Bubbajones_ya

Initially my first impression is that this would be a terrible idea, but I'd really like to save some time cleaning here and got to thinking......

I have a 350 I'm in the process of putting together to swap in place of my 305. Currently, I have the intake, valve cover, timing cover and oil pan off the 350.

The outside of the motor is quite dirty, and the water passages on the heads are pretty crumby as well. I'd really like to find a reasonably quick way of cleaning everything if at all possible because I'd like to try and paint the motor while it's out as well as clean the water passages up.


Can I pressure wash the inside/outside of the motor while it's partially assembled? (As in is it okay if water sprays all over the lifer valley/cylinder head valves and gets underneath where the crankshaft/rods are?) I have a pressure washer at home so I don't need to transport the motor anywhere. I'm also going to be replacing the camshaft, timing chain and sprockets, but the heads/pistons/rods will be staying in place.

I figured, if I have the spark plugs out, I can crank over the engine to get water/simple green out of the cylinders that works it's way down there. I'm just not sure if the rod bearings/cylinder rings/valves and whatnot would get damaged if water gets to them.

I was thinking if this is an acceptable thing to do, I'd first spray everything down with simple green or some oven cleaner or purple power, then pressure wash it very thoroughly, the pour some oil in the lifter valley/heads and turn the motor over a few revolutions.





If this really is a terrible idea, what other ideas would you recommend for ginseng cleaning? When I pulled my 305 a year ago, I did the scraping by hand method... that took me a good few days of just cleaning I'd like to avoid this time.

Bubbajones_ya

You can see, here is the 'cleanliness' of the engine now:



I figure a pressure washing is a must on this, but don't know if I'll be messing up crank/rod bearings, piston rings, valves etc with them uncovered.

TylerSteez

iTrader: (3)

I would wait till you have the valve covers, intake manifold, spark plugs, and headers hooked up before you power wash it. water is not supposed to ever be inside the engine. youd be suprised what you can do with a degreaser like mineral spirits and a couple rags and 45 minutes of your time. better of playing it safe than sorry.

estesformula87

i would also wait tell more parts are on the motor my self to keep the dirt coming off out from the bearings and what not but if you dont take the advice offered and wash it open anyways make sure you dry as much as fast as possible and immediately oil it all very well to keep it from surface rusting again i am not saying i would do this i would personally go ahead and break it down the rest the way to bare block then wash it and and put new bearings and all in while your already there

camarito

Take it to the machine shop and have them hot tank it for you, you can't ever match that.

camarito

or you can do this: http://antique-engines.com/electrol.asp

sofakingdom

iTrader: (1)

Probably OK to do that, if you know FOR SURE that you'll run it within a day or 2. Especially if you can put it somewhere with sunlight and a warm breeze to dry it out as quick as possible. A small amount of water (as opposed to coolant) won't hurt anything, it'll boil out of there in the first hour or 2 of running.

Definitely not if there's even the slightest chance you'll have to leave it sitting around.

You can improve the odds, and also maybe even its long-term longevity, if you pop the crank, cam, & lifters out, and all the oil passage plugs; and clean all the passages out real good with engine degreaser and rifle brushes before car-washing them. You can car-wash all those parts separately except of course the lifters. Or use a solvent parts wash on them.