The title says it all; what is the best way to strip the paint from the head block? The previous owner painted the longblock black (and did a subpar job; it's flaking and generally looks awful). Can I just tape up sensors/etc and spray the longblock with Aircraft Stripper™? TIA

-Wes

 

I personally haven't seen one instance of the paint holding up.the block will need tons of prep work in order to look ok and that doesn't mean it won't flake.I also would like to say this is assuming you plan on daily driving the motor.I would personally strip it and go at it with degreaser and comet Ajax and a ton of scotchbrite pads and start scrubbing.

 

The engine is going in my track car. I don't plan on repainting the block; apologies if that was unclear from my initial post. I will spray the block with Aircraft Stripper™ and go from there. I appreciate the help.

 

If it's already flaking, have you thought about spraying it down with a pressure washer? I'm guessing he did a shitty prep job so I bet it will all get blown off.

 

I agree and that eliminates getting the aircraft stripper off afterwards.

 

aircraft stripper. don't get the $10 can of it at autozone, get the $10 can at O'reillys, it actually works. Everytime I get the autozone one it doesn't spray out of the can correctly and doesn't take the paint off nearly as well.

 

yea u can probab just pressure wash it off, whenever ive painted blocks or head, they were completely washed and degreased and then i red scuff padded em and ahve never had one peel and weve done quite a few