I have crushed glass, and it's not removing all the scale on factory cast LS manifolds.
I tried glass bead, which was even less useful.
I'm heading into town tomorrow - is there something else I should be using?
I have crushed glass, and it's not removing all the scale on factory cast LS manifolds.
I tried glass bead, which was even less useful.
I'm heading into town tomorrow - is there something else I should be using?
Have you tried "black beauty" it is a very aggressive media
KMS should have Green Diamond or the equivalent.
It's copper slag and very aggressive.
Carbon or rust scale?
If it's carbon scale, bake the manifold in an oven for a while to dry it out. Then the glass bead will remove it. If it's "wet" then the glass just sort of bounces off, like duct taping a section you don't want blasted.
If it's rust scale, a quick dip in hydrochloric acid takes care of it, with a baking soda and water finish. I've heard of people spraying it on with a little squirt bottle, but I've never gone that far. Have used brushes though, working in a shallow tray. The HCl gets a little vigorous, so stay upwind of it. And the baking soda neutralization bath will get VERY vigorous, so be prepared to run away and don't do it on a nice part of the driveway.
It'll probably flash rust afterwards because the iron will be cleaner than it has ever been in its life, but flash rust can be bead blasted with ease.
Best bet would be to find a guy with airless shot blast equipment, any foundry will have this equipment. If you can find a small mom n pop foundry there is a good chance the 2nd shift supervisor will let you run as many parts as you can imagine for a case of beer or some donuts.
I bought a bag of Green Diamond (Nickel Slag) from KMS (yay gift cards).
It didn't touch it at all. It actually takes work to grind it off. I'm leaning towards just leaving it.
There is a foundry an hour away, but I haven't looked into that yet. Could also just drop it off at an industrial sand blasters, something with more jam than my cabinet has.
Rattle can header paint :)
I used to run cast manifolds through a steel shot blast cabinet when I worked at a foundry. Gave them a nice shine without the aggressive material removal like from an aluminum oxide media.
Jumper K Balls (Trent) said:Have you tried "black beauty" it is a very aggressive media
I've used this for rust removal on various small-ish parts with my home compressor and a harbor fright gun. Works pretty well. Due to the sharp edges on the particles, it will etch the surface nicely in preparation for the finish of your choosing. I honestly don't recall where I bought it. Been a while.
FYI, do NOT use aluminum oxide as a blasting agent on aluminum intake manifolds. It will embed in the manifold, then come out in use. Especially if boost is involved. Picture pouring aluminum oxide power down the spark plug holes, you’ll get the idea. The good news is that you’ll never have to change the oil in the engine again.
Maybe it looks different in real life than it does in the photo, but that manifold appears to be pretty clean already - does it really need blasting?
It's scaly and gross, and I'm thinking of ceramic coating.
I baked it in the oven for a couple hours and will see if it changes anything.
It comes off like mill scale - WAY more work than you'd expect.
1988RedT2 said:Jumper K Balls (Trent) said:Have you tried "black beauty" it is a very aggressive media
I've used this for rust removal on various small-ish parts with my home compressor and a harbor fright gun. Works pretty well. Due to the sharp edges on the particles, it will etch the surface nicely in preparation for the finish of your choosing. I honestly don't recall where I bought it. Been a while.
Northern tool. Carries Black Beauty
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