Vapour blasting?

Johno23

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I’m about to start a restoration of my Z1000A1. Engine will need stripping and blasting. What’s the best method these days to clean it all without leaving the oilways with crap in them? I’m reading Chris Rookes book “enthusiasts restoration manual” he had it all vapour blasted but found all the oilways full of “beading” and had to run a tap down all the threads to clean them up due to the process. Any advice out there?:beerjug:
 
You may ask Mikeyboy as he blasts engines, but then spends a lot of time cleaning out the media, I think, using paraffin and air blasting repeatedly until clean. I believe it takes ages as you can't afford to leave anything behind.

I could have got that wrong so it may be worth checking, but he mentions the procedure in one of his airhead build threads.
 
It took me best part of a day to clean the Guzzi block and heads after vapour and bead blasting.

You’ll need to tap any threads, wash out with solvent (NOT detergent), lots of compressed air, and repeat. Basically keep going until you’re not getting any more residue out of the cracks and crevices. Then do it once more.


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Oh yes, the post cleaning process takes longer than the blasting itself.........its crucial.

I've used buckets of hot soapy water and an airline.
 
Better to use Soda Blasting . Always use that method for engine/transmissions. Try Sutton Soda Blasting at Sutton Coldfield.
 
Some will mask off any orifices and blast an engine complete without disassembly.

Not sure, I'm totally OK with that, but it seems to work.
 
Work in motor trade and one of the lads got some engine bits vapour blasted , never seen anything like it all parts looked like new all he did was spray them with mat lacquer and finished product perfect .
 
I’m about to start a restoration of my Z1000A1. Engine will need stripping and blasting. What’s the best method these days to clean it all without leaving the oilways with crap in them? I’m reading Chris Rookes book “enthusiasts restoration manual” he had it all vapour blasted but found all the oilways full of “beading” and had to run a tap down all the threads to clean them up due to the process. Any advice out there?:beerjug:
As said above,
Some will blast with the engine complete:blast
Vapour blast on its own will not remove corrosion.it’s not an aggressive procedure.
However,it will certainly lift an oil seal.
You’ve already stated that the motor will be stripped.
The 1st process is dry blasting ,prior to blasting the item needs to be degreased and free from any sticky deposits,as the blast media will stick ,effectively masking tricky bits (between fins etc)
I use a medium grade aluminium oxide.
This will damage bearing surfaces,cylinder bores etc so these need to be protected.
Only once the item is completely free from corrosion etc it can be vapour or wet blasted.
If you think of the wet blaster as a big bath tap.
Through the tap is water and glass bead,in a slurry.
This is pumped at high volume,
Added to the slurry is compressed air at a huge volume.
The glass bead,being lubricated by the water peins the surface so it’s sealed and doesn’t attract dirt.
On a sand cast component,like bmw,guzzi etc,no further treatment will be needed.
On jap stuff,being die cast,there is more zinc in the alloy to allow it to flow.
This will start to corrode pretty quick so will need some kind of protection.
As to cleaning,,,,,,
Jap castings are complex with blind drilling’s etc etc.
Steam clean,
Compressed air
Paraffin tank
Repeat until happy.
You could use a ultrasonic cleaner but be realistic about their limitations,
If something is sat horizontally any dirt just vibrates,so a gallery full of media will still be full of media.
Hope this helps:thumb
Edit,
Don’t clean the blasted item with any trace of alkaline,
As you will be paying to get it done again.
 
i have a large ultrasonic tank big eneough to put crankcases in. The last pair i did after vapour blasting stayed in there for a long while being regularly turned after all of the other cleaning, washes, blow throughs etc. It was quite worrying how much blast media was left at the bottom of the tank afterwards.
I had an interesting conversation with a very good engineer i know who said it is quite important that the slurry is fired at the correct angle so they "glance off" properly.
Some studies have shown that if it is fired directly onto the surface on certain alloys very small pieces can embed in the metal surface and can then be released as the engine gets to full temperature and the alloy expands.
 
As said above,
Some will blast with the engine complete:blast
Vapour blast on its own will not remove corrosion.it’s not an aggressive procedure.
However,it will certainly lift an oil seal.
You’ve already stated that the motor will be stripped.
The 1st process is dry blasting ,prior to blasting the item needs to be degreased and free from any sticky deposits,as the blast media will stick ,effectively masking tricky bits (between fins etc)
I use a medium grade aluminium oxide.
This will damage bearing surfaces,cylinder bores etc so these need to be protected.
Only once the item is completely free from corrosion etc it can be vapour or wet blasted.
If you think of the wet blaster as a big bath tap.
Through the tap is water and glass bead,in a slurry.
This is pumped at high volume,
Added to the slurry is compressed air at a huge volume.
The glass bead,being lubricated by the water peins the surface so it’s sealed and doesn’t attract dirt.
On a sand cast component,like bmw,guzzi etc,no further treatment will be needed.
On jap stuff,being die cast,there is more zinc in the alloy to allow it to flow.
This will start to corrode pretty quick so will need some kind of protection.
As to cleaning,,,,,,
Jap castings are complex with blind drilling’s etc etc.
Steam clean,
Compressed air
Paraffin tank
Repeat until happy.
You could use a ultrasonic cleaner but be realistic about their limitations,
If something is sat horizontally any dirt just vibrates,so a gallery full of media will still be full of media.
Hope this helps:thumb
Edit,
Don’t clean the blasted item with any trace of alkaline,
As you will be paying to get it done again.
Mikeyboy, thank you so much for taking the time to explain all the procedures and pitfalls with this. I know of no one locally who I would trust to do all that efficiently so a pm will be winging it’s way to you soon......:D
Thanks again:thumb
 
no one has mentioned ..the airing cupboard , to dry it all out .and then blow out with comp. air, you will need to do all the cleaning a couple of times .
 


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