I think I got taken for a bit of a ride here. I didn't look in the coolant passages of this little motor until I got it home and when I did, there's still scale all over them. Last time I did this (~10 years) I remember getting back a nice clean block and not something that looks like it's been left in the rain. (I'll get a couple of pics when the batteries cool down, and I've already wire brushed it a bit). Tell me, don't they also put some sort of coating on the block? And why the hell did they paint my aluminum head instead of the block??

I don't know about the paint on the head. As for the block. If you had it hot tanked I would still clean the hell out of every passage you can access. In the past I have used a 22 cal. cleaning rod with brushes and such on the oil passages . The hot tank should get 90% though. Gary

Having some difficulty with attachment.php (bats&!tinsane opening of new tabs after selecting for firefox to open php files by default, odd).

I put them on flickr (top four photos):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ironlizard/

Cleaning the aluminum head must reveal all sorts of stains or something, because when I got my head rebuild it was painted an "Aluminum" color. In fact, I think that every aluminum cylinder head I ever took in to a machine shop on any car cam back painted...

I could be wrong...

Ok, maybe I'm just paranoid. Did they also paint the inside of your ports?

All the heads I have had done have always come back nude i.e. bead blasted.

Never heard of anyone painting a ali head before. I'd ask them for a reason why.

Another odd problem has surfaced. The head gasket is missing several cooling holes.

I just got my head machined by a well respected machinist in town. It came back painted. I remember him saying something about the paint, but I cant quite remember what it was. I think it was just a finish so you dont have a tarnished aluminum look on your head after a few months.

Ok, I'm just freaking then. There's just been a few too many irregularities in this whole experience. (Like the adjustable non-adjustable lifters that are supposed to be hydraulic but aren't.)

Dunno. I'm guessing the paint is applied to seal the porous aluminum. Without something, you'll end up with aluminum oxide build up in no time flat. It looks like white powder. All my unfinished aluminum parts end up that way after a few months unless I throw some clear coat at them or keep them waxed. Then again, I live 3 blocks from the ocean.

Well, it's just about done. Here's hoping I didn't forget anything :dead:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ironlizard/430982483/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/153/430982483_70eee3fb53_b.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="Engine 3 010" /></a>

Damn that looks nice...

At least alot nicer that my oil covered block that I wont be able to pull and build for a while now. I cant wait until I get the Chance (time and money) to do that... .