TOPIC:

Okay, let me say in advance I have searched the forum for the information I want and received a plethora of returns. I hate to admit it, but it's almost too much information and is really confusing to understand. I am looking for the best way to clean the engine in my '77 KZ-1000 without taking the engine out or apart, at least right now anyway. I was thinking about soda or vapor blasting the engine in the frame, but I don't know if this is a viable option. Any suggestions on this from the members? Also, what exactly is the difference between soda blasting and vapor blasting, or are they the same thing? Is soda or vapor cleaning something that can be done by an individual, or do the pieces have to be taken into a specialty cleaning shop? Eventually, probably in the winter, I will be looking at going over the carburetors and was wondering what is the best way of the cleaning them? Should I just disassemble them and place the parts in carburetor or parts cleaner? Thanks for any thoughts on this.

Rick H.

I guess to some degree it depends on the condition of the engine when you start. I cleaned my engine using metal polish. Yes, it took me several days, but when I was done I though it looked pretty good. Ed

In my experience the best way to clean the engine in the frame is to use plenty of carb spray cleaner along with a lot of rags. To bring the finish back requires Mothers polish and a bunch more rags. It's very hard to get into the air vents along the front of the engine but you with patience you can do a fair job.

Vapour blasting is the best solution but you need to pull the engine and dismantle it. I have a friend who has a vapour blaster and he says he has done an engine without dismantling it, but he's an expert with a blaster.

For your carbs, the best way is to pull them apart, ultrasonic them to remove the grease and stains and then vapour blast them. Here is what they can look like, along with vapour blasted engine parts.

I don't Know how badly dirtied your engine is, but this has always been my go-to cleaner for the outside off my motor, (also a 77 KZ-1000). 'Simple Green all-purpose cleaner'. It may take several applications and some elbow grease, but it makes the aluminum pop, and just seems to clean everything quite well. Good luck !

Gunk engine spray works good to get rid of oily residue.

If you post up some images so we can see how bad the engine looks now we can then make more informed suggestions.

urankjj wrote: I don't Know how badly dirtied your engine is, but this has always been my go-to cleaner for the outside off my motor, (also a 77 KZ-1000). 'Simple Green all-purpose cleaner'. It may take several applications and some elbow grease, but it makes the aluminum pop, and just seems to clean everything quite well. Good luck !

Do you mean the green Simple Green or the purple Simple Green? The purple stuff is supposed to be safe for aluminum/all metals.

I would strongly discourage you to try to try to media blast your engine in the frame, regardless of method, as you probably will blast on places you didn’t intend to.

But lets look at the basics.

There are a number of different blasting methods.

Dry blasting
Is when you blast with dry media as aluminum silicate, sand or glass that is accelerated and driven by compressed air.
This is a very effective way to remove oxidation, paint and so on, on stuff that is not very sensitive. Think ships, bridges, trailers, car frames, steel rims (bike frames if you use small grained sand and low pressure.) as the blasting media is very aggressive (spiky) and will remove material from whatever you are blasting.
Residual media: Dry blasting will leave residual blasting media and there for require very thorough cleaning after blasting or you will find blasting media in places where you don’t want it.
Finish: Dry blasting leaves a rough finish suitable for painting.

Vapor blasting,
Aqua honing or wet blasting is when the blasting media is mixed up with water to form a slurry, that is then accelerated and driven by compressed air. The media is usually small spherical glass beads, and this is a excellent method when you want to blast sensitive stuff like engine parts to remove oxidation, carbon deposits, burnt in oil or paint. This as the water dampens the glass beads when they hit the material you are blasting. There for you can blast high tolerance parts like pistons, internal engine parts without removing material from what ever you are blasting. Furthermore you get nice polished surface compared to dry blasting that leaves a rugged surface. But Vapor blasting is not aggressive enough to remove 2k paint or powder coating, that has to be chemically striped first. Then it’s not always the best way to go if you want to blast steel parts as the water will make your parts flash rust if not the adequate precautions are taken.
Residual media: Vapor honing will not leave blasting media imbedded in the material you are blasting as can happen when dry blasting, but still requires thorough cleaning after blasting to make sure that all residual media is removed as You don’t want to find those beads in your engine.
Finish: Nice polished looking finish, but it is dependent on the material you are blasting.

Soda blasting
Soda blasting is even more gentle than Vapor blasting, in soda blasting the blasting media is bicarbonate crystals that can be blasted dry or wet, if wet it requires the slurry to be saturated with bicarbonate to a level where the water will no longer dissolve the bicarbonate.
This can be used for really sensitive stuff, but being so gentle it’s hard to remove burnt in deposits.
Residual media: You can easily rinse of the remaining media with water.
Finish: Being so gentle it’s hard to get an even finish ant the surface you are left with is often patchy.

Dry ice.
Dry ice is even gentler than soda and is probably the only method I would use on a engine that is still in the frame. Here the dry ice pellets are blasted dry and when they hit the material you are blasting they sublimate and turns in to gas instantly by a very rapid expansion that helps method to remove oxide and grit. This method is often used on electrical components like electrical motors to remove grease and dirt and on wood to remove mold from mold infected roofs and basements.
Residual media: it leaves no residual media as it turns to gas.
Finish: all dependent on what you blast.

Me and my buddy runs a professional Vapor blasting business and discourage customers that wants assembled engines blasted as those glass beads finds there ways regardless of how careful you mask. We have done a few assembled engines but we always tell the customer of the risk.

So all in all, if you want to freshen up your engine in the frame there are no free lunch.
Degrease thoroughly, then arm yourself with tooth-and bottle brushes, rags, aluminum polishing compound, elbow grease and beer.

/anders

I have only used the 'green' Simple Green and always at full strength, with excellent results.

Simple green is corrosive to bare aluminum unless it's the aluminum safe one which doesn't work on anything.

As requested here are two pictures of my engine. It isn't terribly dirty, but can definitely use some cleaning. The carbs have dulled down after all these years and I would like to spruce them up too. It was mentioned to use an ultrasonic cleaner on those, but what is the best cleaning solution for this? I guess I could go old school and use some Gunk engine cleaner on the motor and clean what I can with a high pressure power washer. I am somewhat confused on the Simple Green comments though.
are we talking "normal" Simple Green or something else?

Your engine is far cleaner than mine was when I started cleaning it. I definitely would not use a liquid spray or other such cleaner on it. I would just use a bit of metal polish to bring up the shine. Ed

I should add that right at the moment I am undecided on which way to go with this bike. It only has 5500 miles on it, but it does have some issues. Most immediate is the fact it has an oil leak from the front head gasket area and one or both of the wheels are out of round. Finding someone to true the wheels was a bit more difficult than I thought it would be, but it will be taken care of shortly. Initially I was trying to find someone to take care of the head gasket leak, but that was also problematic so I think I will try to tackle this myself. Before doing so I want to check the valve clearances and see what they are. A compression check showed one cylinder is at 90 to 95 PSI which may add to the work order later on. I may pursue a leak down test after checking the valves.

Ultimately I didn't buy this bike to do a complete restoration on it. I like things in original condition with signs of original use. I don't restore old firearms I own, but rather make sure they function as good as they can within reason. The same holds for older cars that I have owned. I guess the best way of putting it is that I like the patina of age, but I will correct mechanical deficiencies to obtain the best performance. Hope this makes sense. While a complete restoration would look wonderful, I think this specific motorcycle will look just fine cleaned and shined and in top notch running condition.

Rick H.


P.S. Thank you to everyone that took the time to respond to my questions.