So today I cleaned up the second engine I got. I never thought I would be cleaning ANOTHER ONE. I'm pretty damn fast at it now that I have it down to a science. I have this cleaner which is a floor stripper which is generally used by people who strip the floor clean before they wax it. I buy this stuff in a 5-gallon bucket ($27) and it lasts forever. It washes your hands very well and it's water soluble. I prefer to water it down 2:1 for oil and grease cleaning and for your hands and other lighter cleaning 1:3 works very well. This stuff is SUPER STRONG so using it straight is a complete waste.
So I put my engine on blocks and place a piece of foil under the side of the engine I'm about to spray down. This easily catches all the run-off and also the dirt and oil when it drips down the engine as you are scrubbin. I have the best results removing the oil while using a plastic brush. The metal is just to dense and is hard to work quickly. It's overkill to use a metal brush basically.
Here is a shot of the dirty engine just as I have sprayed it with the cleaner to let it soak for 5 minutes or so. Notice the foil in place to catch the crud.
And viola, here is the side of the engine after about 5 minutes of scrubbing with the small plastic brush. The brown spots are just difficult spots of buildup that easily come off with a little wire brush motion. I prefer my cordless Dremel for those little areas. The Dremel with a wire cup style brush shines those spots right out in seconds.
For the ends of the engine and the top I use a different approach which I will touch on in my next post.