bead blasting motor?

[vartiak15]

i wnat to bead blast/glass blast my motor so it will be ready for paint or polish. my question is if i block off all the holes can i bead blast it and will it hurt the gaskets? its an 85 200x motor. i made a cuztom block off plate for the intake clogged off the exhaust. left the plug in and but a bolt with tape around the threads in the crankcase breather. then taped around it. am i good to put my motor in a cabnit and blast it?

[patblkwell]

I have heard that sand-blasting a motor can have some bad effects on the motor later on because the sand will get inside some parts of the motor even if you have them taped off(like in the upper head).

[vartiak15]

ya i no. all i want to do is take my motor how it is all complete and bead or glass bead blast it. sand blasting it isnt good because it is aluminum. the beads will bounce off the seals but i dont know about the caskets. anyone know this? i got a chance to use a nice bead blasting cabnit setup at my friends grandpas house. someone has to know.

[azhondagrl]

I just glass beaded my entire engine and even though it was all complete and together and we blocked off all the holes glass still managed to get in, and we had to take it all apart and clean every part and it needs all new bearings.

[vartiak15]

so sand blast it not glass bead? azhondagrl said glass will reck it?

[azhondagrl]

no i didn't say glass beading will ruin it. But you have to bery very very careful when doing it, we thought we had it all taped up and covered but obviously we didn't.

Glassbeading is with little bitty, literally, glass beads , applied the same way as sand,

sandblasting is...well..using sand, like playground sand.

I like the look glassbeading gives when its done, you can polish it or not polish it, either way it still looks good.

how do you have all the ways of entry blocked off?

[vartiak15]

ok, first for the intake i covered it with electrical tape. then made a custome plate to go over it and screw in the holes for the intake boot. for the exhaust i need to thinkg of something good. now i just got a rag jammed in it. the crankcase breather is the last one and for that i got a bolt that will fit in it and put some e-tape on that, then stuck it in the whole. its tight. then i taped over it. for the exhaust i think im going to just get an old shitty head pipe and put it on then cut it off really close to the motor n weld a piece over it.

[azhondagrl]

cool sounds good!

I think you'll like the results, polished or unpolished.

[ChupaCabra]

I heard you should never sand blast aluminum parts. Sand is too abrasive and can cause "micro-cracks" or some other terminology. Over time these cracks will grow and bad things will happen. The best thing to blast aluminum with is crushed walnut shells, as it won't mar the metal.

[Derrick Adams]

I only use good quality duct tape when blasting. In my experience, it's the only tape that has enough adhesive not to let media thru. It tends to hold it in place.

[sandpuppi101]

I had my '85 R motor blasted 6 or 7 yaers ago,I had an associate do it and it has since worked great.I went with the polishing process and it turned out spetacular.I don't think he used regular fine sand though,it was a clear coarser sized product!