Carpokes Porsche Forum

J-Dub wrote: Wed May 13, 2026 6:58 pm Really amazing work. In the last picture are the parts Zinc plated? If so are you doing that yourself?

In general are you bead blasting the parts to get them so clean? Vapor blasting?

I want to tear an engine down this summer to do a cam swap, I don't plan to be Dr. Detail like you however would like to do a little cleanup of the parts.

Yes, I do the plating. I do it for quite a few years now. It's not difficult once it's all set up. I'm blasting the parts first, then polish as good as possible. After that first clear zinc and then in a solution I got from Caswell plating.

The other engine parts like the cam housings are vaper blasted. I use a Harbor freight sand blast cabinet and converted it. It's really worth it. But all parts need to flushed really good. I also remove plugs and make new ones.

Here are the fuel and oil lines for the cam housing after assembled.



Cheers
Englbert

Looks mint Carmagic, AKA Dr. Detail!

Carmagic wrote: Thu May 14, 2026 11:32 am

J-Dub wrote: Wed May 13, 2026 6:58 pm Really amazing work. In the last picture are the parts Zinc plated? If so are you doing that yourself?

In general are you bead blasting the parts to get them so clean? Vapor blasting?

I want to tear an engine down this summer to do a cam swap, I don't plan to be Dr. Detail like you however would like to do a little cleanup of the parts.

Yes, I do the plating. I do it for quite a few years now. It's not difficult once it's all set up. I'm blasting the parts first, then polish as good as possible. After that first clear zinc and then in a solution I got from Caswell plating.

The other engine parts like the cam housings are vaper blasted. I use a Harbor freight sand blast cabinet and converted it. It's really worth it. But all parts need to flushed really good. I also remove plugs and make new ones.

Here are the fuel and oil lines for the cam housing after assembled.



Cheers
Englbert

I tried the Caswell plating, and my results were so-so. I probably needed to spend more time on the details. I do use the yellow zinc chromate on silver hardware store fasteners though. Yours looks factory, so good to know it 'can' be done. Any details on converting the HF blast cabinet to vapor blasting? My cabinet still works after all these years, but tends to make a mess with sand debris (mostly from the vacuum exhaust I think since the cabinet is sealed 12 times over). Does the vapor blast cabinet completely replace the traditional sandblaster in your opinion? In order words, if I were to convert mine, would I miss the ability to do traditional sand blasting?

Tom, I have a dry blast cabinet, which I built myself, also larger.

https://airboxer.com/blast.html


There are a lot of videos on youtube where I got my info from. Here is one

But I made this quite a few years ago. Most add a vacuum, but I found I don't need it, since it's open at the bottom where the water runs back in the bucket with the pump.

I can take a picture of my setup and post.



Cheers
Engelbert

OK, since I dropped off the heads and some other item at the machine shop, I started on the transmission.

I know it needs a new synchro ring for 1st gear, bearings, etc.









The first gear synchro need everything, New ring, gear ring and shift sleeve.

In the picture bottom is the new, top the old.



Here are the housing pieces rough cleaned



Comparison.

Before wet blasting


After




Cheers
Engelbert

That's one heck of any oil change! Love seeing all the parts clean up like that. My wet blast envy grows with every post!

Carmagic, Absolutely gorgeous work, I’m jealous!!