Cleaning a bare aluminum block

Markviiiedrea

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I have a mark motor that I have been taken parts off of it to sell or other stuff. My wife gave me the go to build a coffee table from the block. I'm wondering what is the best way to clean it? I read that a caustic dip would leave allot of black spots on it and I don't want to spend 40 hours with a tooth brush. Can they be media blasted?
 
have you considered the wheel cleaners used for aluminum wheels, theres a strong one from a company called BLUE RIBBON...then you can hit it with pressure washer and will come clean.
 
Media blast it, glass beads. Shoot a couple coats of clear on it and it should be good.
 
It still has the rotating assembly in it. Any of you MN guys know a machine shop that dips blocks? Or one that can media blast?
 
Any machine shop worth BEING a machine shop has what you need
 
I agree with Sapp but also 97MarkJA. I'm helping a buddy with his 67 mustang, I'm powder coating just about anything I can get. He wanted his intake and timing cover raw with just clear so I media blasted and then with glass bead. After the glass bead it looked amazing! Nice and smooth, really nice finish.
 
It still has the rotating assembly in it. Any of you MN guys know a machine shop that dips blocks? Or one that can media blast?

Are you going to leave the rotating in it to make table? Machine shop will not clean it together it needs to be stripped down to block. After they clean it they can shot peen it to kinda smooth it out also.
 
Strip it, and have a shop clean the block and four of the rods and pistons...

Engine-Block-Table.jpg
 
Are you going to leave the rotating in it to make table? Machine shop will not clean it together it needs to be stripped down to block. After they clean it they can shot peen it to kinda smooth it out also.

Not sure yet, I like the way it looks but to make things easier I might pull the assembly. There is a small .02% chance I would actually use this block for a car but I have 5 other ones lying around that would get used first. Will the glass beads hurt the cylinder walls?

I'm playing with the idea of using the cam shafts as the table legs otherwise I’ll do the piston supports for the glass. I'll keep updating as the project comes along. I've always wanted a table like this but I don’t want to copy someone else idea too much.
 
I need a table for my flat screen and AV components, i was thinking also about using my 4V Heads as a base on each side and with a mixture of glass and dimond plate build it up. Found these photos shopping around google...

GEDC0053.jpg


IMG_0056.jpg


IMG_0060.jpg
 
Not sure yet, I like the way it looks but to make things easier I might pull the assembly. There is a small .02% chance I would actually use this block for a car but I have 5 other ones lying around that would get used first. Will the glass beads hurt the cylinder walls?

I'm playing with the idea of using the cam shafts as the table legs otherwise I’ll do the piston supports for the glass. I'll keep updating as the project comes along. I've always wanted a table like this but I don’t want to copy someone else idea too much.

I guess that would depend on how much they blast them. You could always put the pan on, plug all the small holes and use wood or plexi to cover the cylinders.
 
I saw that too, I also like the turbine peices as well. Turbine blades are so sexy. But we are sticking with automotive peices here. The airplane stuff I will leave for my hanger.
 

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