I searched for a while and only found info on polishing and i wanna know what i can do to just clean them back to new..ive heard of media blasting but im wodering if i can sand blast it instead because there is a sand blasting shop right around the corner from my place and i dont know of any media blasting places around here.. has anyone ever done that?

 

sand is a form of media. glass bead would be a better idea though. if you only have access to sand then i'd say go for it. just let them know you want it shot at a lower pressure than they normally might.

then get yourself a couple cans of carb cleaner to clean out EVERYTHING once they are done.

oh, and remember to take before and after pictures for all of us to see ^_^

hope that helps,
TR

 

Glass beading works well but it takes a lot of effort to clean the resulting grit out of every crevice. I generally just hit the manifolds with a wire wheel mounted on a drill or bench grinder for larger areas. You can then leave it shiny (it will dull quickly) or give it a quick coat of paint in your choice of colour.

 

A cheap yet effective cleaner for aluminum is "oven cleaner". It contains phosphoric acid which is the same as what you find in retail mag wheel cleaners but much more concentrated at half the price. Remember , "DON'T LET IT DRY", and "WEAR GLOVES AND GOGGLES". Spay it down liberall, scrub it with a wire brush, rinse it in a bucket of hot water and then rinse it off well with a hose afterwards also. If I do this in the near future I'll post picks.

 

When i read this thread i just had to go back to the workshop and blast my parts
First i had the parts washed so all the oil and **** was removed. After blasting its VERY important to get the parts 100% clean for glass...
I dont know what im gonna do with the parts now!

Pictures!

Here are the TB blasted and the LIM and UIM are only washed:



Befor blasting:



After blasting:



All parts blown, test fitted on the engine:

 

looks great..did you glass bead them or sand blast them?

 

Glass bead... it gets really nice but if i dont paint them or anything they wont stay like this for very loong

Sindre

 

Glass bead leaves a nice finish but is a PITA to clean up after properly.
Unless you mask all the threaded holes (preferable) you need to thoroughly blow them out and chase with a tap or you'll hear a nice crunching sound as you try to screw in a bolt.
In a perfect world you'd blast with a less abrasive media like walnut shells...takes longer but is less destructive if not completely removed afterwords.

An excellent preblast cleaning method is an ultrasonic tank.
Especially with a part that has lots of internal passages/nooks and crannies, it just can't be beat.
Finding a tank big enough can be problematical but you may get lucky.
Oddly enough, many clock repair shops have such tanks (they can clean a whole three-train mechanical movement in one piece) and may be cajoled into doing your parts.

 

Yeah, im gonna clean the parts once more before i mount them. I was going to use plastic beads but the blow cabinet was closed when i came in at our workshop...
Ultrasonic tank is like a Tri-boiler?

Sindre

 

No, not really.
It uses a transducer to blast ultasonic vibration into the liquid (which varies depending on what you're cleaning).
This excites the liquid and produces billions of tiny bubbles which actually do the cleaning.

Don Ho actually wrote a song about it...

 

Nice
I dont know if we got a ultrasonic washer here, but it would be cool to try that too

Sindre

 

yeah I plan to do my manifold here soon but I will prolly just wire wheel them and then paint them silver or something like that

 

Sell them to Me!!

Man I just love the way a clean 13B RE manifold looks.


Nice carpet, you building your engine in your living room?

 

i'll interject here again. Zoop Seal aluminum sealant works very well. i used it on my pollished motorcycle frame and it stays shiny. what the zoop seal does is fill in the pores of the aluminum and seal it away form oxidation.

either that or you could throw some ppg or other automotive clear coat on them to keep them shiny.

TR

 

SuR, two things you might want to consider...

-Paint is kinda a one way street. Once you paint a part you're almost committed to keeping it painted.
This can be a PITA, especially on items that you work on/around a lot cause now you not only have to ensure the parts is installed correctly but also it doesn't get marred in the process.
Powdercoating would be more durable and less likely to get dinged up.

-*This is definitely just personal opinion...
Once you start tarting up one part you are basically obligated to bring all the surrounding parts into the same condition, else it sticks out like a sore thumb.
Imagine a pristine, new engine installed into a filthy engine bay- not only would it look weird but is basically just fundamentally wrong. On a smaller scale this is just what only doing a manifold would be.

In other words....that first can of rattle paint can be but the first step on a long, dirty road.

 

na it wont be colored it would be made to look like cleaned aluminum so a basic cast silver look... I have done this many times and I do condition the surrounding parts as well.. I have yet to have a bad looking engine after I get going

powder coating is nice but I dont have a reasonably cost effective powder coater near.

Dave

 

yeah i agree clokker. I dont want to get them painted but just keep them looking like they do now. The engine looks quite stock as it came out of the oven at Mazda
Im builiding my engine in my sisters old hobby room (clothing **** all over :P)...

Maybe i should try some clear coat, but i hoped to find the aluminum paint we got at the workshop. It looks like melted aluminum (and it consist aluminum)..

Doesnt powder coating work as a heat "shield"?

Sindre

 

There is a pertinent thread regarding that
here.

My opinion is basically that none of those parts were designed as optimised for convective cooling (surface to air) so whatever (minimal) effect the coating might have would be trivial.