How to clean engine related items?

[Vin-tin]

This is probably a stupid question, (one of many more to come) but what do you guys use to clean all of the years of dirt, grease and grime off of engine related items prior to painting? . Like the tranny case, flywheel housing, bell housing, etc.
I've tried scraping it off, brushing it with pure gasoline, and even oven cleaner, and it still has dirt and oil residue all over. I've considered sand blasting but was told that the machined areas where gaskets go would become rough. How do I get these items clean so paint will stay on, without messing anything up?

[Tom Endy]

I clean the grease off in a solvent tank and then bead blast them. The bead blaster in my shop is my most important tool. It gives you a completely different perspective when viewing a rusty Model A part at a swap meet.

Tom Endy

[Mitch//pa]

i blast all my stuff and never ruined a mating surface

[Vin-tin]

Originally Posted by 1930 coupe

Glass beads in a cabinet will not damage your parts.
Coarse SAND in a high pressure outdoor sand blaster will ruin your machined parts.
If you are going to do more than change spark plugs and points, you need to invest in some tools.
Wash tank, bead blast cabinet, lathe, milling machine, welder, torch and on and on.

Without sounding boastful, I believe I have a fairly well stocked shop with most of what you mentioned, plus some you didn't. I even have a sand blaster for small items. But when it comes to speed, my blaster falls flat on it's face. I don't have the room nor an endless amount of money for a lathe or milling machine. Plus where I live there are many, many home-based businesses that are owned by Mennonite and Amish families. They work extremely cheap. So it makes no sense to spend mega dollars on equipment that I hardly use, when I can get stuff machined for a few dollars each time.
Now back to cleaning parts:
If I were to use a "wash tank", what would I use to dissolve the crud and how long will it take?

[Vin-tin]

Originally Posted by Mitch//pa

i blast all my stuff and never ruined a mating surface

Mitch, do you mask-off the mating surface with something, or do you use soda for blasting?

[Mitch//pa]

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no i don't mask anything
i like using this product plus its not dusty..

[JBill]

Originally Posted by 1930 coupe

Glass beads in a cabinet will not damage your parts.
Coarse SAND in a high pressure outdoor sand blaster will ruin your machined parts.
If you are going to do more than change spark plugs and points, you need to invest in some tools.
Wash tank, bead blast cabinet, lathe, milling machine, welder, torch and on and on.

Plenty of Model As have been restored and restored well without all this stuff. Talk like this just scares people off.

[Mitch//pa]

i use mineral spirits in my wash tanks.... i buy it in 5 gal buckets
and use a parts washer brush
i add some fresh ATF in so it takes it easy on my skin.. i don't like wearing gloves

[Russ/40]

Mitch, your liver is not liking the exposure to those petroleum products. Do yourself a favor and tolerate the gloves.

[Mike V. Florida]

Originally Posted by Vin-tin

This is probably a stupid question, (one of many more to come) but what do you guys use to clean all of the years of dirt, grease and grime off of engine related items prior to painting? . Like the tranny case, flywheel housing, bell housing, etc.
I've tried scraping it off, brushing it with pure gasoline, and even oven cleaner, and it still has dirt and oil residue all over. I've considered sand blasting but was told that the machined areas where gaskets go would become rough. How do I get these items clean so paint will stay on, without messing anything up?

Repeat that process, scrape with a plastic paint scraper, apply the oven cleaner, soak, scrape some more, and then use any degreaser as a final wash.

Just takes time, you really don't need anything fancy to clean the dirt grease and grime.

[John Schlegel]

I use a heated pressure parts washer inclosed tank.
Same kind engine and transmission rebuilders use.

[mrraford]

I agree with the blasting assertions above.
However, a practical and safe/nontoxic solution for the preliminary cleaning is a product readily available called Simple Green. Soak your parts in this liquid and most if not all of the old grease, dirt and most paint comes right off. This removes the grease and dirt so that your blaster can get the rust off the part.
This addresses the flammable stuff like gasoline and is not a toxic thing and best of all it works like a champ. I've maintained a trashcan with this stuff in it for parts cleaning for years.

[roccaas]

Engine degreaser, big can of it.

[Vin-tin]

Thanks to all who offered some input on this. Most of the time the things I've used to degrease works, but the dirt and grease and crud on these items is incredible. It's like oily concrete. So far I've managed to scrape off about 10 pounds of this stuff in or around the engine compartment. The remainder isn't affected by simple green, gas, oven cleaner, lacquer thinner, or acetone. I'm going to look into fine grit media like Mitch uses or maybe a steam cleaner.

[JOES31]

Russ is right and that goes for all of you. Exposing a solvent once in a blue moon is probably not a problem unless its something like methelyn chloride or benzene. But repeated exposure will eventually cause problems.

Mitch, I hate wearing gloves. I can't maneuver nuts and bolts worth a damn with them on. However I will tolerate them in the interest to keep doing what I love.

WEAR THE DARN GLOVES

Joe

[Pete]

Originally Posted by Vin-tin

This is probably a stupid question, (one of many more to come) but what do you guys use to clean all of the years of dirt, grease and grime off of engine related items prior to painting? . Like the tranny case, flywheel housing, bell housing, etc.
I've tried scraping it off, brushing it with pure gasoline, and even oven cleaner, and it still has dirt and oil residue all over. I've considered sand blasting but was told that the machined areas where gaskets go would become rough. How do I get these items clean so paint will stay on, without messing anything up?

As long as you only do one engine in a great while, why not spend a few bucks and have your local automotive or truck machine shop run the stuff through their hot tank? It will clean any ferrous metal. It was done like that for a 100 years and still is where the EPA hasn't invaded. Most of those places have cold tanks for the aluminum and pot metal parts.
DO NOT let them bake the parts and shot peen them.