I am ready to install my heads as soon as they are cleaned out. Is there any way I can hot-tank them at home? The shop is open tomorrow until 1 but I won't get my heads back until Monday night or Tuesday. I would like to degree the cam and test my valve-piston clearance and have the engine assembled by then... Any suggestions? I have already disassembled the heads down to the valves and seals only. I lapped the valves so they have a nice clean contact patch and have polished the valve stems and faces. I have a set of extra seals and new springs, locks, and retainers and ready to go except for a mild rust and carbon buildup throughout the passages and ports. I have a crawfish pot and propane burner if that helps...
That is a pretty good idea...Anyone else confirm or argue against this? I could get in there with a dremel and just knock out the surface contaminants, but I just lapped the valves and don't want to take a chance at touching one of my newly cleaned surfaces with the dremel bit... I have been hitting it with brake cleaner and most comes off, but not all of it. And those cans of brake cleaner empty out pretty quick, at $3 bucks a can, it gets expensive pretty quickly. Thanks for the quick reply tony
Get a 55gal steel barrel and put rollers on a bracket on the bottom. Put a water heater elemen in the side of the barrell as close to the bottom as possible. Using a grate in the bottom will help too. Fill with water and tide soap or a good degreaser like purple power. Let it get up to 212deg. and hang parts from hoist or chain. Then rinse and rinse and rinse after a couple hours. OR, use the oven cleaner as mentioned, works pretty good if you get the good stuff. As always use goggles and gloves etc. The barrell idea requires 220 volt plug though.
get a clean 55 gallon drum. aquire a heating device such as a junk gas grill.they are everywhere here. break the grill down(as in saw off the legs to a desired height) put the barrell(cleaned out of anything hazardous of course) on the apparatus, fill with desired cleaning solution, and fire it up. start drinkin, and hang out. pretty soon, youll have real clean heads, be really happy, and all your friends will envy your ingenuity. bah, old guy beat me to it, i type to slow, but my ways funner
http://www.fordmuscle.com/forums/tech-exchange/467718-rust-removal-electrolysis.html Not sure if you want to do this or not. Don't know why it wouldn't work on heads
Hmmm, that battery thing is kinda scary...Now the boiling water with degreaser, I can do that in my propane powered crawfish cooker (wonder how those mudbugs will taste next time I use that cooker...) May try that tomorrow while I am pulling he old block out... Thanks for the help guys!!!
heck, scott would be runnin to the store for more box wine before he got that gizmo even half laid out.
Just take them to the shop and have them done properly, so your not looking for another set of heads next week, or leave them alone.
Wild Turkey makes a great cleaner,,,, heck you get enough, you'll have that engine together in no time,,, valveless,, but together!!!!
Think about it this way...got enough Turkey, you don't WANT a running car... Just safer to stay home thinking about the motor, than being out driving it...
