How to keep contamination out when rebuilding an engine?

This is a question for those who have rebuilt engines in a "home" environment such as a shed or garage.

How do you go about keeping the work area clean enough to ensure that nothing can contaminate the engine internals?

All it takes is a gust of wind in the wrong direction for dust to blow about inside the workshop.

I would like to have a go at rebuilding an engine some time in the future, but would always worry that dirt had got inside it during the rebuild.

Thanks for any replies.

@Al2O3

May be able to give you an answer.

Cheers

Webley1991 said:

This is a question for those who have rebuilt engines in a "home" environment such as a shed or garage.

How do you go about keeping the work area clean enough to ensure that nothing can contaminate the engine internals?

All it takes is a gust of wind in the wrong direction for dust to blow about inside the workshop.

I would like to have a go at rebuilding an engine some time in the future, but would always worry that dirt had got inside it during the rebuild.

Thanks for any replies.

Click to expand...

How dirty is your workshop?
I did nothing more with mine than cover it with a plastic sheet, occasionally!. Checked the cylinders carefully before I put the head on and that was it. Didn't worry about it too much. There was no machining, or anything like that, going on in the garage at the time.

Webley1991 said:

This is a question for those who have rebuilt engines in a "home" environment such as a shed or garage.

How do you go about keeping the work area clean enough to ensure that nothing can contaminate the engine internals?

All it takes is a gust of wind in the wrong direction for dust to blow about inside the workshop.

I would like to have a go at rebuilding an engine some time in the future, but would always worry that dirt had got inside it during the rebuild.

Thanks for any replies.

Click to expand...

clean every thing just prior to fitting with an air blow gun and sheet after you finish

What they said .... Clean the engine as best you can before you remove most of it, cover with a sheet afterwards and try to clean any dust (cement dust from unsealed garage floors is particularly nasty inside an engine) or dirt after you've covered the engine, in bits or not, with a decent sheet or three ..

Tis easy I build them in the living room whilst listening to mtv

kevstar said:

Tis easy I build them in the living room whilst listening to mtv

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Sounds like a proper man living room, that.

Al2O3 said:

Sounds like a proper man living room, that.

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Ive already fkd a dishwasher cleaning motor bits lol

kevstar said:

Ive already fkd a dishwasher cleaning motor bits lol

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Ha, ha, a man kitchen anorl Tremendous!

kevstar said:

Ive already fkd a dishwasher cleaning motor bits lol

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Hold on! The dishwasher's not in the living room is it

Al2O3 said:

Hold on! The dishwasher's not in the living room is it

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Eh....nearly I knocked the wall down to make it open plan so I could wheel my engine stand about plus
I tiled all the flooring so I it wheels about with ease

I once kept a Suzuki 1000 engine in my bathroom .. we were racing sidecars and had fettled it to have a right hand gear change, Unfortunately I didn't know the seal was leaking, so smoe oil went under the bath and into the floor .... a lot! So it was left maybe three months to soak in during summer.

Not a problem I hear you say, clean it up, job's a good 'un. Hang on, says I, 'old style' underfloor heating with wiring like an electric blanket, almost impossible to clean. Every time I turned the heating on during Autumn and Winter the feckin' floors smoked!!

I left the following Spring ..

Thanks for the replies.

Al2O3 said:

How dirty is your workshop?

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I don't actually have a workshop at home as I live in a flat.

I was just thinking that nothing can ever be completely clean. Even if the inside is clean, as I said, wind in the right direction can bring dust in under the door or through gaps any small gaps.

Just try & keep things as clean as you can.
You're not going to be able to eliminate all dust & you'll just drive yourself mad if you try.
Most of my stuff is done on the drive - can't get much into the garage due to the amount of kit in there already.
Thorough clean of the floor - I've got a Henry hoover which is garage use only - and put down large sheets of cardboard to work on which also help to stop any spills making a mess.

When i did mine with a mate I covered with a sheet when not working, used an air duster gun and road traffic film remover to clean bits before fitting, used a good assembly lube, and gasket positioning pritt stick stuff. I also segregated clean and not clean stuff - i.e. stored them in seperate boxes

As long as its visually clean it will be fine, i would be more worried about not assembling it correct than dust tbh.

Bit of an afterthought, you could put bits into large clear plastic bags as you take them off.
If you are dismantling something & there's a risk of a liberated bit pinging off into the distance then put it into a big clear plastic bag, close it up round your hands/forearms & anything that takes flight will be caught in the bag.

Ratae said:

Bit of an afterthought, you could put bits into large clear plastic bags as you take them off.
If you are dismantling something & there's a risk of a liberated bit pinging off into the distance then put it into a big clear plastic bag, close it up round your hands/forearms & anything that takes flight will be caught in the bag.

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*Pingfuggits are the worst ...

*Other spellings and pronunciations are available.

That was a 'Guess how I know' .
I once spent several hours looking for part of a CZ75 safety catch which I had foolishly stripped in a room filled with boxes of stuff after we'd just moved house........