Topic: thorough cleaning?

[jason41987]

my bike has very little rust at all, and only in places easily accessible for me to clean.... but I'd like to clean up the engine, frame, other parts... how would I do this without removing the engine? would a steam clean or pressure wash be sufficient?

[bjbuchanan]

Spray it down liberally with simple green. Rlly effective and wont destroy plastics and rubber. Then any elbow grease you can muster like brushes and stuff then hit it with water. I dont have a pressure washer but it would be ideal

[seanbarney41]

DON'T use a pressure washer...ruined bearings, bushings, gaskets etc. will be the result

[jason41987]

what if I remove the front and rear ends to clean desperately since I'm rebuilding those sections anyway, then have the frame/engine steam cleaned without the seat, tank, harness, or ecectrical components installed?

[seanbarney41]

I have no knowledge of steam cleaning...but yeah, just clean stuff as it comes apart for rebuild.  Kinda sounds like, you just want use a magic process to clean your whole bike easily...unfortunately, there isn't one.   Considerable amounts of elbow grease will be required to do the job properly.  The more stuff you take apart, the easier it is, because you can get into nooks and crannies easier and better.

[jason41987]

well im doing a rebuild on both the front and rear end and intend to clean these parts seperately, and while doing this i intend to rebuild the forks, new brake shoes/pads, new swingarm bushings, new wheel bearings, and although i have the choice to put comstar alloys on front and rear.. i think im going to rebuild the spoked wheels and use them purely for an aesthetics standpoint... so of course these will be cleaned along the way

im making a fiberglass tail section and tank, so these will of course be clean... so what im really concerned about is getting the frame/engine clean without seperating the two, and getting the nooks and crannies cleaned up without taking the engine apart... and the only way i can think of getting all of that clean while on the bike is the sort of steam cleaning they do on car engines to get the crust and grime off of them

so thats why i was thinking of doing this to the frame/engine without the wiring or electrical components installed either... itll basically just be a frame and an engine at this point

[seanbarney41]

at that point, you are six bolts away from lifting the frame off the engine on it's side, frame is then a snap to clean, sand, paint.  The engine?...plug all orifices, drench with degreaser, scrub, repeat, hose off done.

[jason41987]

is that how people typically remove the engine?.. lay it on its side, then unbolt it?... if im going to do that, then ill probably bead blast the frame and send it to my cousin (he has a body shop) to have the frame powder coated

[jamesb]

if you have the time and patience that would be the way to go.you will be kicking yourself after you did the other parts that where cleaned very well.and put it back together and realize how the other stuff looks because you couldn't get them clean better.