Engine Case Vapor Blasting?

Vapour blasting is the lowest abrasion blasting media. I had some 40 year old yamaha cases vapour blasted and they came up a treat. The added benefit is that the vapour blast media dissolves in water, unlike any type of grit, you will not have to worry about any media getting into you engine when you put the covers back on, they just need a wash in soapy water and a rince.

 

AFAIK vapour blasting refers to fine glass beads in a water jet. The results are akin to polishing. It defo won't damage the cases, and it "closes" the surface unlike sand blasting... The test is: Can you wipe off an oily thumb print?
There is a major risk that glass media gets inside the engine, the pressure forces the media through the various gaskets. Certainly when I blasted some 2 valve heads recently this was the case...you then have to spend a fair amount of time cleaning everything out.
I decided to build a vapour blaster out of a sandblasting cabinet so I had the flexibility for restoration work. Thread here
Also the best silver paint for the engine cases is somewhere in the thread.

 

OK, I sure someone will correct me but from what I know Vapour blasting (aqua blasting) is done with water and can have various media, plastic, glass. I had my casings done and they came up a treat. I believe Soda blasting would be the one that dissolves in water and is done dry but don't think it would be enough to do a decent job of stripping the engine paint.
I had to strip all bearings out of casing and when it came back washed it out in a big tub with the pressure washer a number of times, blasting out the small gallery holes.

Don't dry blast it, it will not look good. Maybe get a test piece done or ask to see some examples of work previously done.

 

I type slow, you beat me to it.

 

I had a swingarm vapour blasted that was rough as anything, came back looking like new!

 

For clarity I refer to Vapour blasting as Soda blasting I.e baking soda is the blast media. I had my cases soda blasted, but that was not to remove paint, just clean them up, so not sure if soda works on paint, but great for engine parts as the clean up is much easier and safer.

 

There is also now dry ice blasting (frozen CO2), but that is just for cleaning. Vapour blasting will remove corrosion from Alloy, dry ice won't.

 

Don't , it'll look crap. If the flaking paint and corrosion bothers you get it stripped and vapour blasted as you suggested yourself.

 

I think your waiting for someone to tell you the easy way to make your casings look good. The answer is....................there is no easy way.
Drop the engine, heads off, cases split, bearings out, Vapour Blast, reassemble, treat casings with ACF-50.

Ask him to keep away from areas such as bearing location and cyl head bores, but don't think it will take any material off.

Your going to have to remove primary gear which is an interesting experience and you need to be comfortable with removing and installing bearings and re-shimming shafts. I would research thoroughly what you need to do. There are previous post on this site, just have an evening searching, and get a manual.

Cheers Gaz

 

Yes, I was going to say that, finish the summer and get get your information together for the strip down and rebuild. Get some parts together. Others may not approve but I did reuse main bearings depending on your mileages. You might struggle with a couple of blind bearings in the casings. There are a couple of Youtube videos, "Andys Motorcycle Obsession" is one which is very useful. I will have a look for others.





Search "bradthebikeboy" and "Desmowerx"

Cheers Gaz