Restoring cars, motorcycles and trucks using abrasive blasting is achieved best when the proper media is selected for different areas of the vehicle. Just as it is important to use an aggressive media on a heavily rusted frame or a non-warping media on thin panels, blasting engine parts also demands the proper media selection.
Glass Bead is a very popular media for blasting engine parts. This media will strip paint, oxidation and soils without etching the surface. Glass Bead leaves a smooth, peened surface finish. In some cases (especially high performance engines), the surface tolerances are extremely critical. Blasting with Glass Bead can result in clean parts but potential diminished engine performance.
This engine part (above) required the removal of oxidation on the metal. Blasting the part with Glass Bead produced a very clean finish but was too aggressive on the surface finish. The blasted part (below) was blasted cleaned with an Extra Fine Walnut Shell Grit. This much softer media removed nearly all of the oxidation with no impact to the metal surface. This part is now ready for further processing to prepare it for the high performance required.