Would like opinions on cleaning my freshly pulled L33

[jrblanke]

Hey guys, I wanted to get your opinion on my cleaning plan for my partially disassembled engine.

The engine is an all aluminum L33 that pulled this past weekend. It has a large amount of oxidization and loose grit. I pulled the intake manifold and headers last fall and stuffed some rags down in the runners to keep the big stuff out. The motor is currently on the stand, but still doesn't have an intake manifold or headers. I am planning to pull they heads to eliminate the DOD lifter system and to do a cam swap.


What do you think of my plan?


1. Tape intake and exhaust ports of cylinder heads so no material can get into the cylinders.
2. Blow off any loose material
3. While the engine is still dry use an air powered 3" pad to hit the easy to get to surfaces.
4. Spray engine with simple green and use the pressure washer to wash off
5. Use hand brush to try to get any more crud/oxidization off. Hose it off.
6. Spray with the aluminum etching cleaner, scrub with hand brush, power wash off.
7. repeat 4 through 6 if necessary.


I guess what I am looking for is affirmation that the above plan is a good idea or suggestions on what to do differently.

My biggest concern is getting crap into the cylinder bores since I am not going to be disassembling the short block. I think I will be OK if I keep that tape on the intake and exhaust ports of the heads.

Once cleaned I toyed with paining the engine, but I'll have to research whether the paint with stick to the aluminum.






Thanks,

[solidaxel]

WD-40 should displace the water from the cylinders and then oil down with MMO Marvel Mystery Oil

[Cobalt964ruf]

l33 was a gen3 engine and did not have dod. you have a lh6 which is similar but a gen4 with minor differences.

[MalibuSSwagon]

Simple Green can be harmful to aluminum. I'd use lacquer thinner, it'll clean the engine right up.

[clemsonteg]

I am in the same boat. Even with taping things off I would be concerned with spraying things down with water. I was planning to blow everything off with compressed air and then use brake cleaner and a toothbrush to clean everything do a final rinse with more brake cleaner. I don't have an aluminum block though and I am not sure how the brake cleaner would react.

[MalibuSSwagon]

Brake cleaner is pretty nasty stuff, I'd avoid it. Lacquer thinner is cheap and just melts away grease and oil. I just used the thinner, a wire brush, and compressed air to get my engine squeaky clean.

[jrblanke]

Thanks for the replies. As an update, I went out the other night and used my air powered die grinder with a scotchbrite pad and cleaned the machined surfaces. After cleaning, I wiped the cleaned surfaces with brake cleaner and applied tape. I was really happy with how easily the scotchbrite cleaned the surface. I was careful not to hold it in one spot for too long, and I only used half throttle.

That experience gave me a bit more confidence about cleaning. I do think I am going to spray the cast surfaces with some sort of cleaner or paint thinner, then power wash before doing any wire brushing. I'm not as worried about getting water in it as I am getting sand or grit into the cylinder.

When I get the cylinder heads off, I will probably use some greese to put around the top edge of the piston to keep any grit from between the piston and cylinder wall. Then Ill clean the block and head surface before putting the new head gaskets and lifters in.

I'll keep ya'll posted