Hey guys i have my ktm 150sx motor out of the frame right now. I am planning on soda blasting it, if unfamiliar it involves using baking soda and an air compressor to blast the surface and get rid of discoloration, dirt, and grime. I have sealed off all the openings I know of, if you have any tips or anything I missed let me know before I continue as I don't want to destroy anything. (The soda it self is rather gentle and washes off with water). To plug the openings i used water proof tape, then duct tape, then a zip lock zip tied onto the manifolds. I got the 2 radiator hose inlet and outlets, intake manifold, and exhaust port. Also the hydraulic clutch cover i made my own cover out of acrylic, used this sticky double sided tape as a gasket and bolted it on.
The soda will get into places where it will do damage….best to disassemble parts you want to blast….
I’ve always heard it will always find its way into an engine so taking it apart makes the most sense.
I just soda blasted my cases with a crappy $28 harbor freight gun. Came out with a dull finish which is exactly what I wanted
I've heard others say it's gentle enough and if holes are sealed it won't do damage, and won't get into the engine?
Realistically I would think so. Hard to imagine media getting through spots that oil doesn’t come through if sealed up correctly
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Have you looked at getting it dry ice blasted
Obviously no issue with blasting media ingress then.
I did this exact same thing on an engine that I tore completely down, even with a good tape & seal job the soda still found its way into internal places where it would have effected bearings and bottom end. Proceed with caution, at a minimum pull cylinder, powervalve cover to inspect & flush bottom end…I did many hrs of home soda blasting on my earlier builds, it does an ok job, I found it worked best on cleaning up natural color wheel hubs, when you didn’t want to disassemble the wheels as the soda would not harm the spokes…I eventually learned to completely disassemble the entire bike/ build and make a pile of parts to be sent to someone who was performing vapor blasting in a cabinet….much better results and no clean up….
What do you flush the bottom end with, gas?
Crank area with your gas & oil mixture, gearbox with gearbox oil…but…if you must attempt this, pull clutch cover, powervalve covers, reed assy. To inspect to see if the soda migrated into the engine…. You will be surprised where it will enter…. You are blasting a very fine abrasive power, using compressed air… the kickstart shaft, front sprocket collar shafts among others are areas where that soda will get into your engine…..I was shocked to see how much got into the engine I did…but I knew I would be tearing in down….
Im not sure how it can get in there with the sealing off i did. I pulled clitch cover off and make a acrylic block off plate with a gasket and grease. Intake opening and exhaust have a first layer of thick waterproof tape, then many layers of duct tape, then zip lock zip tied onto it and then more duct tape. Then the 2 radiator hoses are water proof taped then duct taped more. Im also gunna wrap all the seals like the sproket and kick start with tape just to prevent direct contact wjth the blasting. Its not to really prevent the soda from reaching the seals just to sort of slow it down.
Blast away…I”m only offering my opinion based off my experience with soda blasting….
I appreciate your opinion and experience and am definitely second guessing doing it, just wondering what are some other entry point where it could possibly enter from other than the ones I mentioned? I might just test it on a small area first to see if it's even worth it or not
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