I pulled the head off my b17a and there are a lot of deposits on the tops of the pistons as well as on and around the valves. Whats the best way to clean these myself?
thanks
colin
[size=4]soak the pistons and cylinders with break free (the GM wrench in a can works great), it will keep rust off and will break up the carbon deposits. I would send the head to a machine shop and have it hot tanked and checked for cracks and warpage. if you want to clean the head yourself, i suppose you could use the same stuff. maybe a soft brush(brass) to scrub the carbon deposits off. it worked for me. hope this helps[/size]
I guess i should make myself more clear (quite a few people here are familiar w/ my setup so i didn’t think it was that necessary). I pulled the head off to change the head gasket. I am NOT pulling the pistons or taking the head apart. The motor was recently rebuilt, and i’m not taking it apart again right now. I just want to clean up as much of the deposits as possible myself But thanks anyway.
WD-40 removes some of it.
simple green owns your momma
I meant while the pistons where in the block, just soak the s**t out of them and the carbon will slough off after a while. when I did it myself I did not take apart anything, I just cleaned everything up with the break free and a brass tooth brush and used about 20 rags to clean up the carbon and oil residue. I did not think you where taking apart the bottom end
well, i’ve been using simple green and this stuff called “oil eater” so far, and its working alright to get some of the black stuff off. But there are still some really HARD deposits on the valves…i don’t think anything is gonna take that stuff off.
i used a toothbrush. and if chemicals couldt get it, i whipped out the ol dremel
hey colin i used my dremel on my chamber and pistons. also it sounds wierd but i use ATF when cleaning all my parts… better than anything, even simple green.
heres a cam gear i did also…
if you have your head off send it to the shop and have it hot tanked you dont have to disassemble anything to do that. it will be nice and clean then.
Mr 2GenTeg, as he already said TWICE is his post’s… he wants to do the job himself.
what do they use when they hot tank it? what about the valve seals?
Originally posted by XDEep
what do they use when they hot tank it? what about the valve seals?
it is usualy jus a water based (enviromentaly safe) chemical that the part(s) are washed in that has been heated up (hence the HOT tank). you can get technical if you want about it but it is simply a heated parts washer. most any shop will have one that they use to wash grease/residue off stuff they are rebuiling or jus cleaning off in general. we used to have one but since we “stoped” doing service we had the chem. co. take it away.
rolox disc on a dremel
well, the head is back on the block now. I still have to put in the cams and hook everything up tomorrow though. Hopefully it won’t leak this time!! (crosses fingers, gets on knees and begins to pray)
oh, and andee, those pics look really good. Definitely would have taken me quite awhile to get it to that point though, and i just didn’t have the time. Those damn deposits on the valves were the main problem, i have no idea what the hell that stuff is but it was stuck on there!
thanks:bow:, i think i have too much time on my hands at work thats how they came out like that. :bored:
hey speeddaddy, so auto tranny fluid works for cleaning pistons?
ima be pullin apart my b16 block to clean up the pistons to put in my ls soon… so yea… 
Damn colin! Good luck bro! Man i wish u the best of luck, i hope it finally works out for u…
that was back in january… i think colin is back up n runnin again…
hehehe
ATF fluid works well as it has chemicals in it to eat deposits from the tranny:)
It also works very well as a flush for your engine before you change the oil;)
Another really great way to remove rust/deposits is a can of good ole’ PB Blaster (God’s gift to mechanics)