Topic: Okay to Soda Blast Engine?

[cb]

I have the engine off of my 500 K0, and the outside of the entire thing does not look good.  Is there any reason why I should not soda blast it (given that I carefully plug all points of entry)?  I am not necessarily trying to make it look like new; and I would like to avoid doing any polishing...too many nooks and crannies.  I do not want to disassemble it.

If it is okay to soda blast, should I mask off the chrome covers?

Has anyone used Eastwood Aluminum Prep and Cleaner?

After soda blasting should I rinse and then seal the aluminum with Eastwood Diamond Clear sealant to prevent further corrosion?

[flybox1]

Is the clear coming off, or does it just need a good de-greasing scrub?
ZEP Industrial Purple Cleaner/Degreaser is a really good product (wear gloves)

[pjlogue]

You will need to get ALL the grease and crud off the engine.  Duct tape all surfaces you don't want to touch with the soda blast and make absolutely sure all openings to the engine are sealed air tight.  Breather openings, intake/exhaust ports and any other openings no matter how small.  Be sure you either have a cabinet or someplace you can do the blasting as the dust will get everywhere and kill any plant life if settles on.    When you are done, hose off the engine real well and I would give several generous rinses with distilled water. Blot it off with compressed air. 

For painting I used Eastwood Ceramic Engine Paint Quart Universal Aluminum 777 51631ZP  and mixed with 25% activator and 10% zylene.  This color is almost identical to the original engine paint for the '76 CB750K.  I don't know about your 500.  The Eastwood paint I used cures in ~ an hour and is fully cured in several hours.  It is impervious to hot gas, carb cleaner, either and any other oils/solvents I have managed to get on it.  Has not yellowed either after 4 years. 

I would caution against using a clear finish.  The engine casing will have dark places ware the cast Al has weathered.  The soda blasting will not remove this unless you spend a lot of time eating away at the surface with the blasting.  When I finished my engine it looked like a new engine. 

-P.

[markreimer]

I second the above comments. I soda blasted my xt500 cases. It worked very well, but it doesn’t really cut through grease or muck. My suggestion would be to cover ALL openings securely, degrease, rinse off with a pressure washer, then soda blast, followed by final rinse. You’ll want to run fresh oil in there ASAP and change it quick too, Incase any water or junk creeps in. The soda itself won’t harm anything. It’s a great cleaning process.


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[markreimer]

Here’s some photos of my cases after soda blasting. I stripped the oem paint off with chem strip and got the remaining bits of paint off with the blaster. My compressor was small so it took a long time.



Followed this up with a jet wash, hot soapy dawn scrub, acetone and then paint




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[cb]

Thank you all for your replies, excellent tips, and photos.  The finished product looks fantastic.  I am sure a lot of work went into it.

It appears doubtful that there is any clear remaining.  It will need to be further degreased and cleaned.

I had not thought of painting it too; that does seem to make sense though.  I was hoping the dark places would be removed by the blasting.
I had the tank and covers professionally painted, so perhaps I will go "all in" and paint the engine too.

[WhyNot2]

Got any pictures?

Would like to see what you're working on?

[johans]

I soda blasted my 70" TVR  Vixen S2 ( very thin fiberglass) with a commercial blaster  ( lots of air pressure ) and afterwards you have to apply a water and vinegar solution  to neutralize the soda. Paint failure will result if you skip this step. Tons of info on a lot of fiberglass car sites .

My Metal engine and gearbox parts i put through my 48"  SkatBlast cabinet  w/ a variety of media for the application , rinse w/ Toluol , dry and paint right away.