Evening all,

I've been wire brushing off the rust from the outside of my stripped engine block and also a couple of the brackets. Engine is a silvertop zetec.

I have a few questions before I carry on:

1) I don't seem to have done an awful lot but the wire brushes aren't really making much of an impact anymore - do they normally wear quickly ? (they were cheap ones I got from the newark autojumble).

2) Should I use wire brushes on the main outer crank pulley (for the auxilliary belt not the timing belt) seems to have a rubber seal around the middle and I am worried about damaging it ?

3) Will I be ok wire brushing the other pulleys without damaging them/affecting their strength ?

4) Should I wire brush the grooves where the pulley sits arond the outer diameter of the pulleys ?

5) In normal engine rebuild would you normally reuse the pulleys anyway ?

6) Should I not use wire brushes on aluminium parts - e.g. rocker cover (?), short part of inlet manifold ?

thanks in advance as always,
Paul

Just finnishing a 2.1 Pinto rebuild and have used wire wheels, abrasive wheels and all sorts on the pulleys and the block.
Any ally stuff has had brass wire wheels used instead of steel then autosol (metal polish) on buffing wheels.
I would be carefull around any rubber on the pulleys with wire brushes.
Wire brushes tend to loose the effect when they twist up tight so i then use abrasive wheels. I love my dremell for the smaller bits but have bought about 6 assorted packs of abrasive wheels, wire wheels and polishing wheels.
Steel can take a lot of punishment but be carefull with ally as it is so soft.

Great thanks - didn't realise you could get brass wheels for ali, I'll have to have a look for some. I've got some autosol so I'll give that a try as well.

Thanks again.

1. Wire brushes do wear out very quick.

2. You should be OK to give the rubber a light brushing over.

3. Should be no problem

4. Light brushing, just to clean.

5. re-use is OK if the setup is the same.

6. Never use steel brushes on aluminium, or magnesium; use brass.

Overall - Never use the same brush on different materials, and be gentle when wire rushing.

Thanks for the response

For the record as well what you have there is a rubber bonded pulley.
- The pulley is in multiple parts, bonded together with rubber.

THESE are good for ally.

Thanks chaps

Those fine brushes do look good - might give those a go on the rocker cover etc