Removing Engine Paint for New Paint

[ian Simpson]

Originally Posted by captndan

I agree with the aircraft paint remover. Just one thing when the paint is loose wash it off with a gentle stream of water. The remover is still active and will attact anything it touchs. When it's off then hit the engine with high pressure. WEAR GLASSES!

I wear glasses full time. When using this sort of nasty stuff, I use a cheap Plexiglas mask to protect my good looking face, not just my eyes

[Mike]

This is a engine I detailed 2 weeks ago using high speed and multiple wire cup brushes. New timing gear and dropped the oil pan.

[Tom Wesenberg]

Mike, your engine sure looks nice.
It looks like you might have the tall water outlet, rather than the correct shorter 28-9 outlet.

Great news. It was way to hot and humid to be outside yesterday and today, but I worked on my engine anyway. I connected the garden hose to the hot water and had my air hose ready to blow dry the engine. I bought 2 cans of oven cleaner at Dollar Tree, and was really surprised at how well and quickly it worked.

Back in #1 you can see the engine after I spent a couple hours wire brushing the dirt and rust. A lot of work for little gain. Then I sprayed some oven cleaner on it and left it overnight. This morning I gave it a respray and used my new parts cleaning brush to work it. The first picture shows the engine right after spraying the oven cleaner, then it quickly turned brown as it lifted the dirt and some of the rust. After brushing it the red paint started coming off. I repeated this process, then had to quit due to the heat and humidity, but a third application probably would have removed all the red.

Anyway, it's really clean and ready for paint, but I'll still use some phosphoric acid and maybe wax and grease remover. I still think the black looks like red paint that turned black from too much heat, and I might hit that with my spot sandblaster. You can see what the oven cleaner did to my new parts cleaning brush, but it's now a better brush to use for cleaning out the driveshaft tube. I'll just cut the wood handle in the middle, then attach a long rod.

[Mike]

Tom,
Thank you ! If the engine is out of the car I use oven cleaner, most of my jobs the engines are in the car so I use degreasers and hot water to get the engine ready for paint.

mike

[marc silva]

Tom,
I use what is called a "needle scaler" I got it at Harbor freight. It is a bunch of 1/8 inch hardened rods in an air tool that vibrates kind of like an air hammer but will chip off paint and rust. It will maintain the texture of the casting finish. I actually used it to re texture a couple mold spots that I had on a Snyder head that were there from casting the head that I ground off. You cant tell where I did it. I took the paint off of a transmission and it looked like a brand new casting. Just clean it with prepsol or a wax and grease remover and paint. The ends of the rods eventually get rounded a bit so touch the ends to a grinder to make them flat again and you are back in business. I strongly recommend this tool. It is much easier than messy remover or wire wheels on cast iron.

Marc

[Mike]

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)

Please post pic of the tool

[marc silva]

How do I do that ?

[ronn]

Ian,
doing any modeling lately?

Mike,
your engine looks like one of those "rebuilt" engines so often spoke of on the barn. beautiful!

[marc silva]

i will do a test and post the photo


IMG_1820.JPGscaler.jpg

IMG_1819.Jpgscaler2.jpg

IMG_1818.JPGscaler3.jpg

[marc silva]

This took about 3 minutes and as you can see from the previous pictures the ends of the needles are rounded a bit. If I were to grind them flat again it gets a better bite and the metal would look more shiny.


IMG_1821.JPGhead 4.jpg

IMG_1822.JPGhead 1.jpg

IMG_1824.JPGhead 3.jpg

IMG_1823.JPGhead 2.jpg

[marc hildebrant]

Originally Posted by BILL WILLIAMSON

Tom,
T.S.P, mixed to a pancake batter consistency, will remove paint. It's not fast, but it's not CAUSTIC.
Bill W.

Bill,

Are you talking about real TSP or the fake stuff sold now.

Marc

[Mike]

Marc, Ronn,
Thank you !!
Mike

[Mitch//pa]

Mike that motor looks really great.. Very nice job I bet the owner is thrilled..

[Tom Wesenberg]

This morning I finally was able to make some progress on the engine from the deer hauler. I went to the store yesterday to find an assortment of rubber balls, but only found the two large ones, which will be good to block off the water pump hole and top hose hole.

At Fleet Farm I just happened to spot these rubber leg caps, and bought an assortment, as they are perfect for plugging holes. Since they are hollow they also work well to cap lines, and the tapered outside makes a perfect fitting plug.

When I was half way through sandblasting I'd wished I would have done one more round of oven cleaner and forgot about sandblasting. I made a tapered wood plug for the dipstick hole, and wrapped a lot of duct tape around the front pulley to keep the Black Blast out of the rope seal.

The third picture shows some large washers I cut out of aluminum plate with my hole saw. I also have some fairly stiff foam rubber behind them so seal the openings. Since this is an assembled running engine, I won't worry about the hardware finish at this time. Green paint on them will be fine.

I still need to drop the oil pan and also dial in the flywheel cover before this engine is ready to install.

[ronn]

I should just leave the red paint on because I've heard red engines are faster.

yeah, if your engine is a "fire" engine........................!

[ford31]

what about soda blasters

[Tom Wesenberg]

Originally Posted by ford31

what about soda blasters

Soda removes paint, but not so much for rust.

[Dollar Bill]

Looking good Tom!

Your next sand blasting project, you may consider using spray foam to plug up holes. Just lay in a piece of Saran Wrap to contain the foam and squirt with spray insulation. Easy, peasy!

I share your sand blasting sentiments. Ironic that my sand blaster rig is now rusty from lack of use - It's agonizingly slow and makes a terrific mess.

[Mike V. Florida]

Originally Posted by Tom Wesenberg

Soda removes paint, but not so much for rust.

Whenever I read about soda blasting the always mention that it will not remove "heavy" rust (Eastwoods site). I wonder how heavy the rust has to be?

[Tom Wesenberg]

Here's why you should ALWAYS remove the oil pan on an unknown engine. This engine ran so nice that I was thinking of installing it without painting and removing the oil pan. I'm glad I decided to remove the oil pan because I found a crack in one tooth on the cam gear. I might have even missed this had the engine not stopped in this exact position.

I also found a broken oil pump spring and homemade retainer, so they will get replaced. The rear cam lobe has some light pits, but this should be OK for now. I also found the distributor shaft is quite loose and needs to be rebuilt. The pan had only about 1/8" of soft sludge, so that was better than what I usually find.

The bad tooth is the third one from the crank gear. I'll install a new aluminum cam gear and will polish the crank gear.