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What is the best way to clean off the deck surface when you're doing a headgasket or building an engine from scratch?

For the DIY'er, I always used a good STRAIGHT flat board for body work and started with either 80gritt or 120gritt...

Ive heard of using ATF for cleaning blocks. Just dip the whole thing and start scrubbin. my friend says there is specific "gasket remover" available as well for removing hg's. just make sure youre careful to keep the straightness of the deck, and measure as much as possible to be sure its true.

Typically I use a razor blade to gently cut/scrape off any gasket material remaining without gouging the block. If for some reason there's any burring of the edges or knicks I want taken care of to ensure proper seating I'll gently give it a clean with a fine flat bastard file. After that it's clean and polish with a ScotchBrite pad until it's finger smooth all over. Then a solid cleaning job and you're off to the races.

BlackRoseRacing wrote:For the DIY'er, I always used a good STRAIGHT flat board for body work and started with either 80gritt or 120gritt...

That's pretty agressive

Matt

I use Mopar Gasket Remover (or MCCC even), then scrape the mating surface with a nice, sharp WOODEN spatula. Enough MGR or MCCC will always get everything off. Then I do a final wipe-down with a clean rag soaked in alcohol.