuild stuff in my closet ) remember to apply oil on any surface that might rust before you rebuild/paint your engine.

l-p

 

they are getting a half bridge by bdc. i guess ill paint it, wasnt really in the plan but seems like a good idea.... doesnt make it go any faster though :/ . Im really interested in seeing how clean the faces need to be for reassembly, i did a really good job of scrapping out he oring grooves and stuff but trying to make the water jacket faces shinny is a pita.

 

I should take pictures of mine and show you how silica bead blast just return the water jacket faces like new again.

I was pretty impressed with this method

You can also use this method to clean inside the water Oring grooves, to insure that no dirt or residue will prevent the oring to seal perfectly

l-p

 

Excellent job!

Don't make it too shinny, or that motor will get an attitude..

 

can you use scotch brite pads and sandpaper on the rotor housings as well? if i have some gunk stuck on there, how do i clean it out?

 

I think purple scotchbrite is fine, I used it on a set.. didn't harm the chrome surface.. careful with sandpaper.. probably don't want to use any heavy grits... 400-600 would probably be okay if you were gentle....