Cleaning the Engine Block

I used a wire brush on a drill to clean all the rust from inside the block - trying hard to get into all the nooks and crannies.

Removing the Liners Revealed Rust in the Block

I used a Dremmel (actually a cheap Dremmel copy) for those hard to reach areas around the bend. I also used a grinding head to remove the flash from when the block had been cast so that there would be better coolant flow when it was all re-assembled.

I used a gasket scraper to clean up the head top surface. There was some pitting where the gasket closed around the water ways. I also used the gasket scraper to clean the flat circular surfaces that the liners (and their delicate paper gaskets) would close against. These surfaces had some really stubborn stuff on and it took quite a bit of effort in the confined space to clean up the flat surface and vertical edges. It's vital this is done properly: if any bits are missed, the liner and gasket will not sit flat and so not seal properly when the engine is assembled. If this happens, coolant will find it's way down into the sump.

Flash Removed and Top Face Scraped

I used a wire brush on a bit of coat hanger to clean out the oil gallery. I removed the side plug and plug at the flywheel end, but not the alloy plug at the timing chain end. These have to be drilled out and replaced: I hadn't managed to find a source for the replacements and from advice I had taken decided to leave that one in situ. 

With the inside of the block cleaned I set about cleaning the outside.

Cleaning The Block - 4 December 2016

The domed cover over the oil breather was removed, as was the dip stick tube, the remaining hex plugs and the petrol pump mounting bracket. Again I used a wire wheel, wire brush to clean. Anything that got in the nooks and crannies.

With the initial cleaning done I hoovered everything out and also used some compressed air in all the narrow channels.