Cylinder Head Stripping Suggestions

[srsupertrap]

What's the best method to safely remove all the paint completly from this project head pictured below. Interested in the cost of each, advantages & disadvantages. Here are some options, curious about others too

1) Cold tank
2) Hot Tank
3) Transmission Dip Tank
4) Media Blast
5) Sand Blast

 

[sharpy]

got my whole engine acid dipped when i rebuilt it long long time ago. Best thing ever. low price and very friendly. Whole motor came out spottless and about 2 tiny areas where not done. gave them some wd40 to spray the valve seats while it sat waiting to be picked up
In australia so u wont be using them. But thats my advice. Probally ask vintage folks for best place

 

[Nessism]

Bead blasting works well but the media gets into everything so you really should seal up all the various openings first, including the stud holes and intake/exhaust ports. In particular you need to be aware of the oil feed ports and clean them out if any grit gets inside. Suzuki pressed in plugs after gun drilling the ports, so they are a pain to clean (but still possible).

 

[srsupertrap]

Anyone have experience with the other options

1) Cold tank
2) Hot Tank
3) Transmission Dip Tank

 

[chuck hahn]

Be sure to use glass beads only on aluminum..walnut shells and such will gouge and pit the aluminum. Glass beads will leave a smooth satin finish to the parts. When i bead blasted my engines i went and bought corks to fit into the exhaust ports in the head and i put corks into the carb intake boots and tightened the clamps around the corks. That waybn you can bead blast everything and not get beads in the engines.

 

[srsupertrap]

I dropped off my GS1100G head at A&P Cylinder Heads in Arvada, CO. and the owner has a heated tank with a solution which is safe for aluminum heads. He dipped the head in the hot tank overnight a couple of times and then glass beaded the head to remove all the black paint. He did the valve cover as well but that paint didn't budge so he had to remove all the paint with the bead blaster. Here are the pics.

I will be painting the head once the valve & port work is complete and I am inclined to paint it stock GS silver, Can anyone chime in with paint recommendations which match the stock GS silver? Ed pretty sure you know

 

[posplayr]

Be sure to use glass beads only on aluminum..walnut shells and such will gouge and pit the aluminum. Glass beads will leave a smooth satin finish to the parts. When i bead blasted my engines i went and bought corks to fit into the exhaust ports in the head and i put corks into the carb intake boots and tightened the clamps around the corks. That waybn you can bead blast everything and not get beads in the engines.

Wallnut shell do not gouge aluminum

Head turned out very nice by the way

 

[Nessism]

Hi Steve,

I used VHT Aluminum color engine paint on both my 1000S's. Used Por-15 Engine Enamel on the first S but had to redo it after it started to turn brown. The VHT is not the most chemically resistant though but I don't know of anything better other than maybe Gunkote which I have no experience with. At any rate, you will need to figure out a way to clean out the blasting grit from inside the oil galley runs. Suzuki plugged the oil galleys on the side of the engine so they are difficult to clean out. I forced a bunch of simple green in the galley and then flushed with tons of water. Would have loved to run a bottle brush down the galley but short of drilling out the plugs, which could be done, there is no access.

What are you planning to do about dressing up the valve seats? Simple lap job? If you feel adventurous I have a set of Neeway cutters that can dress up the seats nice and pretty. Let me know if you want to discuss borrowing them.

 

[sharpy]

VHT universal aluminun is what i painted mine with.Truck washed the head, DONT touch the surface and warm head and paint can in the sun then paint away. Use a rag dipped in petrol to clean paint away from where it was oversprayed and place in a oven for 60mins set on 120f. Hard as nails if done right. Never painted my tappet cover and never has been redone and i cant tell the differance,

 

[Nessism]

Sharpy and I disagree on the color match between the OE paint and VHT; I think VHT is duller gray and the OE paint more bright and silver. It does get harder with baking so that much is good although I also find VHT will turn soft with chemicals so if you spill gas on the engine, clean it up as fast as you can.

 

[srsupertrap]

Hi Steve,

I used VHT Aluminum color engine paint on both my 1000S's. Used Por-15 Engine Enamel on the first S but had to redo it after it started to turn brown. The VHT is not the most chemically resistant though but I don't know of anything better other than maybe Gunkote which I have no experience with.

VHT universal aluminun is what i painted mine with.Truck washed the head, DONT touch the surface and warm head and paint can in the sun then paint away. Use a rag dipped in petrol to clean paint away from where it was oversprayed and place in a oven for 60mins set on 120f. Hard as nails if done right. Never painted my tappet cover and never has been redone and i cant tell the differance,

Ed & Sharpy,
Can you guys check were you using the same VHT paint because I like what see from Sharpy's photo. I agree Ed the OEM paint is pretty bright & very silver. Check out the VHT links below. I am wondering what VHT SP# you guys were using?

http://www.jegs.com/i/VHT/322/SP127/10002/-1 Universal Aluminum

http://www.jegs.com/i/VHT/322/SP995/10002/-1 Nu-cast Aluminum

 

[Nessism]

I used the Universal Aluminum. My guess is Nu-cast will be duller.

 

[srsupertrap]

Contacted VHT concerning which color is a brighter silver and here is their response . . .

Hi Steve,

Thank you for visiting the VHT website. We appreciate your taking the time to contact us.

There's not going to be what I would call a signification difference between the two, but if you want the brighter color I would recommend the SP-995 (Nu-Cast Aluminum).

Thank you again for your inquiry. Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Sincerely,
Eric
VHT Product Support

 

[Tom R]

I painted my Honda cb750 engine with VHT years ago. I'll +1 on gasoline softening it.

 

[Graham]

I was going to try paint stripper on mine.

 

[tatu]

I had some real problems with the colour match
I have seen some wheel paint called 'Simonize five wheels' that was the closest colour I could find but none of my local places had it. The original colour is more metalic grey than a silver so in the end I plumbed for silver produced by smoothrite that had the right surface finish and I did as Sharpy said I warmed the parts in the oven first and stood the can on a radiator, (I tried all the VHT stuff plus a heap of others but surface didn't seem to close and seal on those paints). the short engine would not go in the oven so I left it on the kitchen counter for a week before and after paint.
Only the top crankcase is painted anyway.
After painting (outside) and bake I left the parts scattered around the house on radiators.
On initial start up I had a sizable petrol leak from the carbs all over the crank case which has not affected it and it's still good. Most paint is more than able to handle engine tempretures even on the cylinder head.
Just as a side, the smell of the paint was not overpowering and I did it when I knew I wouldn't be disturbed as my girlfriend is pretty house proud, and trick I use is when she points and says "What's that doing in here" is just say what? and if she persists (hardy ever now) take a long time to explain why it is so important that it has to be done that way, she gets bored and goes off and does something else.

 

[gssuzukixxx]

I dropped off my GS1100G head at A&P Cylinder Heads in Arvada, CO. and the owner has a heated tank with a solution which is safe for aluminum heads. He dipped the head in the hot tank overnight a couple of times and then glass beaded the head to remove all the black paint. He did the valve cover as well but that paint didn't budge so he had to remove all the paint with the bead blaster. Here are the pics.

I will be painting the head once the valve & port work is complete and I am inclined to paint it stock GS silver, Can anyone chime in with paint recommendations which match the stock GS silver? Ed pretty sure you know

From the pictures it looks like the cam bearing surfaces and the valve spring recesses got bead blasted. If so it doesn't seem like a good idea since these are machined surfaces.

Also the deck surface is blasted...I would have thought this should be left machined.

Brian

 

[tatu]

Looks fine to me, just so long as there are no pits or scratches on the head surface itself. If you re unsure you could always give it a light once over with a flat block and emery, The valve spring receses have spring bases to locate the springs. All looks good to me.
The thing that you do need to do is make sure that you get all the blasting medium out and I can tell you from experience it is a time consuming pain. I used a pressure wash and heaps of air, the oil ways are particularly tricky, especially down the head stud and back where it has been drilled and blanked.

 

[Flyboy]

I remember a while a go reading a thread on the whole engine painting saga, and there was a member who built a stunning Kat and the motor was almost a dead match for the Suzuki OEM colour, as I remember the paint used was VHT Yamaha Case Silver, I remember because I made a note for my current rebuild.

But then on the other hand, I have seen Ed's work, and I would be the last one on earth to argue with any of his recommendations.

 

[sparki]

best way imho is to stick it in an acid bath... not many places do it anymore but it will come out superclean and won't have any media stuck inside it..... blasting of any kind on a motor isn't the best idea imho but folk do it as it looks factory fresh when they get it back.... takes forever and you're never guarenteed (sp) that all the crap is out of the parts blasted.

of course it could be ultra sonically cleaned after the media blasting but again that all adds up.

acid is the way to go.....