How to Prep Seal Areas?
 

i just got my gasket and seals in the mail today im still waitn on the dvd to come ........

well any ways im tryn to prep the engine ive split, cleaning it and what not.
i wanted to know what should i do. the sides of the irons and housings where the seals sit in the grooves and where they sit on the non grooved halfs. its not nearly as smooth as i feel it should be.

how do i prep the seal area i guess is what im asking in short. strong cleaners are lil help. i hit one lil spot with fine wool and it did a tad better. i was thinking a light sanding with fine sandpaper and a sanding block may be the way to go but i dont wanna screw things up.

well seems know one knows the answer but i found it 200 grit and a sanding block does the trick

Careful with the sides of the housings, they are aluminum and you can very easily distort them. You want them to remain perfectly flat.

The plates are easier being cast iron. Just get a scribe set from harbor freight or some other cheap place and use them to scrape most of the old rubber seals out. Then you can use a small screwdriver to scrape the rest of it out. Not much help in the way of chemicals that will get the old seals out.