Engine Cleaning and Painting

Ok we left off with the engine hanging on the stand covered in dirt and grease. So lets get it off. (The dirt...)

Before

Figs. 1-2 show the engine before anything was done to it. It was not nearly as dirty as some I have seen, it has very few oil leaks.

Cleaning Round 1

1. I started by plugging up some holes then spreading some paper under the motor to catch all the gunk.
2. Using a sharpened putty knife, an old screwdriver and some dental picks I scraped off all the thick hardened grease/dirt.
3. Next I soaked the whole engine with some purple cleaner degreaser stuff. I allowed this to soak for a while then used small metal wire brushes to start scrubbing it down. See Fig. 3-6.

Cleaning Round 2

1. This continued for a couple of rounds each time the engine getting cleaner and cleaner until finally I gave both sides a rinse and wipe down. See Fig. 7-10. Note: I left the old valve and side covers on while doing this to keep crud out of the engine. They will be replaced with later versions.
2. Next I removed the harmonic balancer, timing cover, distributor, oil fill tube, and oil pan and set them aside to be stripped and powder coated. See Fig. 11-14. Note: Removing the oil fill tube can be a pain in the butt! I tried using a strap wrench first but that alone would not remove it. I ended up using a pipe wrench which of course marred the tube a bit. If your tube is really stuck you could possibly collapse the tube if not careful! Get the wrench as low down as possible as this is the strongest part of the tube. Once the tube is loose THEN the strap wrench can be used to remove it the rest of the way.

3. I had read many times that removing the oil pan can be difficult but mine came off easily! The PO had used a coat of blue silicone on the cork gasket. I just ran a putty knife around the edge after removing the bolts and it popped right off. What I was not prepared for was the amount of crud in the bottom of the pan! There was a large amount of sludge as seen in Fig. 15 but the gray stuff around the drain hole seen in Fig. 16 I have no idea what it was. A magnet would not pick it up and it was not grainy like sand. Any ideas? Fig. 17 shows the two internal pan baffles. It will be cleaned up later and painted.

    

   Fig. 15 Sludge

   Fig. 16 Not Metal, Not Sand?

   Fig. 17 Baffles.

Ready to Paint Engine

4. Finally I had a bare block to work with! Now various wire wheels on the angle grinder, drill and Dremel tool were employed to knock off the rust and any remaining crud in preparation for painting. This gave me the bare cast iron look. See Figs. 15-18. Don't worry too much about crude dropping into the engine if you removed the oil pan, otherwise stuff rags in all the holes while wire wheeling! See Fig. 20-21.

5. After wire wheeling I realized I would need to remove the valve cover and side cover to get to the areas covered by the edges. This was quickly done as seen in Fig. 22-23. You can see the copper valve train oiling tube running from the oil pump to the rocker arm shaft in Fig. 22. Fig. 22A shows where it connects to the shaft.
6. Ok so now the block is cleaned! I wiped down the whole thing twice with Acetone and masked off the block to paint the head.
7. This was sprayed with 2 coats of Gloss Black engine enamel. See Fig. 24-25. After about an hour I pulled off the masking and masked off the head so I could paint the block. See Fig. 26-27.

Fig. 24 Head

Fig. 25 Head

Fig. 26 Block

Fig. 27 Block

8. I sprayed the block with two coats of the cast enamel and let it dry for 24 hours with the intention of spraying on a clear coat.

Paint Disaster

Ya know how you can get all excited about doing a paint job and get in a hurry because you want to see the final results? Well a word of advice, READ THE DAMN PAINT CAN! I had gotten the Dupli-Color Cast Engine Enamel and clear coat from the auto store. A friend on IH8Mud had recommended this particular type.

I figured since they were both enamels, one, I would not need a primer, and two, I could spray the clear enamel on top of the gray after the gray had setup for 24 hours. WRONG!!! I The instant I sprayed the clear it lifted the damn base coat! I was so damn mad I was about to just torch the whole project... I THEN read on the can that an enamel primer MUST be used and any top coat must be applied within ONE HOUR of the base coat or wait 7 DAYS! So I get to strip the whole damn block and do it all over again... I'll write more when I calm down.

Update: 6-26-07

Ok I have calmed down and have stripped the engine, primed it with the proper primer then laid down the top and clear coats all within 1 hour like the can said to... Came out pretty good actually! See Fig. 30-32.

Up Next: Reassembly

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