Crankcase, crud got in, and cleaning base gasket

[Guest]

Good morning all,
In my journey, I have pulled the cylinders from the engine and ran into some issues I am hoping you all can help with.

1. how do you get the base gasket cleaned from the crankcase without getting junk inside the crank case.



2. There was a bunch of crud around a couple of the head bolts that fell inside the crankcase while removing the cylinders regardless of the measures I took to keep that from happening. Cleaning the outside, and stuffing towels/shop towels under the pistons as I removed the cylinders. Should I be concerned? How can I get this stuff out?





3. What about this tensioner? Do you think it is still usable?

[Brendan W]

Plug the holes with lots of paper towels. It won't stop it all.
Use solvent, time and a gentle scraper plastic or very sharp blade.
Pick out whatever you can see. If it's really bad you could drop the sump pan and flush with kerosene. The system has a strainer and is tolerant of some dirt.
The tensioner is likely officially worn out, see the transverse cracks. Mine is as bad or worse and still truckin'.