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Head gasket residue on block. Removal?


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I'm rebuilding my engine and I got my heads resurfaced and my block cleaned by a shop but residue still remains on the block. I have taken a scotch brite pad and brake cleaner and tried to clean it up better but its not budging. My question is can I get by without it being a mirror-like finish. Will it be good enough as it is in the picture? I can't feel any gasket, almost like the block is stained. EJ22 motor. Head gaskets were fine before the rebuild.

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Edited by gravitate
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You've got the block torn down that far just have the deck (top surface) milled. At that point another $100 isn't gonna break the bank.

 

My normal method once the major head gasket bits are removed is to use 1000 grit sand paper to give a final finish.

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a little bit of 400 - 800 grit wet sanding will lift a little more. Be gentle though. If it were an EJ25 or something with MLS gaskets, I'd say mill it....

 

But this is a 90s EJ22. Those gaskets are much more forgiving. In my opinion, the surface should not be super polished. You want just a little roughness for the gasket to adhere to. Not a lot but I would probably not go higher than 800 grit on the surface. That's just me though. Not sure if Miles Fox still lurks on here much but he has slapped a lot of these motors together with no resurfacing and only so much sanding and polishing and I don't recall there ever being a repeat failure.

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sand paper.  i think 400 grit is roughly the one that gives a proper surface finish (GD has it listed in his thread about DIY head resurfacing).  i'd probably go with that but it's unlikely to matter either way - if it's flat and done right the chances of having issues are miniscule. 

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