Post 16: Toothbrush Time

"Whatcha doing out there?"

"Cleaning."

"Oh.  Toothbrush time again?"

"Yup."

That was me and my wife a couple hours ago.  She knows me too well - she knows that when I clean parts in the garage (and I'm not making a bunch of noise with an angle grinder or air compressor), I'm most likely out there with a spray bottle of Simple Green, a roll of paper towels, and a stainless steel toothbrush.  She was right.

I've been cleaning the engine for the last few days.  I did one of the heads one night, worked on the short block yesterday, and then the other head tonight.  A little more work and a round of pre-paint cleaner and I'll be ready to start re-assembling the motor.

I needed a valve spring compressor to pull the springs off the heads before I cleaned, and because I got a brand-new, better set of springs with the heads when I bought them.  I looked around for a rental but everything I read said the ones at Autozone, etc. are junk.  So, I made my own.  I saw a picture of one for sale for $35 on a forum and it looked really basic.  I found some scrap steel in the garage, bought a metric bolt for 2 bucks, and got to drilling.  Here's what it looks like and how it worked on the head I cleaned tonight.















Note the fancy valve organizer...

That was before, and here's the after.







Here's the rest of the motor. Not bad for 75,000 miles, eh? Of course, I cleaned the hell out of the block when I got it two years ago. This time around it was a quick job.





And finally, here's a picture of the Explorer housing all welded up. My dad brought it back down to my house, and I'll start working on that probably the next time it's raining too hard to go outside and work on the frame.