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Head refinishing with vaporblasting

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Jon Lane

15+ Year Contributor
405
31
May 1, 2004
SW, Florida
Dustless wet 'vapor-blasting' uses glass beads or other media cushioned by water. It has no effect on surfaces except to deep-clean and seal them. Works well for aluminum heads. This work was done by Hurricane Vintage Cycleworks in Mobile AL.

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This method is actually less friable than soda. Other benefits to wet blasting ("honing" in the trade) with fine media suspended in water:

"...the presence of water between the media and the substrate being processed creates a lubricating cushion that can protect both the media and the surface from excess damage. This has the dual advantage of lowering media breakdown rates and preventing impregnation of foreign materials into the surface. Hence surfaces after wet blasting are extremely clean, there is no embedded secondary contamination from the media or from previous blasting processes, and there is no static cling of dust to the blasted surface. Subsequent coating or bonding operations are always better after wet blasting than dry blasting because of the cleanliness levels achieved."
 
Oh, I wouldn't bolt it back on as-is. While water is supposed to carry away all the media, negative spaces could still be a problem.

This head was high mileage and needed the resurfacing and it was ported so it was worth saving. It'll also get resurfacing, guides, and a valve job. Before and after that it gets a thorough clean with all the threaded plugs removed. Galleys, coolant chambers, everything - a typical housekeeping.

But in terms of surfaces this is a viable way to go. Less porous than brand new aluminum, too.
 
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