Engine cleaning

[tomo]

Thinking while I`m out of work and have time on my hands, I might give my 79 GS750 a makeover. She has been my everyday year round transport for a lot of years so is a bit grubby. I plan to strip the bike down, re-paint the frame, swing arm and wheels, and rewire the bike as a PO`s wiring has given me a few problems over the years. Engine wise, its grubby, old baked on oil and road grime but runs sweet as a nut so I really don`t want to mess with it. Yeah, probably does need a de-coke but performance wise its fine. So, wonder what the best way to clean it up would be ?. Wondered if steam cleaning would work, obviously after sealing off all the ports etc. I would like to paint it too, heard somewhere that Hammerite smooth silver thinned down gives a good finish, but not sure about it. Anyway, any suggestions appreciated.

[BassCliff]

Hi,

I take the low-tech approach. I use Simple Green and a toilet brush, rinse, repeat.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[tomo]

Thanks BassCliff, guess it was a bit of a daft question and I probably will have to get stuck in with a brush and de-greaser, but not looking forward to it. Hoped there might be someone out there who had tried steam cleaning though. Ah well, I see a few hours of scrubbing and rinsing ahead !

[chuck hahn]

Take a set of hemos and a green dish scrubby.. Cut the scrubby into patches like you would use for gun cleaning. Spray an area down with UNDILLUTED MR CLEAN and let it sit about 10 minutes. Respray the area and use the hemos to hold the scrubby patches and go in and out of every fin, nook, and cranny then rinse with a hose and touch up anythig you missed.

[Larry D]

I've taken hand cleaner, you know, the stuff in the orange tub, and cleaned bad oily, greasy spots. It does a great job and I figure, if it's safe enough for my hands, then it's okay for the aluminum. It's formulated to clean grease. Getting in all those engine cooling fins is a pain. A bottle brush works well.

[JEEPRUSTY]

I use long bristle paint brushes. The purpose made bathroom grout brushes are nice on fins as they are soft and halso have long bristles. Put a pan under the engine and walk on Lestoil. Its nice and thick and lays on the parts before it dripos away.

The stuff that drips into the pan can be reused on the area surrounding the front sprocket. It is amazing the amount of gunk that collects there over time.

[tomo]

Thanks guys, I was thinking lazy ways to do it, but probably get better results anyway getting stuck in with brushes, de-greasers etc. Plenty of time on my hands now anyway, so I`ll give it a go !.

[Hornswaggle]

I've just used simple green, let it soak for a while on a warm (not hot) engine, scrub a little with brush and rinse off. I'll use a scotch brite pad for the stubborn stuff.

[chuck hahn]

Larry if there was a lazy way i would have done it..LOL the laziest way is to farm it out..but thats less self satisfying.

[JEEPRUSTY]

Just a note do not use a pressure washer.
They can drive crap into seals.

Boiling water is great for a chemical free cleaning.

[landshark]

Can anyone post a picture of their results?
My engine is free of oil(that took some time!) but i would like to spruce it up a bit more.
I have tried oven cleaner on some small patches with a good result, but i dont want to get it near the gaskets.

[JEEPRUSTY]

oven cleaner will discoulour chrome.
I would no use it.

Not use it again that is.

[landshark]

oven cleaner will discoulour chrome.
I would no use it.

Not use it again that is.

Yeah, i had my doubts, that is why i didnt go ahead.
We used it to clean the power valves on a mates aprilia and it was awesome for getting the carbon off.

I would still like to see some pics if anyone can be bothered.

[Do Little]

Seafoam is awesome for cutting through grease and grime.

I made a cheap home made soda blaster and cleaned my engine with baking soda. It worked great, I attached a pic of my cam cover. It takes off the scale build up and all the stuff that makes your engine dull without harming the paint. It had a little trouble with the thick road grime and grit, but with some persistance it cut through it, and I had removed most of it before hand. The bottom half of my engine didn't seem to want to clean up as easily and took more time. I was able to clean mine up decently with a 13lb bag, and if I wanted to take more time I probably could have made it look brand new. Definately easier and quicker than a toothbrush, and it took off a lot of the dullness that I couldn't get with a brush and cleaner.

[Mysuzyq]

Can anyone post a picture of their results?
My engine is free of oil(that took some time!) but i would like to spruce it up a bit more.

Renobruce's before/after pictures are the most remarkable of any engine cleaning projects I've seen, and he used Simple Green to restore a filthy engine to near-new appearance. I have used Gunk engine cleaner and even good old WD40 and some soft brushes with good results, but without any leaks the before/ after offer no drama.