Burtz de burring how to

marc silva

marc silva

Senior Member
I have put a lot of engines together over the years but I have never de-burred one. I am getting ready to assemble my Burtz but need some guidance on what needs to be addressed. Any advice and or photos would be appreciated. Thank you , Marc
 
marc silva said:
I have put a lot of engines together over the years but I have never de-burred one. I am getting ready to assemble my Burtz but need some guidance on what needs to be addressed. Any advice and or photos would be appreciated. Thank you , Marc
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I can't help you on the engine in question but it involves about 3 hours of labor with a spira-cone on a flathead V8 block knocking off sharp edges and burrs everywhere before a rebuild. ALL castings have sharp edges and burrs from the casting and machining process's. These spots are potential trouble from small pieces of metal dislodging and getting in the oil.
Manufacturing just figures there will be a certain amount of rejects along the llne
and adds a certain amount in on the final sale price to compensate.
Pity the poor guy that gets one of these lemons.
 
oldspert said:
By lemon, do you mean a Burtz engine? I have never heard anything but good about them.
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No, my comment was NOT specific. Anything that is cast is subject to flashing and dingleberries needing to be polished off.
The cost of the finished product will reflect how well the deburring job was done.
 
I used a scraper where ever two machined faces intersect (no need to get heavy handed about it), then a thorough cleaning.
 
A small file works fine, or a scraper as Synchro suggested. More importantly is the thorough cleaning. If you do the cleaning yourself, dig into the coolant passages and cavities with a flat blade screwdriver and use a high-pressure pressure washer. Run the pressurized water through all the oil passages. Clean out the oil holes in the crankshaft too, after removing all the plugs, with the pressurized water. The crankshaft will need a bath in solvent to remove all the Cosmoline. After cleaning, spray the block and crank with light oil to protect them from rust. Clean off the outside of the block with acetone before masking and painting.

Don't forget to put all the plugs back in the crank and into the oil passages in the block. Pressure test the block with air to make sure all the plugs are in.


I love my Burtz engine and would get another one if the queen bee would let me buy another Model A.
 
De burring a Burtz is not like cleaning up a used engine. The Burtz in reality a new unfinished block. It has had all it's major machine work done and now needs the hand detail work done to it. Every edge on a machined surface should have the corner broken. Not a lot just enough so it's not sharp enough to cut you. Also since it is new there can still be chips and casting sand in the passages. A thorough pressure wash and even snaking an old speedo cable (in your drill) through every place you can see will be good insurance.
I think all the details are covered in the Burtz Build Guide.
 
From the Burtz guide:

"Deburring can be done with a Dremel tool, a small mill file, a set of needle files, a rotary wire wheel brush, and 320-grit wet-or-dry sandpaper."

Sounds like a die grinder/burr might be overkill?
 
I believe if you go online there is a video of someone doing that. Is it also not covered in the instructions
 
Here is something to ponder.
If you were to go over the whole inside of the crankcase and valve chamber with a die grinder or a Dremel tool and an 80 grit Spiracone to achieve an 80 micro inch finish, you could show an increase in hp on the dyno. No other mods.
 
Do you mean smooth out the roughness of the casting similar to when you polish the ports or port match a cylinder head?
 
I’m not chiming in on the deburing process in question but I really like the pressure washer idea. It never even occurred to me to use one for engine cleaning. A few years ago I put a hot water hose faucet outside my garage and that has been very very handy to have. Hot water AND a pressure washer? Now we’re talkin!
 
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