Engine flush, with the heads removed

[clinebarger]

Well boss, I've been at this on and off all day and this is as far as I got. I'd run composites but I don't think I can send the gasket kit back so I figured I'd just resurface them

Believe it or not I do know what I'm doing but the further I go the flaws go just as far. Should I call it quits and have them sent out or are these fel pro gaskets really designed "for the repair industry"?

If I'm close then that's all I need to know. Yes it is still flat. That's the only thing I'm 100% positive on

I don't run/use Fel-Pro head gaskets a lot, OE GM & Mahle are my go to MLS gaskets for LS engines. I would've personally ran Composite/Graphite gaskets & called it a day.

Yes the Fel-Pro's are a repair type gasket as it has coating across the entire surface to help seal imperfections in the Head surface & Block deck, The OE design just has elastomer coating where it's needed.....Like this.

 

[Exhaustgases]

Nah, rubberized bristle doohicky. Drill, low speed. Look at this head, can still see the machining lines. (Yes it's flat)

I would never use one of these on a machined surface. They are abrasive impregnated, and will gouge just like any other abrasive will.

 

[Cujet]

I would never use one of these on a machined surface. They are abrasive impregnated, and will gouge just like any other abrasive will.

Correct, loaded with abrasives. Wash that engine out to the very best of your abilities. I'd scrub every passage, every deep dark crevice, every oil passageway. I'd be 100% sure it was spotless and debris free before reassembly. Then I'd do multiple rapid oil changes.

I hope you have great results. Proper care will ensure this.

 

[michaelluscher]

Perfect. Clear as day. Thank you. I'll be able to polish that out and clean it up proper by the weekend.

Only thing that still baffles me is those rubber bristles removing that much material. It's just, you'd have to be blind not to notice that

The scratches though I can deal with, the abrasive particles have me a bit concerned though

I made a long post on a recent thread about similar aluminum oxide abrasive contamination
For future reference

Volvo dealer used abrasive wheel to clean engine sump

I've seen "techs" do this on transmission pan drops. Scotch Brite disc on the transmission case with all the crap flying right up into the transmission.

bobistheoilguy.com

 

[thastinger]

If there's flaws on the sealing surfaces in yellow then everything has to go down below the lowest point of those flaws, correct? I'm just trying to learn right now. I've accepted that I might have to fork out more money I don't have

No. Where you have marked in yellow is part of the combustion chamber, there is no gasket in that location.

You have that corrosion on the head above one of the blind water ports, you won't be able to get that out but it looks far enough away from the cylinders/combustion chambers that it shouldn't be an issue. You can't take the head down enough to get that spot smooth...hard to tell how deep that spot is from the pics, but machining to much raises static compression due to decreasing combustion chamber size, could also lead to piston/valve clearance issues and takes structural strength from the deck of the head because you have removed material.

 

[oil pan 4]

One of the best things for cleaning dirt and engine grime is hydraulic fluid, specifically 83282.