What is the Best way to prep the 6.0 DECK?

mcdaniel1991 · Feb 9, 2014

wiseguy said:
320 grit on 24" long board & foamy engine brite wipe clean. Rinse with water blow dry. yes this process sucks takes minimum of 1 hour but, 320 will provide Ra<20, long board ensures deck surface is flat or at least you don't make it worse, foaming engine degreaser helps clean oil an grease also cheap 3 bucks a can. When done you will see factory machining marks. It is NOT necessary to remove any staining on surface just make sure it is clean. Removing staining will remove material!
Engines that had roloc wheels used can easily be identified by all the groves left in the deck surface. Any imperfections over .001 can/will leak

So you take the board long ways across all the cylinders with the 320 wrapped around it??

wiseguy · Feb 9, 2014

use degreaser to clean most of gunk off. We use 3m stickit rolls stick piece on long board use x pattern and back and forth, just don't go same direction too long. Just like block sanding for paint. Paper will clog up quick first couple times until deck is clean

91turbogsx · Feb 9, 2014

wiseguy said:
Engines that had roloc wheels used can easily be identified by all the groves left in the deck surface. Any imperfections over .001 can/will leak

The green rolocs talked about in this thread do not leave grooves. And didn't remove staining in my case. I tried to see if I had a good picture of a prepped surface with the green roloc but I do not have a clear one.

wiseguy · Feb 9, 2014

91turbogsx said:
The green rolocs talked about in this thread do not leave grooves. And didn't remove staining in my case. I tried to see if I had a good picture of a prepped surface with the green roloc but I do not have a clear one.

http://multimedia.3m.com/mws/mediaw...s6EVs6EVs6E666666--&fn=Roloc Bristle Disc.pdf

Roloc wheels held at wrong angle or held in one place too long will quickly damage any machined finish

jmsmith76 · Feb 10, 2014

I did my heads in December. Found some strong gasket remover, scraped with razor blades, then hit it with scotch brite pads, then 400 grit. Repeat until satisfied. Check tolerances with a good straight edge and .002 feeler gauge. Cleaned with brake clean and I did my final wipedown with MEK and lint-free cloths. I spent several hours working on block prep. I'm not a pro or anything, and it's only been a couple thousand miles since I did mine, but this seemed to work pretty well.

Here's a picture, I'm not sure how close I was to being done here, but I think this was not far from my last run...

Cknox121 · Feb 11, 2014

How are y'all keeping the trash out of the coolant and oil ports?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

jmsmith76 · Feb 11, 2014

I think you'd be hard pressed to keep 100% of the trash/cleaning chemicals out of the ports. I made a shop-vac attachment to suck out the ports after I got done. It was pretty dang effective and worked perfect for sucking out the bolt holes as well. Also poured a quart of oil down each side after installing the injectors. I figure that would catch whatever other crud was left in there and hopefully wash it down into the oil pan (leave the drain plug out, obviously). And I changed the oil/filter after 1000 miles.

As for coolant, after I got done, I water flushed the system before filling up with new coolant. Coolant filter should catch anything that managed to stay in there. My deltas haven't increased any, so I figure that's a good sign that nothing too big stayed in there to clog my oil cooler.

Wayne · Feb 11, 2014

Block drain plugs should be pulled, preferably before the heads are removed so coolant doesn't go everywhere when the head gasket seal is broken for head removal. They take an 8 mm allen wrench. One is behind the starter. The other is in the same spot, opposite side. I rinse with brake cleaner, and purge/dry with shop air. Cylinder bores are cleaned by rotating the crankshaft, and wiping the bores after trash is pushed to the top by the piston rings. Then I use the rubber tip on my air blower and run it up near the piston rings. I'm sure there are plenty of other useful methods.

mcdaniel1991 · Mar 1, 2014

Ok so the method I decided to go with is Razor blades and 320Grit on a 24in Block sander. Any qualms with this method before i begin?

msmith · Mar 2, 2014

Snake said:
Step 1 - Ford liquid metal cleaner x 2 applications (remove with shop towels)
Step 2 - brass scraper
Step 3 - Roloc 07524
Step 4 - liberally apply honing oil to the coarse side of the stone and lay the coarse side across the deck surface (standing on top of your tire and looking down at the engine, the stone should be oriented up and down. Not laying lengthwise across multiple cylinders). Using only the weight of the stone, run the stone from the front cylinder to the rear and back. Repeat. The long edge of the stone should be the leading edge as you're working, and you may have to angle the stone to get a full range of motion.

And don't go crazy with it. LOL

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I subbed this for more info, but I am particularly interested in Snake's approach with the stone.

Snake, would you mind elaborating on the use of the stone? How many passes? When do you quit? What is "don't go crazy with it?" This is the only part of my build if/when I do it, that makes me a little nervous.

Not trying to hijack things here, just trying to squeeze more info out of an already informative thread. Also getting ready to place an Amazon order for some fumoto valves and thought I might add to it.

Snake · Mar 2, 2014

I'd be happy to elaborate.

I ran the stone front to back and back to front (don't "scrub" with the stone - run it in one direction only) for 15-30 minutes on each side. A lot of that was visually checking the block to see what imperfections were shrinking / disappearing, checking the block with a straight edge, and cleaning the stone. If I remember correctly, I used the coarse side about 50% of that time.

Again, place the stone perpendicular to the block surface so there's stone hanging over the top and the bottom of the block (it's ok to lay it at an angle). Using just the weight of the stone, push it as though it were a plow. Change the angle of the stone on the block frequently, and do the same for the direction you're pushing.

Hopefully that made sense.....

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