Cleaning an aluminum head

[Larry Hill]

What is the best way to remove carbon buildup. The wire brushes I used on the iron heads are too aggressive for the aluminum heads.
Thanks

[Ronnie Hamlin]

3M makes plastic Roloc discs for cleaning aluminum parts. I think they call them bristle discs and are available in different amount of aggressive according to the color. I tend to use the yellow ones

[SSDiv6]

Oven cleaner, Super Clean, Brake cleaner, 100 grit 3M Pro-Pad Hand Sanding Sponge and lots of elbow grease.

[Greg West]

We used Snap-On (Bluepoint) p/n AC16C wire brushes in our test labs. These brushes would not damage aluminum heads or blocks. The wire diameter is .006" so they are quite soft.

[FED 387]

Larry--- you might look into using Berrymans Chem Dip-# 0996 carb cleaner--dont soak parts for more than 30-45 minutes at a time and "lightly" brush the carbon with a parts cleaning brush ---then take a shop towel and "dry and rub the carbon" it will come off just takes time depends on how bad it is may have to repeat the procedure multiple times--- Dick

[Larry Hill]

I got some Dremel tool wire brushes the steel wire ones last longer than the brass ones. And have some ss steel tooth brushes to use in the runners with brakeclean.

Thanks for all the good ideas.
Common sense in abundance is genius!

[pmrphil]

Carb clean will dissolve the carbon way better than the brake cleaner.

[Jack Zimmerman]

On my iron heads, bead blasting them in my blast cabinet with walnut shell media works pretty well in the exhaust ports and the other nooks and crannies, etc. as long as the heads are completely disassembled such that you can wash out all of the media with a garden hose and compressed air when you're done. And I've cleaned other aluminum parts with walnut shells as well and they don't change the surface finish at all so I'm guessing that they would work well and be OK on a cylinder head. But you should probably try it on a non-critical area first and start with a relatively low pressure. And if you are not aware, Harbor Freight has the walnut shell media if you need some.

[Larry Hill]

I will shell out some dollars for some shells and some carb cleaner and give it a try.

We have black walnut trees in the yard and to crack the shells it takes a big hammer and safety glasses.

[Jim Wahl]

Originally Posted by Larry Hill

I will shell out some dollars for some shells and some carb cleaner and give it a try.

We have black walnut trees in the yard and to crack the shells it takes a big hammer and safety glasses.

I just spit sweet tea outa my nose! Thanks Larry. Jim



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