And if you get acid splashed in your eyes you wash it out with, you guessed it, WATER! Enough water will dilute and wash away the acid.

If you use muriatic acid and after rinsing the block it "keeps eating away" then you haven't rinsed it out properly. That's the real answer.

Muriatic acid is better known as hydrochloric acid. It's the same stuff that digests your food, stomach acid. I think that's the reason we need salt. The body uses the chloride ions to make acid.

The environmentally conscious metal stripping place listed earlier got a chuckle, because it's located in Nanty Glo, PA. When I was working in Indiana County I had a partner who would say, "That'll make your Nanty Glo!"

R.

I really like the ultrasonic method for a final clean. In my opinion there is no better way for a final clean.

I considered getting a cleaner big enough for a block but it just wasn't practical for me - size wise, financially and even the power to heat the water. I ended up with one big enough to do heads and cranks. Plus I might clean only a few blocks again in my lifetime.

But the ultrasonic cleaner will not address heavy grease or rust/scale so off to the machine shop it goes to anyway.

BES (Tony Bischoff) did my last motor and he has the same cleaner that I have and also the larger one that does the blocks.

For what you're wanting to do, the bake and blast method is best as long as you're going to be boring it and all afterwards. As long as it is baked properly, there should be no shot left caked up in grease anywhere in the block. The idea is to cook the block until all oil and grease is dried up and crusty so it blasts off clean and dry.
You never blast a block that hasn't been baked and obviously it has to be stripped of everything before it goes in...cam bearings, freeze plugs, oil galley plugs, etc.
I used to use the AMPRO bake/blast setup at the shop I ran. Worked great.

After machining was complete it went trough the jet washer. 180° water through high pressure spray nozzles w/ ZEP cleaning solution mixed in. Great for removing grease and oil, but won't touch rust or paint.

As a general rule, if the block/head/whatever wasn't rusty or EXTREMELY greasy (like went years w/o an oil change and sludged up) then it just got run through the jet washer.

Has anyone ever used dry-ice as a blasting media? A friend who works in a major food facility said they have used it to clean food grade handling equipment that had stuff baked on. He said it came out looking like new and all that was left was the dirt that was blasted off. No media to get into things. The dry-ice dissipated away. The operator had to use an oxygen source while he was doing it and they had to ventilate the building very well. But my friend was very impressed with the outcome of the process. I wonder how that would work on a block, heads, etc???? Do not know if it would be cost effective either.

We used to use dry ice to blast semiconductor parts. Still had to clean them afterwards, but this was a class 1 clean room so it's real particular about particulates, lol.

Never had anything rusty/greasy or oily run thru the blaster. That would have contaminated everything.

No need for O2 or ventilating the building, though the blast cabinet did have a real good ventilation system and you had to ground things or you would get zapped by static electricity, still got zapped anyway.

Most all machine shops will hot tank your block after machining. That is great for getting rid of all the external gunk. Good engine cleaning brushes are a must. Use a good industrial soap and hot water. Scrub all the internal areas then use the brushes in ALL the oil passages. And clean them repeatedly. Then I use a pressure washer to rinse and blow dry with compressed air. Then clean the cylinders, I use acetone and an old white T shirt. Keep scrubbing until you don't get coloring on your towel. Do not use paper towels, they leave too much residue. After your done, wipe your cylinders, lifter bores, mains and any machined area with wd-40. Then bag the block until ready to assemble. But make sure it is absolutely dry before putting a bag over it. Remember, Cleanliness is next to Godliness!