Bead blasted Mahle's 3.2L cylinders. What do you think?.

flatsixcrazy · 08-17-2006, 05:48 AM

Used 3.2 Carrera P&C's

Hey Guys,
I am thinking about buying the set of 3.2L mahle cylinders in the above link and wondering if bead blasting the outside of Mahle's cylinders is a bad thing?. Wayne's book did not recommend the cylinders to be blasted, or did he mean the interior of the cylinders?. The seller said that the inside of the cylinders are fine. Can anything bad comes from bead blasted cylinders?. Thanks for all your help. Andy

rvanderpyl · rvanderpyl's Garage

As long as they didn't do the inside they should be fine, we used to bead blast cylinders from air cooled airplane engines to clean them. Bead blasting is a lot less erosive (sic?) than sand blasting.

john walker's workshop · 08-17-2006, 07:08 AM

agreed.

Roslin · 08-17-2006, 12:10 PM

What id bead blasting ( sorry i am Danish :-) is it with glass, plastic or som very fine ceramic powder ??

Roslin

Determined · Determined's Garage

I bead blasted mine but I first taped up the openings very well, they came out really nice. I also modified my hone to use fine scotch brite pads to clean the inside of the barrels. I did it with a bit of oil but most recommend to use hot water and soap instead.

Good Luck,

Alex

flatsixcrazy · 08-17-2006, 03:43 PM

Thanks guys. The P&Cs are on their way. Andy

Steve@Rennsport · 08-17-2006, 04:07 PM

Roslin:

The reference here is to glass bead blasting,......

We use soda blasting equipment (same as the aircraft industry) since it leaves a natural finish and cannot peen or damage metal in any way. This ensures that the Nikasil bore won't get accidently damaged.

hcoles · 08-19-2006, 06:21 AM

this may not be an issue with just doing the outside of the cylinders... but you can read in a number of places to be sure, 110% sure, that for any reason glass beads not get inside the engine... to me this means not even letting glass beaded parts or material on the property while an engine rebuild is in progress... if it was me I would use something else e.g. walnut shells or just chemicals... that's my 2 cents.

Roslin · 08-21-2006, 12:13 PM

Thanks to all of you for the replay !

Roslin

Grady Clay · 08-23-2006, 06:49 PM

Roslin,

You are getting good advice here.

I agree that most important is to keep your rebuild absolutely clean. This is particularly true of cleaning media. Processes that don’t have the possibility of contamination are clearly best.

Some techniques (sand or glass) have the advantage of roughening the surfaces for better heat transfer. At the same time, extreme care must be taken to prevent any media inside the engine.

There are different processes for different parts of the engine. There are even different processes for different surfaces of the same part. Masking and other protective measures are extremely important. The goal is to have the surface appropriate for the use. That can be cooling, friction, beauty and more.

Best,
Grady