Starting Cleanup

I had to start the process of getting into the components by stripping off the ancillaries I could get to. This was started in the last post. 

I also had to start making some headway on cleaning up as much of the gearbox and transfer case as I could so that I didn't have sand in any of the internal components that I wanted to save. This was going to be A Job. 

I have heard of people using oven cleaner -- yeah, oven cleaner -- on some of their parts to get the really stuck-on stuff off. I am aware that you're not supposed to use oven cleaner on aluminum parts but the alternative was an awful lot of scraping which would most definitely leave a bunch of scratches on the surface of the parts. So, fuckit. What's the worst that could happen? 

It worked... okay, I guess! The oven cleaner definitely softened the really hard, stuck on sand and oil. It still needed a ton of manual scraping and brushing but a couple of applications of the oven cleaner made a difference. It's not really apparent that it's damaged the surface of the gearbox, either. I mean, I don't care all that much about what it looks like aesthetically; it's already a cast part with a porous finish so... 🤷‍♂️

I think the cleaner probably helped most of all on the large flat surfaces that could be wiped, brushed, and scraped. In some of the nooks I still had to use a small cold chisel to scrape clean(er) some of the crevices. Make no mistake, this is a dirty, tedious job. 

It didn't *reeeeaalllly* help the truly hardened grease areas like on the shifter linkages or around the bottom of the castings where there are lots of nooks. 

I did my best to dump water (from a 2L soda bottle) all over the unit to make sure that as much of the oven cleaner residue was washed away as possible. I'm not a chemist but I bet that shit probably shouldn't be left on metal forever. 

Hmm. That blanking plate at the top of the bellhousing is homemade, isn't it? 

Flipping the assembly over, you can clearly see the difference between the oven cleaner-ed bits above and the greasy mess below. In particular, the sump plate is absolutely covered. There are also some pretty big dings in it. Wonder if that's why. 

Probably not.

There's absolutely no doubt this Rover led a hard life... 

The hole in here is supposed to be, you know, a hole, right? Not an oval? 

Those fasteners aren't supposed to be all glistening and wet 'cause they're coated in oil, are they? They're outside the gearbox, for chrissake.

Sigh.