Well I just got some used heads for the 250/350 conversion I am undertaking and they got a whole lot of flaky old paint on them. With no access to a sandblaster and all those hard to reach places between the fins I'm thinking a paint remover would work well for this job. However I just don't make regular use of the stuff. So me being or at least trying to be patient :whistle: I just google the use of white vineger and baking soda. Supposedly according to the net that a 50/50 solution of vineger and water combined with a 1/4 cup of baking soda has a chemical reaction that will breakup and lift the paint. Does it work? I guess I could just try it but I thought I would ask you all first.
the other thing I can do is just buy the cheapest paint remover online and spend maybe five or six bucks more. : :undecided:
I haven't tried vinegar before. Paint removers now all suck, unless you can source the crazy toxic stuff. I didn't have a sandblaster when I did mine. I sanded then as best I could. It's tedious work between the fins, but the paint stripper out there now doesn't work well on OEM paint. It'll strip off spray paint pretty well though.
carb cleaner, dip it. the r5 cyls came out pretty good when i did that.
( i also just realized i didnt do a rebuild thread on it)
(https://2strokeworld.net/wp-content/uploads/70-R5/2025/20250204_163902-scaled.jpg)
Aircraft paint stripper and power wash it after. Coat it until all the paint has bubbled and lifted. Might take a day or two of recoats.
Ahh good solid suggestions.Yeah what led me to explore this was yesterday being at the local hardware store and seeing the paint strip products. The most affordable ones looked like the most sensible quantities to do the job except they were in aerosol/spray type containers and the cheapest was made by Kleen Strip it was called "green" I guess as it was an environment friendly alternative to the more caustic blends, a spray bottle. The second brand was Jasco...I think it's called :umm: and that was twenty bucks, more conventional and a aersol can. But, but those spray on types don't really allow me to dip and soak it so I dunno how great they work and I thought they were kinda expensive, well I just assumed that. So of course I read about the warm water,vinegar batch and throw in some baking soda and folks say it works?...I dunno but they are household items I can use to clean the toilet if nothing else. I think for how cheap it is to do it I'll give that a try but I know it will probably just soften up whats there. Which BTW what's there just looks begging to be scraped off just a lot of hard to reach spots.
Yeah I probably will just go with some aircraft paint stripper if I'm not happy with the result but I don't have a power washer. Also I found a aerosol can of carb cleaner like new because I just barely ever use it,a good refresher for me as I forget what I have for auto related lube and solvents. I was looking for carb cleaner in a great quantity to do a dipping bath and I couldn't find anything googling for it.
advance auto , auto zone, etc, has it. gunk or berrymans.
i just did a caliper for a suzuki in it
https://www.autozone.com/fuel-and-engine-cleaners-additives/carburetor-and-throttle-body-cleaner/p/berryman-chem-dip-carburetor-and-parts-cleaner-96oz/139313_0_0?spps.s=1017&cmpid=LIA%3AUS%3AEN%3AAD%3ANL%3A1000000%3APER%3A19488533498&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwqIm_BhDnARIsAKBYcmvVDNiDf6z9sQJQfZgb8XKofKP2O3vCmfY07xxK7Qqm4qiYOpeFIsYaApKIEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds&new_store_set=true
Ok, ya know I did see that stuff and I guess I just read the words "chem dip" and dismissed it in my mind as something else but now that I take a look at the link you provided I see otherwise. Yeah that looks like the best stuff.
So I was just looking at the aircraft paint removers of course Kleen strip makes one (non meth) and it was according to some bad reviews not offering the same results as the old blends. A lot like what Red Scourge was saying. Well I find that discouraging.
Quote from: RDryan on March 25, 2025, 09:11:48 AMOk, ya know I did see that stuff and I guess I just read the words "chem dip" and dismissed it in my mind as something else but now that I take a look at the link you provided I see otherwise. Yeah that looks like the best stuff.
So I was just looking at the aircraft paint removers of course Kleen strip makes one (non meth) and it was according to some bad reviews not offering the same results as the old blends. A lot like what Red Scourge was saying. Well I find that discouraging.
Apparently too many people died after explicitly not following the directions and using it with no ventilation. Then the EPA banned it. What's dumb is the old stuff was not flammable, but this new, "more safe" stuff is. This is why we can't have nice things.
yeah. just drop the heads in the carb dip over night, thrn clean with a soft brush. rinse w water then clean w brake cleaner, let dry an repaint
Berryman's Chemtool was my preferred cleaner for carb spray, gas tank additive, and the gallon dip buckets since the 1970's. I lived in CA then and they led the nation with envirocrazy policies and regulations, and the formula kept changing until it was almost useless. In last 2 years I have tried both NAPA dip and the newest Berryman's formula (stronger formula here in CO) and they still don't clean like before. I had a bunch of carbs that sat for various amounts of time and both the above dips don't clean all the White Ethanol deposits crap out and the longer you leave them in it they turned the carb bodies grey instead of nice and shiny like before.
Never tried it for paint stripping purposes though
Old school Chem-dip worked great at taking the paint off stock 350B carbs.
For cyls and heads, I'd suggest finding someone to blast them.
Dry bead blast if you're gonna paint em, wet beads (vapor) if they'll be left raw.
Def more expensive than DIY with chems and elbow grease, but the finish is worth it.
(https://i.postimg.cc/4mNZ2SvJ/E12-FA734-6-E75-4745-880-A-E016-DDB287-A1.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/4mNZ2SvJ)
(https://i.postimg.cc/DSShn4YH/IMG-5838.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/DSShn4YH)
(https://i.postimg.cc/2VcYs7Tn/IMG-6893.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/2VcYs7Tn)
That old school Berryman carb dip with cresylic acid in it in a 5-gallon metal bucket? Smells like old band-aids and 70's garages? I got some from Costco many years ago. Made my whole house stink. There's an oily layer on top that's supposed to keep it from evaporating. Well, don't remove any dip from the can or it really stinks. It does work very well on carb parts. ...Outdoors only. It used to come with a metal basket in the can. Took years for the garage and many of my jeans to stop smelling like a chemical plant. They must have changed the formula because that stuff was 5 gallons of divorce in a can!
IR8D8R
We had the good stuff at the machine shop I worked at in the 70's. I would take a carboned-up head and put it in overnight, the next morning, clean as a whistle, no carbon, no paint, just rinse it off with water. No wire brush needed. We also had a caustic hot tank. Boss told me, "Don't ever put anything aluminum in there". Same thing with a cast iron head, pull it out, rinse it off, and all clean.
Quote from: pdxjim on March 25, 2025, 11:40:41 AMOld school Chem-dip worked great at taking the paint off stock 350B carbs.
For cyls and heads, I'd suggest finding someone to blast them.
Dry bead blast if you're gonna paint em, wet beads (vapor) if they'll be left raw.
Def more expensive than DIY with chems and elbow grease, but the finish is worth it.
(https://i.postimg.cc/4mNZ2SvJ/E12-FA734-6-E75-4745-880-A-E016-DDB287-A1.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/4mNZ2SvJ)
(https://i.postimg.cc/DSShn4YH/IMG-5838.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/DSShn4YH)
(https://i.postimg.cc/2VcYs7Tn/IMG-6893.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/2VcYs7Tn)
To get the polish on the cases in the pic, that requires two blasts in a vapor hone. The glass bead that gives it that polish will remove some of the paint, but not most of it and requires all the oil and grease to be cleaned first. You'd still need to vapor blast with an abrasive like aluminum oxide, garnet or silicon carbide to get the paint off first.
I have a set of fork lowers being vapor blasted now, but not always nec to go that far imho. that lc top looks fantastic. here's the caliper I soaked in carb cleaner. I then cleared it and cured it, going for a less refined but clean look. I left the center black on purpose
Quote from: The Red Scourge on March 25, 2025, 10:44:12 AMApparently too many people died after explicitly not following the directions and using it with no ventilation.
Apparently is a word often used when there's no hard evidence to back up a statement (ie. your talking shit!). :lol:
I shall now await notification of being banned from the forum. :-)
Quote from: irk_miller on March 25, 2025, 04:46:48 PMQuote from: pdxjim on March 25, 2025, 11:40:41 AMOld school Chem-dip worked great at taking the paint off stock 350B carbs.
For cyls and heads, I'd suggest finding someone to blast them.
Dry bead blast if you're gonna paint em, wet beads (vapor) if they'll be left raw.
Def more expensive than DIY with chems and elbow grease, but the finish is worth it.
(https://i.postimg.cc/4mNZ2SvJ/E12-FA734-6-E75-4745-880-A-E016-DDB287-A1.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/4mNZ2SvJ)
(https://i.postimg.cc/DSShn4YH/IMG-5838.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/DSShn4YH)
(https://i.postimg.cc/2VcYs7Tn/IMG-6893.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/2VcYs7Tn)
To get the polish on the cases in the pic, that requires two blasts in a vapor hone. The glass bead that gives it that polish will remove some of the paint, but not most of it and requires all the oil and grease to be cleaned first. You'd still need to vapor blast with an abrasive like aluminum oxide, garnet or silicon carbide to get the paint off first.
These were not painted originally, and just greasy dirty. They got one pass thru with wet beads and came out beautifully.
Quote from: pdxjim on March 26, 2025, 02:58:32 AMQuote from: irk_miller on March 25, 2025, 04:46:48 PMQuote from: pdxjim on March 25, 2025, 11:40:41 AMOld school Chem-dip worked great at taking the paint off stock 350B carbs.
For cyls and heads, I'd suggest finding someone to blast them.
Dry bead blast if you're gonna paint em, wet beads (vapor) if they'll be left raw.
Def more expensive than DIY with chems and elbow grease, but the finish is worth it.
(https://i.postimg.cc/4mNZ2SvJ/E12-FA734-6-E75-4745-880-A-E016-DDB287-A1.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/4mNZ2SvJ)
(https://i.postimg.cc/DSShn4YH/IMG-5838.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/DSShn4YH)
(https://i.postimg.cc/2VcYs7Tn/IMG-6893.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/2VcYs7Tn)
To get the polish on the cases in the pic, that requires two blasts in a vapor hone. The glass bead that gives it that polish will remove some of the paint, but not most of it and requires all the oil and grease to be cleaned first. You'd still need to vapor blast with an abrasive like aluminum oxide, garnet or silicon carbide to get the paint off first.
These were not painted originally, and just greasy dirty. They got one pass thru with wet beads and came out beautifully.
Yes, but the OP is looking for advice on cheaply removing paint. Your situation is different than what they are looking for advice on. They will have vapor hone with an abrasive media, then again with glass beads to get the finish you are promoting.
Quote from: 2T5 on March 25, 2025, 11:19:27 PMQuote from: The Red Scourge on March 25, 2025, 10:44:12 AMApparently too many people died after explicitly not following the directions and using it with no ventilation.
Apparently is a word often used when there's no hard evidence to back up a statement (ie. your talking shit!). :lol:
I shall now await notification of being banned from the forum. :-)
Well, I didn't see them die of toxic fume inhalation! Play stupid games, win stupid prizes!
Jasco, back in the day was the bees' knees. That stuff took your skin off if you were not careful, and sure as hell removed paint with ease. Now, pffffft. Two years ago, or so I stumbled across pti stripper from aircraft spruce. Ordered a bottle, opened it up and it stunk like high heaven, but doesn't have methylene chloride which was the cocktail of choice back in the day. I quickly applied it, before the epa got a hold my address, to the original paint on my 75 and it ate the paint away like magic. I just checked their site, it's still there but looks like the epa got wind as I don't think u can order it anymore.
They shipped it in a thick plastic bottle. I didn't use all of it, put it back on the shelf. Maybe a month later I look up and the damn bottle was about to explode. Bunch of numb nuts!
Oh well, good luck.
Quote from: irk_miller on March 26, 2025, 05:13:50 AMQuote from: pdxjim on March 26, 2025, 02:58:32 AMQuote from: irk_miller on March 25, 2025, 04:46:48 PMQuote from: pdxjim on March 25, 2025, 11:40:41 AMOld school Chem-dip worked great at taking the paint off stock 350B carbs.
For cyls and heads, I'd suggest finding someone to blast them.
Dry bead blast if you're gonna paint em, wet beads (vapor) if they'll be left raw.
Def more expensive than DIY with chems and elbow grease, but the finish is worth it.
(https://i.postimg.cc/4mNZ2SvJ/E12-FA734-6-E75-4745-880-A-E016-DDB287-A1.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/4mNZ2SvJ)
(https://i.postimg.cc/DSShn4YH/IMG-5838.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/DSShn4YH)
(https://i.postimg.cc/2VcYs7Tn/IMG-6893.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/2VcYs7Tn)
To get the polish on the cases in the pic, that requires two blasts in a vapor hone. The glass bead that gives it that polish will remove some of the paint, but not most of it and requires all the oil and grease to be cleaned first. You'd still need to vapor blast with an abrasive like aluminum oxide, garnet or silicon carbide to get the paint off first.
These were not painted originally, and just greasy dirty. They got one pass thru with wet beads and came out beautifully.
Yes, but the OP is looking for advice on cheaply removing paint. Your situation is different than what they are looking for advice on. They will have vapor hone with an abrasive media, then again with glass beads to get the finish you are promoting.
Actually I take it back. The cyls and head were painted and the cases were raw.
The cyls and head were dry blasted only, and the cases were wet blasted only.
The polished bit on the head/cyls was done with wetodry sandpaper and polishing compound.
[/quote]Yes, but the OP is looking for advice on cheaply removing paint. Your situation is different than what they are looking for advice on. They will have vapor hone with an abrasive media, then again with glass beads to get the finish you are promoting.
[/quote]
Yep removing paint cheap and easy is pretty much my question. So this topic I can see as very informative. Perhaps more importantly,supportive on the reality of what can be done or more like the lousy results of what can't be done with most available paint strippers.
I did get some baking soda and white vinegar just because I thought it dirt cheap and I can always try it for household cleaning. I dunno what to say except I would like to do a nice job of it but realistically the cylinder heads were just some mismatched set I paid over 90$ bucks for on Ebay. The most visible parts being the polished outer side fins while whole and intact one of them has a slight bend to the side and the other one has a little wave to it in the middle. They are just not perfect but the plug threads are good and they look flat where they will bolt on the cylinders. They were the most affordable and workable cylinder heads I could see offered for sale at this time to mate to those cheap Chinese cylinders. I just see if I can soften up what bit of paint is peeling away with this cheap paint removing cocktail and get inspired with elbow grease and scraping tools.
I may get that Berryman chem dip but I may also want to line up a bigger order of things to paint strip(assuming you can reuse it) if I spring the 40$ bucks for it. Heck I may not even repaint these heads, just wanna remove the loose paint that's left and polish the outer fins. I know once it's all put together I'm gonna have to look hard to admire the fresh paint and finish otherwise.
keep in mind the mek and other chemicals, the nail in the coffin so so speak on those, was that they can permeate the blood stream thru the skin, the molecular size is small enough where it can do that. so, yes, worked awesome but, yikes.
I was able to get real MEK at West Marine to use to strip gas tank liner out.
OK I will hang myself to dry by first saying that I really need to get more into my postings and add pics. OTOH although I am a bit chuffed with myself...but meh it's not that really big a deal but I am progressing. Today I went to work on stripping the paint off my cylinder heads. Took a bucket and filled it with a 50/50 mix of hot tap water to white vinegar (7 quarts altogether) and added a 1/4 cup of baking soda as advertised as a Google answer. Now the baking soda may not of been a good idea as I guess it neutralizes the white vinegar according to some very knowledgeable women of youtube. However I think they were more geared to home cleaning solutions and besides the combo did this awesome white fizzy action for a few seconds. :boom: Next I submerged the cylinders into the bucket bath and let em soak for six hours before I could get to em. with a sharp three sided deburring knife as well as a cheap fish cutting knife and some 120 grit sandpaper that I had I just started to scrape away some very soft pulpy paint. I'm not done yet and the cylinders are still soaking.
It is a bit labor intensive and slow progress but the paint really wants to come off and the stripping solution is very mild to my skin. I didn't even wear gloves although maybe I should have,other than a open scratch that mildly stung a bit and some dryness to my skin I'm totally used to that. I feel way better about using this in that regard than messing with toxic chemicals although I would of liked the thoroughly fast results. Honestly if the surfaces were all easier to get too,flat this works pretty easy and cheap. I do need to search for something that can get into between the fins in and around the bolt holes,bottom of the top of the cylinders.
I just gotta get creative and be patient and that's ok because the weather here in NE sucks.Rain and freezing rain showers for the next five days today temps were at or below 40 degrees. March in like a lion and out like a lamb. :whistle: