I just got done cleaning up the engine before I do heads/cam check it out! The first picture is just for comparison...

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...d/IMG_0867.jpg
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...d/IMG_0894.jpg
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...d/IMG_0891.jpg
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...d/IMG_0889.jpg
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...d/IMG_0895.jpg
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...d/IMG_0893.jpg
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...d/IMG_0890.jpg

60k miles on the motor and you can still see the cross hatching on the cylinder walls. I was surprised. Anyways, what do you guys think? Should I take more gasket material off or does that look about right? I've taken quite a bit off already but I can try and get more off.

 

I used a really soft wire wheel on a drill and was very careful. Don't know if it needs to be this clean but it makes me feel alot better.

 

Yeah, I would like to have mine that clean when I go back together with it. Is a wire wheel okay to use as long as you're careful?

 

Ya, a SOFT wire wheel with little pressure works very well. Don't lean into it, let the wheel do the work.

 

Where did you get it from? A home improvement store?

 

I purchased mine at a local ACE hardware store, they have a large selection of them.

 

Okay, cool, thanks man! I'll get her cleaned up tomorrow.

 

A little carb cleaner or acetone with a scotchbrtie pad will get you there.

 

+1 to that, I also did that after the brush with brake clean to finish it off. I have heard the carb stuff leaves a oily residue, I would stick with brake clean.

 

I would deffinately clean more cause you dont want to find out it was not enough. I bought the finest scotch brite pad I could from home depot. It was made by norton and the pads were grey. I used laquer thinner and it worked awesome. I cut the pad into little pieces and just threw away each piece as it stopped working its magic.

 

so you guys think that I should just use a scotchbright pad and some kind of laquer thinner rather than a wire wheel?

 

I preferred it cause it is pretty hard to screw up doing it that way. The wire wheel is a cool deal and would be quicker but I was worried about the wires coming loose and possibly ending up in the motor. Also being aluminum I figured with the wire wheel if I was not paying attention I could do some damage.

 

I've been using a dremel with a brass wheel to clean mine. using laquer thinner to wipe up after.

 

Looks very nice... Deck/ Pistons cleaned up nicely..

 

I use a scrotchbright pad and carb cleaner to do most of my clean up work. Best tip is to just take your time and dont apply a lot of pressure. Let the die-grinder do the work.

 

Well, I used some acetone and scotchbrite and man, you guys were right, it cleaned it up very well!

 

Looks much better!