On to the next stage which is the engine. I don't have anything planned regarding pulling the engine to bits, but whilst it's out and easy to get to I decided to change the sump gasket and the crank seal behind the flywheel. Also I couldn't put the dirty rusty engine back into an immaculate engine bay so some thing had to be done.
I started by building up my engine stand
And then putting the engine onto the stand, little tip... get somebody to help you lift the engine, it's very awkward on your own as the stand tries to move away from you when you try to slide the 2 parts together, it's also very heavy!!
So it's at this point after a little bit of closer inspection and whilst stripping a few bits of that I noticed I have the wrong exhaust gasket on!
So this will have been restricting my exhaust gases flow!! I might have hit the magic 200bhp at EFI if I had the right one on! So I ordered the correct on straight way.
So I had formulated a plan, I was going to decrease the full engine and pressure wash it all off, dry it and then sand last it.
So I started with the pressure washer, I filled the inlet and exhaust ports with loads of old sheets to stop any potential water or sand getting into them. Same with the thermostats housing and any other holes exposed. Then I used layers of Gorilla tape cut to size to water tight the holes.
Next i sprayed Autoglym wheelacid all over the engine and let it soak in for about 10 minutes then blasted it off and repeated the process until it was clean from oil and muck.
The next stage was to use the airline and blower to dry the engine off getting into all the nooks and crannies. I didn't want anything to be wet as the sand will just clog together and create more work. I wanted the sand to just fall back off the engine as I rotated it.
So once dry I remasked all the holes with gorilla tape to ensure I hadn't damaged the tape with the pressure washer. I also masked off the cam belt and pulleys and the PMS breather plate incase I hit it with the blaster by accident.
Note to look out for, the crank in the centre is hollow and leads into the bottom end, make sure this is sealed!!
So i blasted it all off took a couple of hours getting into all the different angles.
Then It looked like it was going to rain so I didn't get any pictures of it blasted, I cracked on with blowing all and any sand off and then painting with VHT silver engine enamel.
Came out well and a very satisfying job
I have other plans for the rocker cover