Here I go again, need help with housing
 

Hi all,
I'm rebuiding my engine, TII 1987 109k before a coolant seal went. I went to Home Depot and got the ZEP degreaser/cleaner and I set one of the housings on a container with the cleaner, straight, not add water and after clening it for a long while the outside of one of housing turned dark, like blackish, I haven't clean the other one yet because I got conceerned, I did not have time this morning to try to sand it but I am going to night. Is this a problem or I just can paint it. Please help I do not want to think I screwed up my housing.

You can probably wire brush it. Rinse it with water, if you haven't already, to get the rest of the cleaner off.

I am going to do that tonight, I did wash the cleaner off but still looks very dark. I really think (and hope) the housing has not been damage but the chemical.

thats some risky business, not sure which housing your talkin about, but painting any surface that comes in contact with seals is definately out of the question. As well as wire brushing it, the only time you want to remove material, is when you have the housing lapped or resurfaced by a rotary specific machine shop.

Sorry for not explainig well the situation, thei inside is perfect, the dark coloration occurred on the outside of the housing

You said outside in your original post.

I cleaned my Rotor housings with just a wire brush and brake cleaner.
I did the same for my rotors but they still are oil stained.
I still need to do my "side" housings. I also have ZEP cleaner.
The stuff said not to use it on aluminum, I think thats what the Rotor housings are made of. U probably shouldn't have use it strait, it seems like powerfull stuff.
And rising it off is a factor It shouldn't dry on there. Let me know how yours turn out.

Here are some pictures
 

Hey guys this are pictures of the housing after cleaning it witht e ZEP cleaner, I have to admit that it is my fault because I left it in the container for longer that I should, so please let me know what you guys think.
Car

<center>
<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v222/casolorzano/housing1.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com"><br><br>
<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v222/casolorzano/housing2.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com"><br><br>
<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v222/casolorzano/housing3.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com"><br><br>
<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v222/casolorzano/housing4.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com"><br><br>
</center>

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...o/housing2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...o/housing3.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...o/housing4.jpg

the seal surfaces look fine but imo, you guys shouldn't be playing with this Zep stuff while rebuilding these motors.

i only use carburetor clean, brake cleaner, mineral spirits and soapy engine degreaser solution.

Thanks Karack, and you are 100% correct, it is a great cleaner but not the way I used it. For the first minutes the chemical took all the grease out but I wanted to have it perfectly clean and left it for hours and I screwed it really bad and it has pores every where.
I hope the housing will be ok

did it eat away at the chromed surface inside the housing?

if you do plan on using the housing be sure to pressure test the engine when it is reassembled to be sure it doesn't have any pinhole leaks in the cooling system.

The chromed surface is in perfect shape and it was not affected byt the chemical, I am trying to sand paper the surface to make it less porely but it is coming out pretty good,

Zep Industrial Purple worked wonders for my rotors! But if you're gonna do that, kiss your bearings goodbye, which I was planning on replacing anyways ;)

kinda off topic....but is that ZEP APC available at Home Depot or something?

I got my Industrial Purple and Industrial Orange from Home Depot. They have a huge section for just industrial cleaners and degreasers. My current engine build I bought a huge bucket of the purple stuff to soak the rotors in and clean the outside of the irons, worked great!

Yes they work great, it was just the way I used it, I left the housing for too long in the staight chemical solution

[kinda off topic....but is that ZEP APC available at Home Depot or something?]
Yes, theZEP degreaser is available at Home Depot in two sizes.

How long did you let your housing sit in carlrx788?

How long did you let your rotor sit in dDub?

Just trying to figure some things out is all.

Thanks.

^^^
From my other, project thread about the rotors:


So the soaking time was about 1.5 to 2hrs in undiluted cleaner, and after pulling them out I used normal old scotch brite to clean up what was left, came off fairly easily.

Just remember, if you're going to do this expect to replace your rotor bearings!

it may work ok for the rotors only if you plan on replacing the bearings afterwards and cleaning the irons and other misc steel parts but don't let it touch aluminum.


now i'm outta here before i get blamed for people misconstruing this stuff and it's purpose.

I would never use it on the housings :)

Just rotors, provided the bearings are replaced, and the OUTSIDE of the irons, not the surfaces of them.

My .02!

Then what's the safest thing to use on the housings that still works good? Castrol Super Clean?

**EDIT** And the rotor bearings are actually called that...or is the what thrust bearings are? Im lookin at RA's site and their rebuild kit trying to find what they look like and what they are called.

super clean works decent, mix up a solution with some of that and warm water and take a wire brush and scrub the shit outta them. i use a hot water parts washer, works great but not everyone has access to that type of equipment.