Engine cleaning

[mayantiger]

newbie here. read online that stp sonuvagun tire foam seems to work well for de-griming the block, frame, etc.

autozone matt recommended purple power, i bought it 1st and read the instructions 2nd (doh!) and am concerned that it is too caustic.

just got my first bike for pocket change though, so i guess i'm not risking much....

i work in a molecular bio lab, and we use 200 proof ethanol to clean EVERYTHING. anyone tried this for degreasing? it is very cheap (a dollar a gallon) and should be impossible to cause rust. not sure if it would cause etching in aluminum.

[cywelchjr]

Purple power is what I use. Just don't let it sit on bare aluminum too long before you rinse it off.

[fredintoon]

- - - just got my first bike for pocket change though, so i guess i'm not risking much....

i work in a molecular bio lab, and we use 200 proof ethanol to clean EVERYTHING. anyone tried this for degreasing? it is very cheap (a dollar a gallon) and should be impossible to cause rust. not sure if it would cause etching in aluminum.

Hi 'tiger and welcome,
if you fritz up your pocket change bike you are stuck with replacing it, perhaps for more than pocket change.
And what do they put in the ethanol to stop you drinking it?

[79XS11F]

wow, lots of "different" suggestions. Dish soap and Shout would both be really good grease fighters, however, I would have never thought of them myself. You guys are an ingenious bunch.

The Purple Power seems to do a good enough job at degreasing. But the shout and dish soap are intriguing. I may try to byy a cheap gun cleaning kit to get in the small holes, or is there something that might be better? Only problem is buying a gun cleaning kit would require the purchase of an actual gun, and a long barrell 44 mag isn't that cheap. I guess my 36 cal black powder revolver might serve as an excuse, but it doesn't have the intimidation factor of the 44, or the recoil.

As for removing elbow grease, the correct method is ingestion of distilled cane sugar based alcohol. Preferably spiced. Although, I am starting to see some remover that is flavored with wormwood and anise which may be even more effective.

Getting the oil and grease off it is only 1/2 the job. If you want your paint to stick and stay put your going to need to prep the metal as well. That being the case I would just remove the stuff you can't get at by glass beading it. Any oil based products that are absorbed by the metal will have to be removed if paint is going to stick.
If beading is not going to happen use brake cleaner or contact cleaner. Both dry without leaving much of a residue on the surface.
Rob

[3Phase]

Salted Soap or Soapy Salt

A little while ago I learned something from a UK motorcycle newsgroup thread about dish soap that had never really occured to me but a quick check of a few MSDS confirmed it: a lot of dish soaps use sodium chloride, salt, as a thickener.

Make sure you rinse off all of the soap and don't use it for bead lube if you mount your own tires.

[barrelguy]

Getting the oil and grease off it is only 1/2 the job. If you want your paint to stick and stay put your going to need to prep the metal as well. That being the case I would just remove the stuff you can't get at by glass beading it. Any oil based products that are absorbed by the metal will have to be removed if paint is going to stick.
If beading is not going to happen use brake cleaner or contact cleaner. Both dry without leaving much of a residue on the surface.
Rob

I recently cleaned around 100 barrels using a dry ice blaster. Works great and leaves nothing behind except the grime that was removed. How it works is that the dry ice (pellets or shavings) penetrate under the gunk. Dry ice being frozen CO2 immediately sublimates (goes directly to a gas) and lifts off the offensive stuff.

[3Phase]

Dry ice being frozen CO2 immediately sublimates (goes directly to a gas) and lifts off the offensive stuff.

Very cool! And just in time for Halloween!

Now I all I have to do is find that record with the Halloween sound effects on it and I can make spooky fog this year for the trick-or-treaters while I clean parts.

[Prothec]

Ive always used foaming engine degreaser . . .

I used Walmart brand foaming engine degreaser on my carb bodies and it did surprisingly well on the years of caked on grease and grime in all the nooks and crannies. I have yet to clean any of my engines...their problems have taken up the time I would have spent cleaning or riding and real distances for that matter

[XS1100_OEM4ME]

Painting

Also, if you are painting bare Alum. you should use a self-eching primer if you want it to last for long. Dupli-color makes one (it has a green lid) or you can find it at most pro-auto paint supply stores

[mayantiger]

Hi 'tiger and welcome,
if you fritz up your pocket change bike you are stuck with replacing it, perhaps for more than pocket change.
And what do they put in the ethanol to stop you drinking it?

Only a healthy dash of self-respect. Naturally, we keep a special 40% stash for those long flights to an out-of-state science conference.

But enough serious business.....i ended up trying out ethanol along w my tire foam and it worked pretty well. Used a 70% dilute in spray bottle to spray off after the final water rinse, worked well to evaporate any liquid. Didn't see any signs of residue or damage after.

[fredintoon]

Only a healthy dash of self-respect. Naturally, we keep a special 40% stash for those long flights to an out-of-state science conference. - - -

Hi 'tiger,
I was thinking of the Brazilians, who typically drink fruit juice with a splash of overproof, dunno if it's still that way but way back when Brazil had to import all it's gasoline they had lotsa vehicles that ran on ethanol made from sugar cane refuse. The article I read said their gasoline was cut with 17% ethanol because if they put in more than that gas powered vehicles wouldn't run good and they cut their vehicle alcohol with 17% gasoline to stop the Brazilians drinking it instead of buying it at the liquor store.