Engine block cleaning

[83gbody]

What do you guys use to clean your engine block and heads at home. The motor is a 77 chevy 350.

 

[seawolf18]

I take it the engine is out of the car? In the past I cleaned my engines myself. I found it to be a tedious PIA, so now I pay the local machine shop the $50.00-75.00 its costs to hot tank the block, heads, timing cover, oil pan, and intake. Its a lot less mess as well. If you are set on doing it at home, this is how I used to do it. For the heads I scrapped all the big stuff off with a putty knife, and then used a 5 gallon bucket and put some mineral spirits and the head in there. I then used a brush and scrubbed them clean. After I got all the crap off, I sprayed them down with brake clean to get any oily residue off of them. For the block, I scraped all the chunks off with a putty knife. I then soak it down with easy off oven cleaner and let it sit for about 10-15 min and them scrubbed the block with a brush. I repeated the process until I got it all off, then sprayed with brake clean. Easy off will work well on iron heads too, I don recommended using it on aluminum heads.

 

[-83MONTESS-]

I just use acetone. I have a coffee can full of acetone that I would just brush on with a paint brush. Make sure to use a paint brush you never want to use again and to put something under then engine so the acetone doesnt drip on the floor. The stuff is strong and will require an open area unless you want to get really high and then DIE. It worked good for me. Take a putty knife or something of the sort to knock all the big sh*t off first. After I finished with the acetone I used a few cans of brake clean to scrub the mating/gasket surfaces.

 

[seawolf18]

A bench grinder with a wire wheel on it works really good to clean up your small parts as well.