Yellow Zinc plating Fuel rails and regulators

[hcoles]

A comment or question re. vapor blasting. You can read warnings about sand blasting engine parts. The comments generally warn that getting all the sand washed out of the nooks and crannies is almost impossible. I wonder since vapor blasting uses an abrasive, why wouldn't there be a similar concern?

[Jherriott]

I agree. I probably shouldn't have done the towers. But I am dedicating 8 hours to cleaning both of them. Flat pieces like covers etc would be fine. The intakes will again be a long day of cleaning...

Jase.

[hcoles]

I found this posted online for a company in Tucson AZ that does vapor blasting.

How to you prevent blast media from becoming trapped in my parts?

With regard to blast media, the first order of business is to start with a clean part, including in the oil passages and galleries, which are very thoroughly cleaned. Oil and other engine passages are then plugged or masked. Any part with a thread is also plugged to prevent media from lodging in the threads. After vapor blasting parts are immediately rinsed, several times, and then dried with compressed air. Then the plugs and masking are removed and the process is repeated. It is however the customer's responsibility to verify that no blast media is present and the parts are ready to be put back into service.

[Tremelune]

Originally Posted by hcoles

It is however the customer's responsibility to verify that no blast media is present and the parts are ready to be put back into service.[/COLOR]

See, it's that last bit. No way, man. You masked it, you sprayed it, you cleaned it. It's your responsibility to return a motor component ready for service, or don't take the work.

[stephen1070]

There are many YouTube posts by vapor honing technologies.

They appear to be quite immersed in waterborne blasting.

We should invite them to comment on the aspect of remaining medium in the parts and how to mitigate it. On the 'surface' this appears to be the best approach to reduce the remnants of blasting media.

The parts you have look beautiful and the 'shot peen' like outcome is a particular advantage.

[mepstein]

I researched a lot of vendors when I went to get my motorcycle parts vapor blasted. I settled on mark propster at nor' eastern vapor blasting in New Hampshire. 100% satisfied. After I had the motorcycle parts done, I started sending him Porsche parts. Two early aluminum engine cases, 3.2 intake and a bunch of other parts. The come out looking so clean, it looks like silver paint. The other nice thing is, as a previous poster said, it closes the pores of the metal so it's much smoother than bead blasting and doesn't absorb dirt or oil so it stays much cleaner. In the motorcycle world, it's said to be safe for engine internals. There is no residue on any of my parts. It doesn't remove metal so tolerances shouldn't change. However, I only had the exterior of the Porsche cases blasted. There's one before and a couple after pics. The before is the dirty one.

[dtxscott]

Originally Posted by Jherriott

About the fuel rails. The plater had done lots of stuff like that in the past and he said no problem. The electroplated zinc in the solution would get drawn to the closest point, so it would never end up inside the piece.

Jase.

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but I had a question about the clean/plating process.
Did your guy plug the ports for the cleaning process?

I understand that with an electrolytic process, the current travels on the surface and the exterior is preferentially coated to the interior.

I was wondering if the cleaning process had affected the internal passages?

Tx,
Scott

[Jherriott]

Originally Posted by dtxscott

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but I had a question about the clean/plating process.
Did your guy plug the ports for the cleaning process?

I understand that with an electrolytic process, the current travels on the surface and the exterior is preferentially coated to the interior.

I was wondering if the cleaning process had affected the internal passages?

Tx,
Scott

Sorry for the late reply!

Regarding the fuel rails, we did not plug the parts prior to cleaning/plating. No problems at all. The car has been running strong ever since!

Jase.

[911pcars]

Note that all references to blasting parts with vapor, glass beads, oxide, walnut shells, etc. are merely cleaning, not preservation processes. Bare metal will oxidize with varying visual effects. With steel, the result is called rust.

Sherwood