Removing Carbon on Heads

[upjohn]

What is the best way to remove carbon from combustion chamber on heads? I do not want to bead blast.

[Diesel 68MC]

Ive used a fine wire cup brush in a cordless drill worked good or red 3m pad folded in half on a cutoff wheel arbor also in cordless drill or air die grinder.

[BlainesGarage]

Oven cleaner at the dollar store for a buck a can and a steel bristle toothbrush works very well on carbon, and it's a hell of a lot cheaper than several cans of crap at the auto parts store. rinses off nice with soapy water. try not to breathe the fumes and i wouldn't recommend soaking aluminum in the stuff over night. i left some small aluminum parts soak in a capfull over night and it piited the stuff.

Blaine...

[Hog54]

Brass wire brush bit for your drill.works perfect and is cheap.http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-PC-WIRE-CUP-B ... 1c17ec68cf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Get them at any hardware store.

[Tahoe Joe]

I've done this on K Model and Big Twin heads over the years with good results. It works for me but I don't necessarily recommend it for everyone.
NAPA has some generic house brand mag wheel cleaner. Basically it's dilute phosphoric acid. I spray it on, let work for a few minutes, spray some water and a little more mag wheel cleaner on it and then start scrubbing with a brass bristled brush , constantly flushing the slurry off with water. The acid residue should be neutralized with enough water, but to be on the safe side, I usually flush everything out with WD-40 or diesel.
Don't even think about attempting doing this without gloves and a mask!

By the way, back in the day ('68-'70) H-D had their own Gunk, it it still available?

[upjohn]

Yep Joe I remember years back called hydra seal or something like that. And supposed to use a scrapper. I don't want to go that route. Seems to me you would have to be very carefull wit a rotary brush. May go with the chemical. Thanks all.

[Hog54]

Yep Joe I remember years back called hydra seal or something like that. And supposed to use a scrapper. I don't want to go that route. Seems to me you would have to be very carefull wit a rotary brush. May go with the chemical. Thanks all.

You dont have to be careful with a brass brush at all.It wont damage anything including the aluminum.I push it right down hard into the chamber and cleans them up in minutes.Then just hit it with air.You can also get them in different stiffness,from soft to hard.

[upjohn]

OK Hog I'll try it. Let you know how it turns out.

[58flh]

STIENGAGE & HOG gave great info on this!--I to use a brass toothbrush -no drill & easy-off ovencleaner!--IT WORKS!--Let cleaner sit for 15min. & proceed to brush off!--WORKS GREAT!--I would use a drill on iron heads ,but alum. I like the hand method!--May take a little longer ,but you wont mar the surface up.----RICHIE--OH yea that stuff from HD!--I havent used in yrs. JUST because ovencleaner is soooo cheap! ---IM sorry it was BLAINSGARAGE & HOG 54!--MY bad.

[Diesel 68MC]

I forgot to mention to go vslow if using the drill or die grinder i just assumed you would think of that being that the heads are aluminum.

[Cotten]

You can't beat aluminum oxide at 90 psi, before beads, and then an aggressive hot water scrub.

I interject a step of scrupulous impregnated nylon brushing as well.

....Cotten

[steve_wood]

I've done a couple just with the glass beads and it worked pretty well. Plus that way you can do the entire head and get a nice result.

[Cotten]

Folks,

The reason I suggest the aggressive media first is to keep the bead cabinet clean.

You can't have enough blast cabinets,
(or a big enough compressor.)

....Cotten

[Hog54]

This one took about 2 minutes and it doesnt damage anything or make a big mess.

[upjohn]

Thanks to everone. Reason I was dubious about bead blasting is that I didn't want those little rascalls floating around in me motor.