cheap paint removal for engine parts

[RDryan]

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 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.  :

[The Red Scourge]

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.

[m in sc]

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)



 

[Striker1423]

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.

[RDryan]

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    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.

[m in sc]

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

[RDryan]

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. 

[The Red Scourge]

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. 

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.

[m in sc]

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

[RDnuTZ]

 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

[pdxjim]

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.

[IR8D8R]

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

[1976RD400C]

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.

[irk_miller]

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.

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.

[m in sc]

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