pflaming Posted October 2, 2014 Report Share Posted October 2, 2014 A friend saw that I was getting ready to clean some spark plugs by bead blasting them. He cautioned me that the very fine remnants lodge in the top of the plugs then fall free get into the oil and eat up bearings VERY fast. So I went downtown and bought new ones. What experiences have you had? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Coatney Posted October 2, 2014 Report Share Posted October 2, 2014 Is your friend in the spark plug selling business? Suggest you have him explain the direct route from the combustion chamber to the engine bearings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plymouthy Adams Posted October 2, 2014 Report Share Posted October 2, 2014 also a little common sense in application and use goes a long way..most folks make inspections of the finished product before use.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Balazs Posted October 2, 2014 Report Share Posted October 2, 2014 I would suggest that a great deal of caution should be used any time you use abrasives around engine internals. Dislodged grit from a spark plug might not have a direct path to any bearings but certainly cylinder wall scoring is a distinct possibility. Years ago I was taught a valuable lesson in do's and dont's about the use of abrasives around engines. I was restoring an old motorcycle and had used a bead blaster to clean up the crankcase halves. After bead blasting I had given them a serious cleaning in detergent and a commercial parts washer. I thought I was good to go. Just before I was ready to assemble a buddy of mine saw the crankcase halves and asked what I had used to get them so clean? When I told him he got pretty upset and proceeded to show me why this was not a good idea. He had a small shop that dealt with electronics components and owned a large ultrasonic washer. He insisted I allow him to run these parts in his washer. When we were done there was about a quarter teaspoon of glass beads in his washer. This material would have found it's way into my oil, etc. None of this had showed up under a normal visual inspection. After we went through this exercise he loaned me a set of jewelers hoops. I used these to look at some of the other parts I had cleaned with the bead blaster. It was a real eye opener to say the least. One of the things I looked at was residue from the inside of an air cleaner housing that I had on my then daily driver. OMG! It is hard to believe what makes it way into an air cleaner. Quite a bit of it looked very abrasive in nature. Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Coatney Posted October 2, 2014 Report Share Posted October 2, 2014 Not hoops but loupes. I have several and use them frequently. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Balazs Posted October 2, 2014 Report Share Posted October 2, 2014 Don; I stand corrected. Sorry 'bout that. Loupes.....not Hoops.....the things I have to jump through so often. Jeff 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigDaddyO Posted October 2, 2014 Report Share Posted October 2, 2014 I remember long ago, a young feller at the place I was working at was rebuilding a VW engine. He walnut shell blasted the engine cases. Got it altogether and running and then had to do it again...forgot to clear the oil passages. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave72dt Posted October 2, 2014 Report Share Posted October 2, 2014 A friend saw that I was getting ready to clean some spark plugs by bead blasting them. He cautioned me that the very fine remnants lodge in the top of the plugs then fall free get into the oil and eat up bearings VERY fast. So I went downtown and bought new ones. What experiences have you had? Garages and service stations used plug cleaning machines for years to extend the life of plugs with little to no known ill effect. Any machine work done to the internals, including hand lapping valves, seating a new set of rings, will put more abrasives into the system than media blasting plugs followed by a shot of clean air. New plugs for these old cars and trucks are too cheap to be messing around long with old plugs. If you want to recondition the old ones, you'll need to file both electrodes flat and reset the gap after cleaning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conroe Powdercoating Posted October 3, 2014 Report Share Posted October 3, 2014 I clean mine in the sugar sand cabinet, then blow them out real good with air nozzle, re-gap and install. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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