Well I finally got the engine painted yesterday. I'm going to let is sit for about a week, before I start final assembly. What techniques do you guys use prior to final assembly? The block has some lint inside the bores from mocking everthing up. I was thinking of hosing the crank down with brake clean followed by compressed air.. As far as the pistons/rods, maybe washing them off with dawn/water and then hitting them with compressed air. Everthing is a little harder to clean due to a small film of assembly lube from pre-assembly.

I painted the block with plasti-cote spray bomb. Two very light coats of primer, followed by three light coats of color. I wish I would have just smoothed out the lifter valley instead of using glyptal, just for piece of mind. The glyptal has been on for a week now and has setup rock hard. I tried to scrape a small area at the bottom of the timing chain with my fingernail and that stuff will not budge, so I'm probably ok. I spent about three hours prepping the block for the glyptal. Here are a few pics. Thanks for the help. Russ

http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/8204/enginefrontpaintedjpgjl4.jpg
Shot with DiMAGE Z10 (http://profile.imageshack.us/camerabuy.php?model=DiMAGE+Z10&make=KONICA+MINOLTA) at 2007-08-31

http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/7497/engineside1paintedjpgog2.jpg
Shot with DiMAGE Z10 (http://profile.imageshack.us/camerabuy.php?model=DiMAGE+Z10&make=KONICA+MINOLTA) at 2007-08-31

http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/6326/enginebackpaintedjpgce2.jpg
Shot with DiMAGE Z10 (http://profile.imageshack.us/camerabuy.php?model=DiMAGE+Z10&make=KONICA+MINOLTA) at 2007-08-31

http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/3102/enginesidepaintedjpgnn7.jpg
Shot with DiMAGE Z10 (http://profile.imageshack.us/camerabuy.php?model=DiMAGE+Z10&make=KONICA+MINOLTA) at 2007-08-31

we usually use break clean and a lint free rag to wipe it down and get any grease or heavy stuff off, then we spray some brake cleaner and blow it out with compressed air. if you do this, you will need to oil it pretty soon or it will eventually start to rust.

man that block looks great.

dumb ? here , But what is glyptal and why would a guy paint the inside of the block? plz fill me in...

i was always told it lets oil drain faster, but was not really worth the trouble. am i right?

I believe that's what's called a glyptical illusion.;)

is that the pioneer freeze plug kit? if so, I've got a question...Mine came with 5 hex screws, I know 3 are for the front end oil galley holes, but what are the other 2 for?

the other 2 should be for the rear plugs.

It is the Pioneer kit from jegs. I purchased the Glyptal for a set of aluminum valve covers that I want to run, so I went ahead and put it on the block. It's probably not worth the trouble for a street engine. If it ever comes loose I will be kicking myself. I talked to a buddy of mine today and he said thay he has hot tanked blocks coated with Glyptal. The hot tanking process would not hardly touch the paint.

As far as cleaning the block, I have not been able to find any lint free rags. All the rags seem to have some lint in them, even if its a small amount. I checked with some refinishing shops and the ones they used contained some lint. Now with flushing the block with brake clean, I would assume that you have to protect the cam bearings, correct? Thanks, Russ

I use paper towel, high quality paper towels like bounty.

it won't leave damaging lints in the block.

after flushing the block with brake cleaner you just need to get it dry then oil it, including the cam bearing.

For lint free towels, the Bounty's work well but if you really want lint free, check out some wipes from a Auto Body supply. Expensive woven paper towels but for absolute lint free, these would do the job!

If you do choose to wash down the block with soapy water, I would suggest you invest in a small re-fillable pressure sprayer filled with CRC 5-56 of WD-40. These are what a lot of machine shops use and spray down freshly washed and machined parts after rinsing and before drying to prevent flash rusting. In fact, some people will completely spray the parts down and wipe off the excess water with lint free towels and then give the parts a light spraying again before prepping for assembly.

Wiseryder, Glyptal used to be sold by GE for electric motor windings. A very tough coating that resists high temperature and was an old racers trick to aid in returning oil for the valley back into the sump and also helps seal in any loose casting flash or sand core particles. In street engines, the effects are minimal.

I'd be careful with the brake clean all the pretty orange paint might be on the floor when you are done.

I don't put any plugs in a block until I scrub everything with soap and water. I use engine brushes, similar to rifle bore brushes, to scrub out every oil passage. Have big brushes to scrub cyl. bores. Blast it all off with a water hose and start drying with air and towels then start spraying wd-40 on machined surfaces. Before final assy. wipe machined surfaces with brakekleen or lacquer thinner, wipe cyl bores repeatedly until white rag shows no signs of anything on it. Scrub crank in sink and run brushes thru oil holes, blast with water and air. Scrub rods and pistons the same way.

Your glyptol looks real good, every little bit helps and it will seal the porosity of the block. This stops any small sand like pieces from coming loose and also allows the oil to drain back faster. The most important part of the block to smooth is the large oil drainbacks in the lifter gallery as they usually have a lot of flashing that could break off and will impede oil flow. Also opening up the part of the block under the cyl. head drain back holes helps too.

What I've always done and works good is...wash with warm soap water (lots of water) and blow dry with compressed air and a leaf blower. I will then wipe everything down with Mystery Oil using a lint free rag. This seems to work real good for us.

BTW, nice looking block you have there, I love the detail.

If you're going to use soapy water, just laundry detergent. Dish soap will cause flash rust much sooner.

I don't have any to add onto what these guys have already told you.




Just wanted to say that your block looks really nice! :)

Some good ideas here, Thanks guys, I will give it a go this Thursday. Russ