Barnacles!! 1982 GS1100e Project

[GabrielGoes]

Hey guys, i recently just picked up an 82' GS1100e and im gonna be needing some help from you guys well like the title says, Barnacles!! its all over the clutch/stator covers, its over the whole engine pretty much. Is there any home treatment for this? now i can see for the large smooth areas i could just sand and work my way up in grades but for inbetween the fins, Carbureator nooks and crannies, and inside the head area, and other hard to reach places is there anyway to get rid of this surface that looks like barnacles with some sort of tool or something without having to take the head off or engine off? im not looking for a mirror museum piece but something that is nice

[Tim Tom]

Did you drag that out of the hudson?! Jeez man!! That is a project to be sure. I don't think sanding is the best option, the cooling fins alone would take forever.

You need something with a bit larger 'area of effect'. Maybe media blasting would work.

Of course to do this you would need to remove the engine and tear it all apart. But that would probably give the best results.

[Frank Z.]

vvv What TimTom said. Used to remove 'barnies' on outboard motor foots with media blaster.

[Good Times]

De-Barnacle

Wow, that is quite the project. You will need to take motor out to really get at everything. I soda blasted mine and it turned out pretty good, but I wasn't starting where you are.

One thought I just had. What if you tried some marine hull cleaner on a small spot to see what it did? I used it on boats before and it gets every thing off. Including barnacles. You can pick it up at a marine/boat store. It is an acid basically. Your title made me think of it. You would need to be careful with it though. It makes aircraft paint stripper look like Sprite.

[rputney01]

Media Blasting

If you can find a place near you that does dry ice blasting, I'd recommend it. You can take off anything you don't want blasted (seat, painted parts, electrical, chrome, instruments) and roll it in. 30 minutes later, you'll be amazed. I had this done on an Yamaha I restored. It cost a little over $100, but was well worth it. Then you can get on to the fun stuff.

Good luck.

[greg78gs750]

i glass blasted my wifes 305 engine, looks awesome.

[Dave8338]

If you can find a place near you that does dry ice blasting, I'd recommend it. You can take off anything you don't want blasted (seat, painted parts, electrical, chrome, instruments) and roll it in. 30 minutes later, you'll be amazed. I had this done on an Yamaha I restored. It cost a little over $100, but was well worth it. Then you can get on to the fun stuff.

Good luck.

AGREED ten fold. A customer of mine does dry ice blasting for a living. Neat thing about the dry ice: It evaporates and leaves nothing behind.

Nothing !

It is used in the food service industry for this very reason....

[tkent02]

Man, that's a beauty! I'd keep every barnacle in place. Get it running perfectly, go through the brakes and carbs and everything but do not disturb any of those hard earned barnacles...
No paint, no de-rusting, nothing!
Beautiful!