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Old Apr 15, 2020 | 10:50 PM
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I finally pulled the engine, it is caked with oil and dirt. What is the best route to go to clean the engine. my plan is to strip it down completely. Its my wife's car, so any performance or deletes will need to go through her. Mostly, I am looking at what can be deleted. Everything is original, and the obviously rubber parts are going to be replaced but there were some plastic lines that were very brittle and snapped by touch.
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Old Apr 15, 2020 | 11:53 PM
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Christopher, you did not mention the year or type of engine as that does make a difference.

From your post, I'm guessing that you are going to do a rebuild as you are going to "strip it down completely" If that is the case, I'd pull the engine out of the car, put tape over any holes or passages and get after it (smartly) with a pressure washer, a scrub brush and Simple Green. That shoudl clean up the outside enough for you to disassemble the engine with a minimum of mess.
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Old Apr 16, 2020 | 12:49 AM
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Yes, and what the pressure washer can't get, brake cleaner will.
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Old Apr 16, 2020 | 12:55 AM
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Originally Posted by billschroeder5842
Christopher, you did not mention the year or type of engine as that does make a difference.

From your post, I'm guessing that you are going to do a rebuild as you are going to "strip it down completely" If that is the case, I'd pull the engine out of the car, put tape over any holes or passages and get after it (smartly) with a pressure washer, a scrub brush and Simple Green. That shoudl clean up the outside enough for you to disassemble the engine with a minimum of mess.
My apologizes, I mentioned it in my intro, but forgot here. It is an '85 coupe all original. Engine is out.


Last edited by Christopher Binker; Apr 16, 2020 at 12:57 AM.
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Old Apr 16, 2020 | 12:59 AM
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@billschroeder5842 what type of tape would you recommend?
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Old Apr 16, 2020 | 11:37 AM
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If you're stripping it down I would think you are going to send out the heads and block to a machine shop, if you do they will clean it up(I forgot the name of it...Hot tank it??). Maybe some simple green and a hose can get the heavy stuff off, but I think the machine shop route will remove everything
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Old Apr 16, 2020 | 05:47 PM
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Originally Posted by Christopher Binker
@billschroeder5842 what type of tape would you recommend?
Just regular "paint tape" for the engine. When you clean the block you want to be conscious of the openings. Think of tape as blocking the over spray and nothing more.
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Old Apr 20, 2020 | 05:01 PM
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Originally Posted by vette196
If you're stripping it down I would think you are going to send out the heads and block to a machine shop, if you do they will clean it up(I forgot the name of it...Hot tank it??). Maybe some simple green and a hose can get the heavy stuff off, but I think the machine shop route will remove everything
What is a machine shop going to do? What kind of prep do I need to do? Do I need to pull all the internals? I have the heads off.
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Old Apr 20, 2020 | 05:04 PM
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Originally Posted by Christopher Binker
What is a machine shop going to do? What kind of prep do I need to do? Do I need to pull all the internals? I have the heads off.
I haven't done it yet, but I'm going through a rebuild and it's one of those "while it's apart...." things. I'm doing it to clean the block and check the internals before I put it back together.
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