Honda-SOHC
Other Stuff => Tricks & Tips => Topic started by: cantarauk on October 01, 2020, 10:57:01 PM
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Hi All,
Putting out a general question about how people go about cleaning/degreasing all the engine internals before a rebuild. Be interested to hear what process you follow and also products you use. Then once clean what assembly products would you recommend.
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Back in the 1960's I had access to a Tricoethylene Tank at the garage where I worked part time - I used to put engine blocks in it and leave it over the weekend. On a Monday it looked like a brand new part fresh out of the foundry - all bare metal.
I believe health & safety have pretty much banned them due to carcinogenic issues.
On Nurse Julies 400 project posts she mentions an acid stripper I'm sure she will tell you the what & where if you PM her.
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Do yourself a big favour and buy a bench mounted parts cleaning washer, £50 from Machine Mart. It has a recirculating pump (although not a filter). The part you are cleaning is held on a shelf above the main tank thereby the old dirt etc falls off the part. Don't use an old kitchen bowl filled with paraffin to clean engine parts, you'll put on more dirt than you take off!
I use Safety Clean parts cleaning fluid in mine (a mate got me a couple of gallons years ago). It does the job and when it get too dirty to use I decant it into a spray bottle and use it to clean the engine of the bike after a ride. I used to use Hyper Clean but they changed the formula and it was useless!
I let the parts air dry straight out the cleaner or where gears etc are concerned I dry them with an air line. A lot of engine cleaning fluids contain anti rust formulation.
In the majority of cases just use engine oil for reassemble (of the correct grade). I also use specific engine assembly grease for the shell bearings and silicon grease for o rings and seals.
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Back in the 1960's I had access to a Tricoethylene Tank at the garage where I worked part time - I used to put engine blocks in it and leave it over the weekend. On a Monday it looked like a brand new part fresh out of the foundry - all bare metal.
I believe health & safety have pretty much banned them due to carcinogenic issues.
On Nurse Julies 400 project posts she mentions an acid stripper I'm sure she will tell you the what & where if you PM her.
Tricoethylene, oh my god that stuff takes me back!! In 1976/77 I worked for Racal BCC in Wembley and I sneaked out a small container of the stuff and I used it to clean off and degrease the rear rim on my 750K1, but after a few weeks I noticed it had started to rot my rear tire and skin!! ::) ;D ;D
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Thanks all,
Machine mart parts washer has been ordered and I see the safety clean is there also which I may be ordering. And no Tricoethylene
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http://www.graphogen.co.uk/index.asp?pageid=644920
One of the products invaluable to engine assembly routine.
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Trichloroethylene been banned for a while now,can be deadly inhaling the fumes believe it was used in dry cleaning? and industrial uses too.I had a bottle of Trich on shelf in garage got knocked over and dripped onto me cd/radio melting the casing.There is a safer substitute available but strangely smells same
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I am pretty sure the dippers use a tank of methylene chloride / decarboniser mixture to strip stuff .. Even worse than trichloroethylene.
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Pure trichloroethylene is indeed hazardous, but was used as pain relief for women in labour, and as an analgesic in surgery. It was dyed blue with a substance called waxolene blue to allow anaesthetists to distinguish it from chloroform, and went by the trade name of Trilene. I have a trilene vaporiser attached to one of the old anaesthetic machines I am slowly restoring, and chances are most of our generation experienced it's effects at the dentist as a small child. It fell out of general use around the early 1990's, due to the nausea and vomiting it often caused. That said, it is still used for degreasing tanks, but with extractor fans and ventilation.
Sent from my POT-LX1 using Tapatalk
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I worked processing titanium rotor blades for jet engines many years ago and a Kolene salt bath would strip the tungsten coating from the blades leaving the titanium like new
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Many moons ago I used both trichloroethylene and methylene chloride (dichloromethane) as heavy duty solvents in the laboratory testing of bituminous materials. In the early days the stuff was splashed around everywhere but in latter years its use was strictly controlled within fume cupboards and the labs fitted with Draeger meters to measure the concentration in the atmosphere. I believe both solvents are now classified as carcinogens. Nasty stuff if not handled properly but great for parts cleaning, paint stripping etc.
Charlie
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Just another point in degreasers. I soaked a sump pan overnight in Screwfix No Nonsense degreaser. The aluminium turned black and it took a lot of sanding to get back to its original colour. I won’t make that mistake again.
Charlie
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RS used to sell cans of 111 Trichloroethane. I used to to find faults on PCBs by dribbling Trich on the tops of the ICs and seeing which one evaporated first. That would often be the faulty one.
It saved me an awful lot of time.
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I use Safety Clean parts cleaning fluid in mine (a mate got me a couple of gallons years ago).
When you say “Safety Clean” what exactly do you mean?
The only stuff I can find is Safety Kleen.
Do you know of a reputable parts washer fluid that works well and doesn’t degrade or discolour alloy/aluminium components?
Cheers. Ian
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I still have a safety Kleen parts wash. You can not get hold of the original cleaning fluid for the past 15 years now.
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Didnt safety kleen used to rent you the top and come round exchanging the barrel every so many weeks?
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Didnt safety kleen used to rent you the top and come round exchanging the barrel every so many weeks?
Yes Bryan. We have a Safety Kleen system here (no contract now though 😊😊😊)
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Remember using one back in the 70's and the man that came to swop the drums saying ours was always the dirtiest and lowest level in drum for some reason?
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Thanks K2-K6 for the assembly recommendation.
I completely forgot that I had assembly lube packed away which all been well will do the trick.
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Didnt safety kleen used to rent you the top and come round exchanging the barrel every so many weeks?
Oh, did they, I must be overdue..... :-X
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When I worked for the Honda Superbike team we had a Snap-On parts washer, as they were one of our sponsors. I'm still intrigued by Hairygit's hobby of restoring classic anesthetic machines. Its either purely a mechanical thing or a neat way of getting as high as a kite... 8)
Re the assembly lube, I have both those products from past rebuilds. My Z1 project motor was rebuilt an unknown time ago, and has never been started (I can see brand new pistons and valves when I shine a torch through the plug holes). I have already squirted some oil in through the plug holes, but I'm minded to whip the cam cover off and smear the cam lobes with the Redline stuff before I try and turn it over, in case the original assembly lube is long gone. I'd use the liquid stuff, but it could be a long time before I'm in a position to start the engine so it could seep away again.
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Remember using one back in the 70's and the man that came to swop the drums saying ours was always the dirtiest and lowest level in drum for some reason?
I think they used to say that to any busy workshop.
My safety kleen wash is from 1992, the barrel is going a little rusty now and can't find another one.
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Still catching up on posts,
My Old man, 85 now, was a chief tech in the RAF at Scampton, he tells tales of trichloroethylene or trich as he calls it, the RAF used to use it as a de-greaser, the trich tanks were heated and they would dip parts into it and they came out totally de-greased, one day an engineer was overcome by the fumes and fell into the tank, he did did not survive.
Another, where after he had retired he "acquired" a 5 gallon drum of they stuff and used to use t as a de-greaser in his clock shop, he accidentally spilt a small quantity on an open heater, the fluid vaporised, he abandoned the workshop and on his return everything in it had been de-greased.
Still, It's good stuff ;)