Gettin' the engine to shine again???

[noobmike920]

Hey guys, quick question, what's the best way to shine up the engine block? My new-old bike has some, what looks like calcium build up, on the out side, nothing major, but it could look better. Advice?

[beet]

Don't look @ it, ride it!

[darkduc7]

steel wool and elbow grease. scotchbrite pads. they do make aluminium cleaners/polish too.

[j4eric]

if its calcium....try CLR.....i personally have not tried it on the engine....but it should work.

[darkduc7]

clr would work for calcium...but i doubt thats what it is. prob just oxidation. clr might help that too since it removes rust but steel wool will remove that crap without cleaners.

[Baggey22]

I say try steel wool at first. If you mess around with too many cleaners they might get into and eat away at different rubber seals that are ALL over the engine.

[gregp]

Doubtful that it is calcium. More likely, it is corrosion of the aluminum. If your engine is painted black, anywhere that corrosion is - is going to be silver once you try to remove it, by any method. My daughter owns a Ninja 250 that is in incredibly good shape, except that it was neglected at some point in time in its life. It has some of this corrosion, but I have not yet found any way to get rid of it, short of pulling the engine, sand blasting the whole thing, and re-painting it.

[Doc]

Don't most engines have a clear coat on em?

[beet]

Don't most engines have a clear coat on em?

AFAIK

[nt650hawk]

NO..... Nothing abrasive. it will scratch the finish. Best I can suggest for getting the grime off is mineral spirits. followed by polish. Don't even use the rough side of the sponge if it of the chrome variety.

[Kenn157]

This is great!! A guy with a 1982 bike trying to clean his sweet ride and I know a guy here on NESR with a 2009 Kawasaki something (you can't tell what model it because it's sooo dirty) will not wash his bike, unless it rains on it

[WordTooYoMamma]

Wirelessly posted (Tilt: HTC-ST7377/1.59.502.3 (67150) Opera/9.50 (Windows NT 5.1; U; en))

pressure washer will cure all your engine grime woes.... Just watch your plastic and wires.

[sveesix]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.1-update1; en-us; Droid Build/ESE81) AppleWebKit/530.17 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/530.17)

I use a produuct called AMAZING Roll Off. Works WONDERS!

[breakdirt916]

I also don't advocate any sort of chemical treatment or abrasive sponges (ie. steel wool).

I don't know squat about what's going on chemically, but anytime I've tried anything like that, it "looks" like the grime and dirt is being washed, but then starts to rust or corrode to the original (if not worse) status within a couple days. It's almost like the corrosion gunk serves as an outer layer that's chemically stable. Scratching it away re-exposes the layer that can be oxidized or reduced with exposure to the atmosphere.

I think the method mentioned by gregp is the only way I know to keep it in good (looking) condition long term, so unless you want to go through all that hassle and cost, I'd keep it the way it is.

Unless (and I ask anyone else that knows more about it), so long as it's been cleaned properly (remove all debris, engine degreaser, hosed off), can it just be sprayed with a high temp engine paint and last long term?

[Chippertheripper]

Shit, I struggle to get my engine to RUN.

[hondarider102]

hand cleaner such as fast orange or something along that line and a toothbrush worked well for me

[KB]

Ride it.

KB

[toocrazy2yoo]

This is great!! A guy with a 1982 bike trying to clean his sweet ride and I know a guy here on NESR with a 2009 Kawasaki something (you can't tell what model it because it's sooo dirty) will not wash his bike, unless it rains on it

Yeah, but I'm a lazy prick and besides, it's just pollen after all...

A little rain, a bathtowel afterwards, a little lithium white here and there, the filthy pig is good-to-go!

[RandyO]

if you wanna get the inside nice & shiney & polished, squeeze a tube of valve lapping compound into your oil

[Kenn157]

Yeah, but I'm a lazy prick and besides, it's just pollen after all...

A little rain, a bathtowel afterwards, a little lithium white here and there, the filthy pig is good-to-go!

Ain't talking bout you doood