So I'm doing that 1989 2.8-to-1986 2.8 swap.. the guy who's car it is was working on the '86 motor. Turned out he pulled the heads off- damn! More work. Luckily the '86 2.8 is out of the car, on an engine stand.

How careful do we have to be when scraping the deck of old gasket? We've got all the major chunks of gasket off, but now we've got the stubborn spots to scrape. I know there's a danger with letting small pieces of gasket material get into the motor.

I dont think I'm worried about pieces getting into the water jackets & coolant passageways- right? I mean, won't the coolant flush itself out?

Now, what about the oil holes? Say we're done scraping. Can we squirt some oil down into those holes, and then drain the block? Will that get the majority of the crap out of there? Or are we really screwed?

I figure there's gotta be some way that regular mechanics handle the scraping-gasket problem... they wouldn't spend a week on scraping a gasket. Are there any tricks?

Thanks! I'm picking up the heads from his house today so I can do a good scraping job on those. I guess I should also clean the combustion chambers with a wire-wheel (or, wire Q-tip wheel) on a variable drill? Luckily the combustion chambers look nice & clean.


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-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l) from http://www.f-body.net/mailbag/3rd/3rd_mailbag.html message boards
---Think your car could be pic of the week? Visit http://www.f-body.net for details!

 

cleaning old gaskets off..
carb-cleaner, rubbing alcohol, gasket scraper, razor blade, and wirebrush.

be sure to get it perfectly cleaned off.

flip the block over (upsidedown) on the engine stand and spray everything off with compressed air or carb-cleaner & wipe everything away. Then turn the bock back rightside up and recoat everything with engine oil until the heads are ready to be installed.

that's the basic low-tech method.

 

Take a piece of copper house pipe and smash one end flat. You can scrape as much as you want and will never damage the deck surface like putty knives can. Scraper razors work good too.

 

for a scraper nothing beats a old files sharpened on the end. i use a wire brush in a 90* die grinder for most of my gasket cleaning any more. you can buy little backing pads that fit in a drill or die grinder that use scotch brite pads. works great.

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ICON Motorsports

1st & 3rd

 

ODB (& Ed), we can use a wire brush?? Awesome! We thought that would scratch the hell out of the deck, but, no? JoelO, we might try that idea, too. I like that one- that's truly a low-buck tool! And thanks Ed for the tip on the Scotchbrite backing pad... Would Red or Green (or either) work best?

Oh and how picky is a head about scratches? Say there's some scratches (from our first "bad" scraper) in the deck, but they're not enough to catch a nail on. Are we good for a while? I think so, but I'd like a second opinion


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-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l) from http://www.f-body.net/mailbag/3rd/3rd_mailbag.html message boards
---Think your car could be pic of the week? Visit http://www.f-body.net for details!

 

Composition gaskets are quite a bit more forgiving over the steel or copper shim gaskets. Slight scratches that can't catch a nail are ok.