What is the best chemical you can use to clean your pistons? Mine have alot of carbon buildup on them and they wont come clean. I have used alot of carb and choke cleaner on them but it wont take off the hard stuff.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...6/DSC00141.jpg
before the carb and choke cleaner

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...6/DSC00140.jpg
after. the black stuff is really stuck on and wont come off even after scrubbing with a rag.


http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...6/DSC00144.jpg
just a pic of my new le2 heads and cam.

Thanks.

 

Seafoam???
Nice heads.

 

They look pretty good after you cleaned them a little.. problem with cleaning them in the motor is the possibility of getting stuff down in the motor while you are cleaning them. Make sure you are careful and keep the dirt out.
I cleaned mine with a little brakecleaner, just enough to knock the big stuff out.

 

You could use solvent (or break cleaner), and scotchbrite. Maybe use a scraper. But thats looks alright. They dont have to be perfect.

 

There's sevral threads on here about cleaning heads, and what to avoid especially solvents. The Best method to clean the heads is a razor blade, and a vaccum cleaner, or air hose, to blow away the loose carbon. I was cautious and took my time, but I got the pistons looking out the box clean just about.

 

One thing to keep in mind is that the brake clean just washed them cylinder walls down. Oil that bitch up before you run her.

And I say enough if enough, stop before you DO get something in the engine. You can always sea foam it later. That stuff DOES work.

 

Brake cleaner and a steal bristled brush works fine. If you don't want to use that then maybe even a nylon brush will work. I've always used steal and it's fine.

 

I cant see the pics, but is the motor together? If so do NOT use scotchbrite or something because those will tear up the cylinder walls. No roloca discs or anything. You can use a wire brush, but you still need to get the carbon from between the bore and the piston above the top ring. So if you do this dont use a liquid or you might not get all of it out.

I would just use a razor blade and a vacuum cleaner to loosen the junk up and get rid of it all at once. Then run some seafoam. If you ever saw a motor that wasnt run very long they still have carbon on the tops. Just get rid of the heavy stuff so you dont risk damaging your cylinder walls.

If they're out use a brush on the tops only and spray them off with brake cleaner. Use a broken ring to clean the ring grooves. Dont use a wire brush on the skirts.

 

The way I clean carbon deposits is pretty well proven to be undamaging to the engine as well as removing the deposits with only pulling the heads.

Once the heads are off, put the piston you are cleaning at TDC then move it down the bore so that the piston top is even with the bottom of the carbon ring around the cylinder bore. That way you dont damaged the cylinder bore where the top ring rides. Then, cover any open areas you dont want crap getting into, lifter valley etc. Grab a vacuum and razor blade and go around the cylinder bore deposits and take them off. Then to the piston top with a steel or plastic scraper (usually steel) and get the carbon off the piston top. You will likely need different types of scrapers for the valve releifs... round scraper, flate scaper etc. Scrape that off while holding the vacuum to catch and flying carbon dust (plus it aint good to breathe). Then go back with a wire brush, basically looks like a wooden toothbrush with either stainless steel or brass bristles and brush it until you are happy. You dont need to turn it back to a shiney new bright aluminum color, just remove the deposits, the piston will have a yellowing too it from discoloration of fuels and combustion etc. not a problem. Then you will need to blow out the gap between the cylinder wall and the piston side to make sure there are not any chunks of carbon down in there that could scratch the cylinder wall or cause a ring to stick. Compressed air works fine, just make sure not to blow things into open areas of the engine.
Same thing for cylinder head scraping really, dont mess any machined contact surfaces and youll be ok.
As for solvents, carb cleaner works best to break up deposts, brake cleaner is more of an oil remover than a gum and carbon remover so use brake cleaner last. But make sure you oil the cylinder walls up with the piston at BDC , dont need gobs of oil, just make sure its not dry.

Ive done this on everything from kias to hondas to fords and chevys, you name it. Prolly done in the area of over 300 head jobs in the last few years, somewhere in the 1000's of cylinders. I am currently still using a 98 Camaro 3.8L engine which has hundreds of tear downs with scraping and anywhere from 50 to 100hr test runs between scrapings and its still going to this day. Just keep clean, dont mess up machine contact surfaces and youll be good to go.

 

Polo-94Z28

A little off topic, but could you PM me. That is AWESOME with how the rear "CAMARO" lights up. I wanna pick up a spare back panel, and give it a shot. I think I know how you did it, but was hoping you could give me some insight on it.

 

HardcoreRM125:

Pretty simple... dremel, piece of plexiglass, epoxy, and a neon tube on a switch. Or you can use electroluminescent sheet (check my spelling just woke up).