Next week I'll be starting a ported and polished cylinder head swap on my '97 Z in my garage and I'm now in the process of trying to get everything I'll need "on site", to prevent all those last minute trips to the parts store. My LT1 has about 77,000 miles on it and I know the piston tops are going to be pretty well carboned up. I've used Gumout carb cleaner and plenty of "elbow grease" to remove carbon deposits before but, in this day and age there must be something better? Does anyone make some chemical and/or cleaner that is really good at removing Carbon from piston tops? TIA for all replys!

 

I'm no help on your question but there are always those last minute trips to the parts store. I'm so glad there is an Advance being built about 3 miles from my house. I just wish they would hurry up.

 

Yep, I know how you feel, my nearest parts store is about 6 miles away, one way, (i.e. 12 miles round trip).

Now, anyone found a chemical or cleaner really good for getting rid of Carbon deposits on pistons?

 

I wouldnt use any solvents because they may leak down past the rings and into your oil. Just get a wire brush or something to scrape it off. FWIW my pistons didnt have any carbon buildup on them when I pulled the heads at 98k miles.

 

I recommend that your steer clear of a sotchbrite pad; it will leave small pieces of abraisive that can get trapped down in the ring area. I just use elbow grease and brake cleaner sparayed on the rag, not the piston.

 

I used WD-40 and a wire brush to get the little that I did have. I made sure to get the stuff out of there before it had a chance to pool up. PLENTY of shop towels and rags. Have extra ratchets. I broke a few in my swap.

 

WOW! No carbon deposits after 98,000 miles, I should be so lucky. As for the solvent rundown past the rings, I will be changing my oil during the swap, so I'm not really too worried about that. Anyone got any favorite products for carbon removal? And yes, thanks again for all replies!

 

I was pretty impressed. All there was to clean up was a ring of buildup above the piston TDC on the cylinder wall. I am thinking the reason mine looked so clean was because I had been gradually pulling fuel to lean out the motor and may have gone a little to far at idle.

 

Okay, I stopped by the Autozone last night and asked the counter guy if he knew of any product that was particularly good for removing carbon deposits from pistons and he showed me a 12 oz. aerosal spray can of something called "Sea Foam Deep Creep". He admitted he personally had never used the product but said that customers seemed to be pretty pleased with the way it worked. Sooooo........ somebody on this board must have bought or used this product before, is it any good for cleaning carbon off of pistons? As always, TIA for any and all replies.

 

Seafoam makes good stuff. Be sure to get that stuff out of the cylinders before start up. I used WD-40 because of its chemical content.

 

Should I clean the carbon off mine while the heads are off?I planned on just leaving it because I did'nt think it did any harm.
Thanks,
JE

 

Make sure you get ARP assembly lube or something equivalant like teflon tape. This is a must when installing the header bolts into the water jacket area. I forgot all about that and I had to make a seperate trip to the store.

 

You really meant to say cylinder head bolts not header bolts, right? I have thread sealer for the head bolts, didn't think the header bolts needed anything on them, correct? Camaro4LifeSS, I want to clean up my piston tops because the heads I'm installing have been decked .020" and I will be using the Mr. Gasket 5716 .026" compressed thickness head gaskets, which, with my combustion chamber volume of 53.5cc, should put me around 11.2 to 1 for a static compression ratio, and I want to minimize any chance of detonation from carbon buildup on the piston tops. And again, thanks to all who replied.

 

Need antiseize for any bolts threading into aluminum (intake, headers, etc)

 

Actually, i just did heads on my 3100 v6 for practice on the LT1, and it had a load of carbon on the pistons....anyways, we used one of those plastic discs about 1.5" wide that are made to clean gaskets of the block....it worked so good i almost cried. Plus the plastic is non harmful, do yourself a favor and get that