It seems the more I read the more confused I get. This is what I have read about so far. Would appreciate your personal experiences working on gasket surfaces on Aluminum - what methods you used, techniques, etc.
1) Some people say use a razor at an angle to get gunk off. This will often cause scratches in my experience. I haven't gouged anything deep enough but it's (in my experience) very sketchy to do, and VERY time consuming. I am talking like 2 hours to roughly clean a surface - with discoloration remaining.
2) Some say use the razor at a 90 degree angle to surface (perpendicular) and scrape. This basically doesn't do anything in my experience. Works a bit on protruding material, but otherwise I just dont want to push too hard, and if there's a micro-thin film of paper material left, it does nothing at all.
3) Some say use a Die Grinder with a Roloc Disk. Some say this is death to an engine because it leaves microabrasive powders that you can't see inside the motor. honestly if this was a good and reliable solution, I'd dish out the $$$$$ for once in a while jobs like this...
4) some say use Red Scotchbrite pads. This method seemed to work the best for my last job on side covers (doohickey job), and car friends swear by it for Aluminum parts. Seems to leave minimal abrasion marks (nothing can be felt with the tip of a nail), and reliably removes material consistently. Again, online some poeple say it spells death for a motor or surface, but many first hand accounts from people suggest otherwise to me.
Obviously using brake cleaner liberally throughout any of these methods, avoiding rubber parts.
I'm moving onto taking the head off for a big bore on my KLR (oil burning), and wondering if anyone has any advice? Red abrasive pad by hand worked well on the side covers for me, but head gasket is much more crucial so I want to see if there's a better way to do it. I have to clean 2 or 4 surfaces (head, and cylinder bottoms), depending what I can get the machine shop to do for me.
Honestly surprised that there isn't a single solution invented to solve this once and for all. Every time I read about this online I get more and more and more confused, and at this point am almost convinced that literally anything you do risks ruining the engine
Would appreciate hearing about your techniques and experiences / advice!
1) Some people say use a razor at an angle to get gunk off. This will often cause scratches in my experience. I haven't gouged anything deep enough but it's (in my experience) very sketchy to do, and VERY time consuming. I am talking like 2 hours to roughly clean a surface - with discoloration remaining.
2) Some say use the razor at a 90 degree angle to surface (perpendicular) and scrape. This basically doesn't do anything in my experience. Works a bit on protruding material, but otherwise I just dont want to push too hard, and if there's a micro-thin film of paper material left, it does nothing at all.
3) Some say use a Die Grinder with a Roloc Disk. Some say this is death to an engine because it leaves microabrasive powders that you can't see inside the motor. honestly if this was a good and reliable solution, I'd dish out the $$$$$ for once in a while jobs like this...
4) some say use Red Scotchbrite pads. This method seemed to work the best for my last job on side covers (doohickey job), and car friends swear by it for Aluminum parts. Seems to leave minimal abrasion marks (nothing can be felt with the tip of a nail), and reliably removes material consistently. Again, online some poeple say it spells death for a motor or surface, but many first hand accounts from people suggest otherwise to me.
Obviously using brake cleaner liberally throughout any of these methods, avoiding rubber parts.
I'm moving onto taking the head off for a big bore on my KLR (oil burning), and wondering if anyone has any advice? Red abrasive pad by hand worked well on the side covers for me, but head gasket is much more crucial so I want to see if there's a better way to do it. I have to clean 2 or 4 surfaces (head, and cylinder bottoms), depending what I can get the machine shop to do for me.
Honestly surprised that there isn't a single solution invented to solve this once and for all. Every time I read about this online I get more and more and more confused, and at this point am almost convinced that literally anything you do risks ruining the engine
Would appreciate hearing about your techniques and experiences / advice!
