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How clean does the head have to be?


Perfect240z

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So I've been cleaning this for about a week now, I soaked in hot simple green for a few hours, turning it on all sides to losen the dirt, oil, etc. I'm now wondering what is acceptible in the Z world as ready to be put back together? This isnt in anyway race track ready or anything, but even though you can still see old HG on here, its really smooth and flat. Is this acceptible to get my engine up and running?

post-15914-0-18406300-1358731452_thumb.jpg

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Doesn't look good enough to me but it's hard to tell from the pictures. What did you actually use to remove the gasket material from the surface with?

 

Some staining is okay but that looks more like stuck on bits, especially around the top left hand quarter of the head as in your picture.

Edited by djz
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I used simple green, acetone, and then after those i ended up using paint stripper and air craft stripper with a paint scraper.  I didn't want to use a razer blade because its really soft aluminum, even though Ive so many people using that method I don't like that idea, I'll keep at it though.  Head should be straight though, that Im not worried about.

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The main issue with razor blades has to do with technique, not the tool itself. You need to keep the blade FLAT, and since they warp easily that means you need to keep the pressure minimal. This also means you have to avoid getting too much of the blade off the edge otherwise it will again... warp, and then gouge the corner of the edge you were running off of.

 

I've scrapped several heads with just razor blades and I'm not sure I'd do it any other way unless I had access to machine shop type tools and could take just a .001 or less off. But even in that case you'd want to get it as clean as possible first so you can verify how clean it is.

 

I'd be careful with ANYTHING assisted, be electric or air. Any type of grinder will have the ability to create low spots. The rule of thumb in this realm is that if it's EASY to get the crud off, then it's too EASY to take metal off. You're looking for something that's more of a "buffer" than a "sander/grinder". Wire wheels are a big no-no. I haven't tried the mentioned plastic wire wheels, but they sound promising if used right. I'd still hook it up to something variable speed like a dremel to be safe though.

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Lathe Parting Tool

 

Glass plate with 600 grit spray adhesived to it, and plenty of marvel mystery oil with gyrations in the lapper's traditional "Figure 8" whilst chanting "tocheaptapaya, tocheaptapaya, tocheaptapaya" ,,, best done in a thatched hut under the influence of The Betel Nut...

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Lathe Parting Tool

 

Glass plate with 600 grit spray adhesived to it, and plenty of marvel mystery oil with gyrations in the lapper's traditional "Figure 8" whilst chanting "tocheaptapaya, tocheaptapaya, tocheaptapaya" ,,, best done in a thatched hut under the influence of The Betel Nut...

LOL

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I have just used a razor blade and a thick metal block with some fine sand paper wrapped around it and have not had issues. This was a daily driver that I did no form of racing in at all. Literally changed the head gasket 2 days before a cross country drive and had no issues

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The funny thing is nobody uses those cans of "Aircraft Remover" to either strip aircraft or remove aircraft.

 

The L24 block I split came aparts totally spotlessly clean- Gasket was a FelPro.  I really appreciated that.

The F54 was a disaster requiring hours of sober time with a low-angle clean razer blade to get the big stuff off.  Then lapping table.

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Lathe Parting Tool

 

Glass plate with 600 grit spray adhesived to it, and plenty of marvel mystery oil with gyrations in the lapper's traditional "Figure 8" whilst chanting "tocheaptapaya, tocheaptapaya, tocheaptapaya" ,,, best done in a thatched hut under the influence of The Betel Nut...

yes!! Ill be laughing myself to sleep tonight.

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