q-tips and shop towels

I stopped by Checker Auto Parts on the way home from work and bought some engine cleaner, WD-40, Permatex copper gasket sealant, and a cheap torque wrench. I also bought some 220 sandpaper, shop towels, and a 100 W shop light from Lowe's home improvement store.

I spent a couple of hours cleaning up the engine block, in the hopes that I could get it prepped for installing the head on Friday at lunchtime with the help of a generous co-worker. First I took a good look at the engine:

...which was looking pretty nasty. After spending a couple of months under tin foil and a tarp (which had been intended to keep water out of the block), a bunch of coolant had re-located itself in some of the bolt holes and cylinder #6:


I soaked up the coolant from cylinder #6 with a couple of shop towels, then went to work cleaning off the top of the block. First I soaked the nasty bits with some engine cleaner. A putty knife took off the big chunks, then I went at it with some 220 sandpaper wetted down with WD-40. Which got me to about this stage:


The bolt holes were next to clean. I used a combination of Q-Tips and some bits of paper towel wrapped around some very long needlenose pliers to get the sludge out of the bolt holes. This took a considerable amount of time, and by 11 pm I had only completed one side of the engine, and decided to call it a night.

But not before taking the head out of its protective plastic bag and giving it a spray of WD-40, as it had started to rust a bit. I also took this photo showing where the head had been milled:


Next steps:

• Machine the dowels I'd previously cut down a bit smaller than 0.45" -- they slide through the head alright, but are just a bit too big for the threaded block.
  
• Clean out the other side of bolt holes.
  
• Borrow a tap from work to tap out the bolt holes so they're nice and clean.
  
• Buy some cans of compressed air to blow the crap out of the bolt holes and cylinders.
  
• Clean the head bolts a little better. Maybe use the wire wheel at work?