N12

I have a 95 Firebird Formula, LT1 so as far as I can tell my block is iron. Any recommendations for cleaning the surface beyond scotch brite? There’s a lot of old gasket material stuck and a razor blade has not worked for all of it. A buddy told me to try 120 grit sand paper and work it up to 200 and then 400 but i’m worried about that not being level. Any suggestions or is the sandpaper a good idea?

Forcefed86

iTrader: (4)

scotch bright and sandpaper are horrible ideas, just going to leave low spots. Which may or may not cause you problems. Use a razorblade at 90* with lube and scrape the crap out of it. Makes a horrible noise. But it doesn't make flat spots and although it doesn't look or sound like the best option... it is. That's all you should ever need/use for a DIY home job IMO.

350 groundpounder

iTrader: (5)

Razorblade, gasket remover, and brake cleaner.

Forcefed86

iTrader: (4)

I'm a fan of lacquer thinner. Cheaper to buy it by the gallon and store in little applicator cans. Works just as well as brake clean on most things.

Z28Roxy

iTrader: (4)

Get a carbide scraper. It will help a lot and not scratch the block.

I'll go against the grain here and say to prep the block flat for putting the head gasket on I use a flat hand sanding tool, a machinist straight edge and feeler gauges. I get it to within 1 or 2 thousandths of an inch in about 5-10 minutes of light sanding. I wouldn't try to sand off large pieces of gasket material though, you're going to have to use scrapers and razor blades for that.

If it's really stuck on there, parts stores do sell gasket remover chemicals but I've never had to use them.

SS RRR

iTrader: (2)

Weird. I've done many head gaskets and never had to resort to anything other than a razor blade/puddy knife and brake clean.