Re: ask first, destroy later

From: jon@dakota-truck.net
Date: Fri Aug 27 2004 - 11:32:52 EDT


werlax@hotmail.com wrote:

: So, given my recent learning experience (aka bending pushrods and valve
: stems), I thought I'd ask some other questions here first. :)
: I have the cylinder heads at the machine shop now, and I'm staring at my
: engine block and the mess that's visible. With nearly 100K miles on the
: engine, the piston heads look terrible along with the cylinder walls. In
: addition, there is a lot of water/antifreeze in the cylinder that must have
: come out of the heads when they were removed. There is also the issue of
: removing the stuck on gasket material. What can I do to get all of this
: cleaned up before the heads come back in a few days?
: Thanks for any help,
: Mark

   You basically just need to scrape the gasket off with a putty/razor
knife, which is always loads of fun. :-P If it is being particularly
difficult, Permatex makes "gasket remover", its in a blue-ish spray can.
You spray it on the gasket and it basically starts to eat it and soften
it up. That can help. Just be sure when you are scraping that you don't
nick the surface and that the gasket material doesn't drop down into a
water passage. If you want to be extra careful, you can put small pieces
of terrycloth into the passages (leave enough of it sticking out so that
you won't forget to remove it before re-assembly and don't use paper towels
because they could break apart when you try to remove them and leave
pieces in there.)

   Something I have done several times in the past when scraping in
"sensitive" areas for extra insurance is to scrape with one hand,
and use the other to hold the nozzle of a shop vac up near the scraper
with the other to suck the small pieces up as they are removed. The
shop vac is also useful for sucking water out of the coolant passages
in the block, so that it doesn't keep oozing out as you are working.
(You can also use it to suck the coolant that has leaked into the
cylinders.)

   If the engine will be sitting for any length of time (a day or
two) with the heads off, I would give the pistons and cylinder walls
a quick squirt with something like some silicone lubricant, just to
prevent the onset of flash rust.

  If you'd like some inspiration (from the "it could be worse"
department), take a look at the condition of the motor in my '92 Ram
after I hydrolocked it - http://jonsteiger.com/www/misc/ram%20hydrolock/
- no doubt many of those pictures will look familiar to you, though
perhaps (hopefully) with less mud in your case. :-)

 Good luck!

-- 
                                          -Jon-

.-- Jon Steiger ---- jon@dakota-truck.net or jon@jonsteiger.com --. | 1970 Barracuda - 1990 Dakota 'vert - 1992 Ram 4x4 - 1996 Dakota | | 1996 Intruder 1400 - 1996 Kolb FireFly - 2001 Ram QC 3500 CTD | `------------------------------------ http://www.jonsteiger.com --'



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