How to Clean Gasket off block?

[jibroni69]

Now i've got the head off and sent it off to the shop to be de-carbonized, pressure tested, checked for square, and resurfaced, How do i go about cleaning off the block so that i dont scrape crap into the cylinders yet leave a perfectly smooth surface?

[corn322]

I guess if you did accidentaly scrape stuff off into the cylinders, you could bust out a shop-vac and vacuum it out.

[basic]

i doubt you'll get a prefectly smooth surface without having it milled, and i doubt you want to pull the block to have that done. general steps to keep stuff out of the cylinders are stuffing them full of shop towels or something of the like.

[Nismo1182]

Wire/Polishing wheel always works for me when im taking old gasket off (intake,exhaust,etc.)

It leaves the surfaces smooth and shinny.

[CA18_Dreams]

please don't use a wire wheel... if you get the gasket off with a wire wheel it is posible to take of some of the metal also.... and that is a very bad thing when its your head on your block... even if it is ok on intake an such... i would recomend some carb cleaner or something like that and a razor blade... that is what i have always done...

[basic]

carb cleaner and razor blade are what i use as well. the only thing i ever use a wheel for are oil pan and valve cover.

[Nathan]

I have been known to use a wire brush, razor blade, and lots of cursing.

[CA18_Dreams]

nathan has a good point... you defenetly need a lot of cursing

[Nismo1182]

I dont use a lot of pressure on the wheel. Just enough to get the gastket off and nothing else.

[Spectre_240sx]

Call me crazy, but don't they make tools especially for scraping the old gasket off of components? I think they're called... Oh, wait, it's coming to me... Gasket scrapers, yeah, that's it!

Here's some linkage for your viewing pleasure:

http://www.thetoolwarehouse.net/shop/SK-6090.html

[andrave]

yeah napa has them for like 7 bucks.

[CA18_Dreams]

Some people don't like to spend money on something that they could just use a 10 cent razor blade for...

[andrave]

Well all a gasket scraper is, is like a giant flat screwdriver of sorts. I would suppose anything flat and capable of scraping would do just fine.

[Spectre_240sx]

Well, that one was a kit of a few differen't types. 4 I believe. so 30 / 4 = 7.50, about the same price, but then again, if you don't need the different sizes and angles you could surely do with the 7 dollar scraper from napa.

The main advantage a scraper has over a razor blade is control. In some cases, a razor blade works just fine, but if the gasket is really stuck on, you will probalby have a hard time getting it off without a scraper. I've been there before and definately do not plan on repeating the situation

Btw... I noticed a certain devensive stance, so I would just like to make it clear that I was in no way trying to make a condescending post, though that may be how it came out.