general cleaning question

O

orionengnr

New member
Location
DFW, TX
My recent purchase SFC 750 has been taken apart and in storage for 20+ years.
Before that, it was presumably ridden hard and put away wet.

I have done inventory and am getting to cleaning. The engine is, for lack of a better word, scungy. Cases and cylinders, specifically.
Baked on oil and grime, and after sitting for 20 years or so, pretty ratty-looking. I have experimented with a few mechanical and chemical means, best so far is S-100 and a toothbrush, but not entirely satisfactory.

It may come to pass that I have to disassemble the engine to bits, and if so, I will have the parts vapor-blasted.

If that is not necessary, any input is welcomed.

Thank you, Rich
   
 
To do a good chemical clean (like the now unobtainable open-pore mag wheel phosphoric acid stuff) it's hard with polished cases and an assembled engine. I did one motor by making plywood covers to protect the innards and used the mag wheel stuff offered now - which does bloody nothing! But it did allow me to clean without disassembly. Maybe ply covers and then vapour, soda or other medium type blasting would be OK? If it's all sealed up I can't see how the bad stuff can get in - but I'd be washing and rinsing it off big time!
 
I had some good success on a Jota engine that had been in storage for 20 odd years.
As Quentin says, make up some blanking off pieces for inlet and exhaust.
Then used the mag wheel cleaner, they are probably all similar, and did it all in small sections with a number of small brushes,  and a green scotch brite, hosing off as I went.
Didnt worry too much about the polished cases as they can be polished later.
Came up nice and clean but not brand new like vapour blasting.Plenty of patina still there, just as I wanted.
As always there are many ways to do it.
 

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Fine wire wool
Acetone
Elbow grease

Keep away from commercial cleaners, some of which will turn the alloy black.

Paul
 
On an assembled engine........I tend to use Gunk to remove the oil and grease working it in well with a stiff brush, then Pink Muck-Off and a Scotchbrite pad and brush foamed up and rinsed over with water.
Then its out with the towels and alloy polish to finish up nicely.
Have also found that a brass wire brush can give a good finish to some casing areas.
Otherwise its strip down and vapour-blasting for me.
 
I have a vapour blaster and would not consider putting a whole engine in there, even if I could lift it and turn it.
It is a high pressure process, up to 120psi, and the media gets everywhere.
Although I have not tried it I have been told it can get past gaskets and seals, and you really don't want that crap inside your engine.
I heard one Laverda guy offered to vapour blast whole engines, but that was retracted after an engine or two.
 
Thank you for the replies.

I started with engine degreaser--took off some.
Tried carb cleaner--not much help.
Cracked out the S100--best so far, requires a lot of toothbrushing, but is working pretty well.
I'm going to look into Muc-Off.
 
Gunk and wire wool followed by autosol, never had much luck with muckoff.
Vapor blasted the block and head when they were disassembled.
 

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After degreasing I mask the engine covers with tape and close
the inlet/outlet holes.
I clean the unribbed areas with scrubbing mik and a hard brush
and the hard side of a Scotch-Brite sponge.
For the ribbed parts I use S-100, let it soak in and use a bottle brush
between the ribs, then hose it off.
The tape is used bc the S-100 instructions say not to use it on polished
surfaces.
I do the whole process twice.

Ernesto
 

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I just let mine patina-away to its heart's content until the next major disassembly. Occasional wash with a kitchen brush with a stronghish laundry detergent mix and lots of rinsing in between times - but that can be years of riding - I'm a lazy mongrel once the bike is running!

Front disc hubs for eg just end up black from brake dust and getting them concourse clean is nigh on imposs.
 
I've not come across S100 before. Is it a detergent or some kind of degreaser?

I've never seen "Gunk" in Australia, but as far as I can tell from info on the web, it's a detergent similar to CT18 truck wash. I've used CT18 to clean the bilge in my boat. Pour it into the bilge, hose it around and let the bilge pump suck it out. Seems to work OK for that duty but I've not tried it on a bike.

Like PB2, I'm not too fussy about my bike's shiny appearance. I can live with the bike's patina but I'll clean things when I work on them, using a variety of cleaning agents and brushes, etc. I can't be bothered polishing anything though. Polish doesn't make a bike go any better, unless you do it inside the engine.
 
I am not a fan of vapour blasting on sand cast pieces if you wish to keep the original cast texture. It will smooth the surface and although it may be a nice surface afterwards ..... it will not be the same as original. I have used spent (worn out) media from a bead blaster at reduced pressure and got good results.

Jim
 
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