Show me your engine removal methods.

[Yard Dogg]

I can't figure out if my heads and jugs are painted too or not. I wasn't going to strip the case halves after all cause like you said, the paint is still sticking. Somebody tried to paint the head black on this bike at some point cause there is still some on it. I want to have them degreased by a shop at least. Sand blasting would be great, but in this cold sloppy weather I don't think it will work out too well.

[crazy steve]

The head and cylinders were painted with different paint from what was used on the cases. That's simply a high-heat silver, and wasn't even gotten into the various nooks and crannies all that well. The trick here is getting all the corrosion and/or baked-on crud that's to be found where there's no paint off. Sandblasting or bead blasting is the only sure-fire method for that....

[Yard Dogg]

Your right. I'm just going to quit all the rocket science and sandblast them. I overlooked one valuable resource that's helped me in the past. My camping tent. I will set it up as my sandblasting booth, then collect my sand with the shop vac. Cost to clean the heads will be $10. Looks like the sunshine poked out today so hopefully it will be out tomorrow to warm things up a little, if not, I'm doing it anyway. I will tape everything off thoroughly to avoid getting sand in the oil passages, that's been my biggest fear of sandblasting them. When I remove the tape I'll go slow with the vacuum running to get any sand under the edge of the tape. That will have to be good enough. I'm going to paint before I do the honing and lapping. Thanks all for your suggestions. That's why I love this forum, lot's of brainstorming.

[crazy steve]

When sandblasting, I use duct tape to mask. It's tough enough to take light blasting without peeling. For the cylinders, taping off the two ends of the bores should be enough. For the head, I'd install the cam cover and plugs, tape off the head gasket surface, then stuff rags into the intake/exhaust ports. That will keep sand out of most important places. You'll need to thoroughly clean everything when you're done in any case; this will limit how bad it gets....

[fredintoon]

Your right. I'm just going to quit all the rocket science and sandblast them. - - -

Hi Dogg,
there's other blasting media besides sand, you get finer finishes with glass beads, walnut shells and soda.
FWIW sand leaves a coarse surface that looks great at first but it's a super grease and dirt trap so you'll be forever cleaning it but that's up to you.
But whatever media you decide on fer chrissake use a proper breathing mask, if you breathe that sh1t in it will rip your lungs out.

[MaximPhil]

The way I did it... quite a few times:


- 2 guys grab the engine, yell motherfornicator and lift it out of the frame and put it on the tire
- Look for a place where you will be working on the engine, say motherfornicaor again and carry it there



- Open a cold one, congratulate yourself, stare at the now empty frame and how sad it looks

Hi Strom,
Nice garage, Are those Leaded Windows in a Garage ???
Phil