Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Hiya,
I'm at the point of cleaning both the head and block in preparation for the new head gasket.
I'd like to be able to do it at home if possible. I have a DVD about a twin cam rebuild and have done lots of googling and there seems to be a massive amount of differing opinion about what will either clean or ruin a surface. The gent in the DVD uses emery cloth wrapped around a straight file and it seemed you could see scratches in the head after he did this.

so far I've been using a straight blade very gently scraping which has made the surface of the head smooth to touch but I can still see remnants of gasket. Or is it just staining?

Does anyone have any good methods to get clean surface on head and block? Or perhaps a suggestion on how good is "good enough"

cheers,
_jim

CRC gasket remover and scrape very carefully with a flat bladed scraper to remove any stuck bits. Clean up with a degreaser, stiff plastic brush and soft cloth until you have clean bare metal is what I do

cheers
Rohan

Thanks Rohan

And if you want to be real careful, get a piece of perspex and sharpen it up to use as a scraper.
It's not as hard as steel and is way less likely to dig a hole in an aluminium surface.

It'll need re-sharpening from time to time, ( on your bench grinder), but you can get it surprisingly sharp.

I've heard that acetone and thinner work great also for cleaning the surface of the heads.

+1 I also finish with acetone
Alan

+2 for acetone and a suitable scraper that will not be melted by the acetone. Use latex gloves not pvc/vinyl, as these will be melted by the solvent. DO NOT use it without some hand protection (a little is OK) as it defats skin (you don't want to know) and is nasty stuff. Also use in a well ventilated area, pref outside. But it works brilliantly.

Or, take it to a machine shop!

Jeremy