Well im sure that most of those have been cleaned by the machine shop he uses to do the blocks before hand, not for sure but im sure he has them decked or honed or boarded at a machine shop

 

oven cleaner works pretty good too

 

im a big fan of carb cleaner

 

I use parts washer and Kerosine. If you don't have one..walmart carb cleaner is the ----.
For the tiny parts I use my ultrasonic cleaner

 

Is it fine to just wipe that part of the crank off with a towel? I need to clean mine up when I replace the rod bearings also.

 

yea...just don't use anything that will score it..try some shop towels and carb cleaner

 

Castrol Superclean (Industrial strength)

I clean every single engine I build with that ----, I use probably a entire gallon, with a nice scrub brush, then blast it with the 2000psi pressure washer/burner at 200 degrees. The ---- melts off like butter =)

Brake cleaner and regular solvant doesnt do ---- for really nasty ----.

 

I second that