Annoying Head Gasket Material keeps kicking ma butt!

[tokendog]

Alright so I am almost ready to start putting the head back on my car so I can get it running, but the old gasket material is stubborn as hell. I've read all of the topics I can find and have tried many different methods including liquid gasket remove, plastic gasket scrapers, a razor, and even the 3M white aluminum roloc disc. Nothing has worked. The roloc disc and razor are leaving marks in the block, and I'm paranoid that I am going to have issues with leaking. What do you guys think? Is it normal to have swirl marks, etc. in the block when having to take harsher measures to remove stubborn gasket material?

Here are pics:

In this one you can see the swirl marks in the bottom left... That kind of stuff scares me.

A closer shot of the swirls. This is from the roloc pads that are supposed to be absolutely safe for aluminum. Yellow and white are supposed to be the ones you use, and white is the softer of the two... WTF?



The entire block is like this. There are no swirls on the upper part cause I have not touched it yet, but the whole block is covered in this extremely stubborn gasket.



Someone has to have an idea on how to get this crap off?

Thanks!

[idahotuner]

you al lready know my advice.

180-300 grit sandpaper. just be careful to not get anyhting in the oil holes or water holes.

also a sharpened credit card or piece of plastic like that can be used.

[Hijacker]

I sue teh brown 3M roloc discs. You'll end up with a slight cross hatch on the surface, but you'd have that with just about anything you do to remove the old gasket material. Even having it milled for straightness will leave marks behind. I usually get all the big pieces off with a sharp razor (sharp enough angle won't even touch the sealing surface) and follow it up with the roloc disc.

[tokendog]

Well I don't have brown ones, but I have these green ones...I think these were the ones advertised for aluminum. Plus I have a white one. Here's pics. I love pics





and this one...the one I am using is white, which is a lower grade and safer for aluminum. The yellow is rated for aluminum as well but is a bit harsher. This is what left the swirls in the block.



Thanks! Trying to get the old gasket stuff removed today so the head can go back on soon.

[Hijacker]

This is exactly what I use. It's technically Maroon. I just always saw it as brown

http://www.levineautoparts.com/3mrosucodima.html

It's technically designed for iron, but it has yet to tear up aluminum deck surfaces for me. But I also don't use a lot of pressure and constantly move it.

The grey discs are actually designed for aluminum, however.http://www.levineautoparts.com/3mrolsurcond3.html

I don't like using the brush style removers.

[tokendog]

So....yeah. I worked on removing the head gasket and this is what I've ended up with.



and



Every thing was going fine and I decided to clean up a bit, clean up some of the ports, etc. and then I dropped a Q-TIP down the timing chain area....Yeah. Thats right. It disappeared. Does this mean what I think it means? Or could I possibly be lucky and could it have dropped straight to the oil pan?

"........."

Also there is still a lot of residue left over from the gasket - what would u guys recommend to clean it up?

Thanks

[JDM_RPS13.5_SR20DET]

if its just in the timing chain area then all you need to do is put your crank pulley and oil pump not to big.

[Neil]

Greenback disks are a very light grit but I still would still be EXTRA careful when using them on aluminum. If the block was bare i'd just say go get it decked but maybe look into some chemicals if you want to take it further

[maik21]

maybe one edge razor will do the job, but it needs to be new.

there is a spray u put before u put head gasket. it solve the problem of those marks for grinding and stop grinding. its a hard workd and need to be done slowly.

[idahotuner]

copper spray-a-gasket is the stuff you put on the head gasket before installing it to fillin the little lines cause by cleanign the old gasket off.

[tokendog]

I have tried everything. Razors, chemicals, greenback disk, etc. Nothing is taking this residue off. I don't understand it. I am to the point that I am just not going to worry about it and take my chances, thats how stubborn this residue is.

Any other suggestions? There's got to be a safe way to get this block clean without having it decked. I live in an apartment so pulling the block is going to be almost impossible to do.

[maik21]

I have tried everything. Razors, chemicals, greenback disk, etc. Nothing is taking this residue off. I don't understand it. I am to the point that I am just not going to worry about it and take my chances, thats how stubborn this residue is.

Any other suggestions? There's got to be a safe way to get this block clean without having it decked. I live in an apartment so pulling the block is going to be almost impossible to do.

its your firts time trying to remove old head gasket?

[maik21]

it seems to be cleaner than the firs picture u post. so use ur hand and feel the surface of that. its a best way to check its all right

[tokendog]

its your firts time trying to remove old head gasket?

Yeah, first time doing a head gasket job at all. So far the hardest part has been removing the gasket material. =P

[maik21]

Yeah, first time doing a head gasket job at all. So far the hardest part has been removing the gasket material. =P

same thing happens to me first time i remove the gasket from an aluminium manifold intake.