Soda blasting inside of cases??

pwizl

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So I have the top end of the motor apart and will be splitting the cases this weekend. I plan on soda blasting the outside of the entire motor, head cover, head, and cases. Should I mask off the inside areas? I'm worried about the areas where the bearings rest, will unintentional blasting of those areas be bad? It appears that all of the outer rings of the bearings only "rest" on those areas while the rotation of the shaft causes the balls to rotate (that's what she said) :laughing: between the inner and outer rings. I'm thinking blasting those areas for a quick cleanup wouldn't be bad but I want other input before I make a big mistake. Thank you all in advance
 
if you are just using soda and you have the crank & tranny out of the case then you will be fine. no reason to really hit the inside of the case anyways but don't sweat it if you do. make sure you clean everything out really well. hot water and pressurized air will help you get soda out of bolt holes. i had to do several rinses before i got everything clean. thread chasers and taps help also.
 
you have to be careful with glass beads that you remove every trace of them. Glass is great for non-material removal cleaning, and it sure makes it look pretty, but with all the passages, blind holes and the like, you have to make sure you remove them all. I'm STILL fighting with my cb750 cases to remove everything. Broke two taps off because a few beads froze the threads...
 
Takes alot of rinses to get rid of the white "fuzz" that shows up after a soda blaster. I use the harbor freight blaster, works awesome on carbs.
 
Glass beads are abrasive. Bad for the inside of the motor.

Soda is not an abrasive and is soluble. If some gets inside it won't hurt anything as long as you get a little oil through and then start over fresh. (Ever put baking soda on a carpet where a dog pissed and it clumped up? That's why...not because it will abrade and damage metallic components).
 
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