Well.. I started my first rebuild in a long time.... Last time I did it, my rotors munched so I bought a set that had already been cleaned and prepped. I just pieced'em out and dropped them in. This time I'm re-using rotors that are all gunked up with carbon and what not. I've soaked them in kerosene overnight, then scrubbed them with a brass brush. No matter how hard I scrub, it never seems to get all of the thick carbon buildup. So.. I pulled out a spare set of rotors that had carbon on it and started to shine them up with a steel wire wheel. I didn't do this on my main rotors, as I didn't know if it would damage the rotors.



I'm pretty pleased with the results. Which areas on the rotor do I need to be careful of... I was careful of the raised rings in the middle and the edges. I tried to keep the corners and edges as sharp as possible and not round anything off.



Other than those areas, can you think of any that I need to avoid with a steel brush? Think I should go ahead and do this on my main set of rotors?



What are your opinions; all of my brass brushes just aint cutting it. (literally).



Here's some pics of my results:

http://picasaweb.google.com/micaheli/RX7EngineRebuild



Don't mind the pics of my ugly ***... The wife thought she'd come in and take some pics.. and I'm too lazy to delete them.

 

I used to clean my engine bits with a type of decarboniser (like brake cleaner) but recently an engine shop opened round the corner from work and they Sonic clean engine componants (its the best £20 i have spent) after i got the bits back i tried scraping the Side seal/Apex grooves out with old seals and it was spotless. I would recomend asking at your local engine shop if they have that service.

 

I really don't think I have any place like that around here....... What do you mean "engine shop" like a general auto mechanic?



Sounds awesome! I would love something like that...



Any other suggestions?

 

ive always wondered how some cleaners affect the bearings...

been using berryman chem dip for general parts...

 

I read somewhere that a guy was using that purple power stuff and it removed the silver layer off of his bearings.. went right to copper support layer.



But, the kerosene hasn't visually affected it yet and plenty of people use Kerosene I know...



But thats a good point to make. The ultrasonic stuff might degrade the soft bearing surface.... I'm no mechanical engineer or chemist; I'll leave that up to them....







So.. do you think the wire wheel is too harsh?

 

not to steel the thread but what about hot tanking the rotors , housings and irons. i had a freind who had his motor parts, rotors, housings and irons hot tanked at the local engine shop with good results. however we did knotice some very very small pitting starting to develop on the iron faces where the rotor touched them. i dont think it had any affect as the motor is still holding up well and he beats the **** out of it. is the sonic cleaning anything like the hot tank cleaning? i need to send out some irons for lapping soon and i need to know if the sonic cleaning has the same affect before i send out the irons for lapping.



randy

 

Dip them in carb cleaner :-)

 

what i use is gunk carb cleaner!!! we have used it for years!!

 

I've tried carb cleaner.... **** aint working. I'll just assume that means the steel wire wheel is too abraisive. I'll just work at it a little longer with the kerosene and a brass brush.



Maybe I just have some extraordinarily gunked up rotors? Lucky me.

 

well what ever you do dont take them too the wire wheel, their is a baboth coating on the rotors from the factory, and a wire well will take it off, unless you are planing on geting the coated anyway