One of my rotors had a sticky corner seal when I last rebuilt it that caused the engine to have low compression. This time I was going to sandblast them to ensure that they got nice and clean. Then I'll mess with that corner seal if it still has problems. I was just going to cover the bearings and do the whole rotors. I just wanted to make sure that using abrasives was okay on the seal grooves. I didn't think that it would wear down the material noticeably, but I just want to make sure.

 

i'd like to know this too

 

Sand blast? Hell No. Walnut shells would be ok but not gonna get the carbon off. You could use soda.



Just clean the thing and inspect/clearence it before you install. its not that hard.





GregW

 

I absolutely do not recommend doing any of the above. Most of the time mishandling of the rotors causes dinks and problems on the seal grooves (mainly apex to corner seal grooves) that have to be filed out.



I use a gallon sized jug of Zep industrial cleaner (from Home Depot, $8/gal). I think it may damage the outer portion of the bearing so use new bearings. I use a brass brush to scrub them down.



B

 

Okay, thanks for the replies. I had been just scrubbing away on them with a brass brush and engine degreaser before. I will just continue with that and make sure I get the seal grooves really well.

 

if your replacing the bearings, just soak them in a carb bath for a few days. Mak sure you clean that crap off good. then repplace your bearings and you have two rotors that look new.

 

Soak in kerosene for a day or two, let dry. Then take a stainless steel wire brush to the rotor. The kerosene removes any trace of oil form it, and the dry carbon comes off like nothing.

 

I doubt people will like my method, but I've had good results with soaking in gas and using a toothbrush to dislodge the loose stuff. After the rotor is dry, I then wirewheel the faces with a fine bristle wheel. The gas doesn't hurt the bearings and cuts through the oil.



Gas is dangerous.

 

Zep is awesome stuff. We use that stuff to clean all of our engines, transmissions, and parts. THAT STUFF WORKS!!!! We also get it in 55 gal drums.

 

You need to pick the abrasive for the situation. There are abrasives designed for use on precision machined parts.