Engine degrease and oxidation removal

[Topcat]

Hey guys,

It has been a while, sorry for no updates on my project, however I've had quite a few big changes of late.

Deaths in the family, moved house (better garage) and the wife had a baby so lots of sleepless nights.

However finding the odd hour here of there where I can work on the bike so beginning to strip it down. It's pretty corroded and looks like someone has had a poor attempt at breaking it down in the past so a few stripped screws and bolts to tackle. Anyway mostly tackled these now with the exception of 3 completely stripped JIS screws on the clutch cover.

Next job will be to remove the engine for disassembly / inspection. however before I go too far I want to do a quick degrease of the engine, removal of old engine paint and hopefully tackle some of the oxidation.

Anyone got any tips on the best de-greasers and any way to remove oxidation.

Pics hopefully attached.

Cheers
Topcat

[Green1]

My favourite degreaser is Viro-sol it costs squat and works incredibly well without melting the skin off your hands.
 

[Nurse Julie]

Best to strip engine and then clean parts.

[Green1]

Doesn't hurt to clean the worst off before hand. Makes it nicer to handle

[K2-K6]

I'd always go with cleaning before strip down, it just bugs me getting all that gritty crap into non contaminated internals if not necessary.

I would steam clean them first when I did them more routinely as it's just easier to get a first assessment in my view.

No view on current solvents to clean things as most of them don't seem to match older stuff I've used.

[Topcat]

Cheers guys will give it a quick once over, possibly steam clean it then do a proper clean once disassembled.

TC

[Trigger]

Not that easy to remove oxidation from jap alloy and, once you have it leaves pitting. The alloy will have to be mopped down with a  Satin Lap Mop to get a good surface for paint 

[paulbaker1954]

I use Paraffin and a brush, wont shift oxidation but great for shifting gunk

[Spitfire]

I did it the old fashioned way with paraffin to get the serious oily gunk off, then Brillo pads, sandpaper, Dremel, lolly sticks with cloth around to apply Solvol, was hell on the fingers but it worked.

Cheers

Dennis

[Rozabikes Tim]

Was going to start new topic on recommened degreasers as Jizer I am using not  brill but found this post doing a search. Paraffin would seem favoured. Any other favourites....?

[matthewmosse]

Found some household cleaner called 'elbow grease' was quite effective and very cheap in combination with a pressure washer. Spray on let it soak in 5 - 10 mins then hose off. Mate had a xs250 with 30 years of crud around the chain cases - we found that quite effective to get it very clean of that tar like chain oil. Used it on my bikes occassionally.

[Nurse Julie]

Paraffin is a favourite for DIY but I also think Lemon Fairy Liquid, boiling water and a scrubbing brush is a serious contender.

[matthewmosse]

Yes, household detergents and some warmth are at least not as bad smelling. I find lemon based cleaners cut grease better. Original source shower gel is as good as many industrial degreasing soaps for handwashing and more convenient to pick up on offer whilst being dragged around a shops with the kids.

[Rob62]

I degreased mine with jizer, its perfect for the job, rinses off with water..... easy to use and readily available. Why do you intend to strip the motor? Is there a known problem? Does the motor look clean inside the rocker and sump? If so can you test the compression, if thats ok why strip..

[Rob62]

Ps. I wouldn’t go near it with a steam cleaner unless i knew i was definitely going to strip it completely down