Best way to clean a block?

Ralph Moore

Ralph Moore

Well-known member
I've normally just taken them in and had them hot tanked and tumbled, but I saw a Y block that was done with the bake and blast method and it sure looked good. I was all set to take my next flathead block in for that method when I was told to be careful because the baking has so much heat that it can damage and even crack a block. I'm hesitant to take a crack free Mercury block in with that risk in mind.
Anyone had any issues with this method?
 
Bake cleaning I found did the best job. Redi strip is qiute expensive. Last but not least a bucket of molasses.
 
Take off the heads, hang it by the rear and blast every hole with a power washer. You can first jab every whole with a coat hanger wire, to start things out. This is if you want to do the job yourself.
MIKE :)
 
I bake and short peen all my blocks and heads for years. I bought one of the first backing ovens for the machine shop I ran back in the 90's. Wasn't cheap, $35000.00 Better than buying a new Cady or Lincoln. The big 500 gal. costic tanks we used for yr's use to cost $50.00 a barrel to get rid if the stuff after it stopped cleaning. There is nothing to get rid of in the ovens. Maybe every 6 month you can take a bucket of asch out of the bottom and through it on your garden. Walt
 
Here in Southern California I used to use Redi Strip. When they were done with a block they looked like a brand new casting inside and out. The EPA ran Redi Strip out of CA. If you have access to one of their facilities that would be my #1 choice. Baking works real well also. To save money, I did my last block myself using a Harbor Freight sand blaster. I sand blasted the inside of the water jackets figuring that if the sand ricocheted around in there long enough it would get to the spots I could not see, this seemed to work pretty good. I sand blasted the outside of the block being careful to not blast any machined surfaces.
 
Other than doing it myself, only choices we have up here are caustic solution/tumbling method or Baking/bead blasting.
The bake method definitely yields a better looking block, I was just hesitant to take a nice block in if something could happen to it.
Of course I still have to get a few stubborn exhaust valves out first.
 
The bake method is the best. You will be pleased with the results. My powder coater uses baking prior to PC, cleans in all the crevices.
 
Ol' Ron sez >>>Using the 60/50 mix will loosen the most stubborn of valves>>>

Sounds like a good 110% suggestion to me, Ol' Ron. But the mix of what? 8^)

Jack E/NJ
 
Luckily I am within driving distance to Jackson Ms.. They have what used to be a Redi-Strip but now its called something else but uses the same process. Just had my V-12 block done for $100 , looks like new iron . What ever process you use just make sure the water jackets are Clean and you will have a cool running flathead.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top