What's your way to remove carbon from parts ??

[bouncingVman]

I don't remember seeing a general topic on the old HTT, but it would seem like good information to share. I've heard of several ways like using oven cleaner, bead blasting... soaking in various things like water, seafoam, simple green... etc. What does everyone like to use and why ?? Feel free to share your do's and don'ts 

[maineultraclassic]

When I had my heads off last year, I wanted to clean up the top of the pistons. I used a razor blade and some wd-40, then a scotch brite pad with wd-40. Cleaned them up to look like new again.

I just saw some pictures of a guy's pistons he used oven cleaner on.............not good. It ran down and got on the side coating and bubbled it up.

Steve

[oldhippie765]

big ass hammer and chisel   rex

[bouncingVman]

big ass hammer and chisel   rex

Thats some serious carbon build up... Chit! LOL.

[BadDawg]

Might try using some carburetor cleaner.   I"ve used it to clean up the end of my mufflers.  Workes great on them.

[hdjax2]

Spray gasket remover works good.  I would not want to try it on coated pistons but for everything else it's fine.

[ceduby]

Easy Off I would not use! It is very corrosive to aluminum. I learned the hard way.

[still_havinfun]

when i had my pistons off last time i put them in a bowl and poured some Berrymans B12 carb and injector cleaner and let them soak overnight and it disolved  all but the cutouts for the valves and a tooth brush took that off. this stuff works wonders on bad gas too.

[Mark222]

I'll second the Berryman's.  I bought 2 gal cans of their parts cleaner, each one has a strainer / basket one piston in each can overnight, cleans up with a brass brush after that.

Mark

[Lew]

I've used OMC carbon remover.  Spray it on let it set overnight and wipe or wash off with solvent.  It says to use it in a running engine but I've found it works just fine on parts also.
Lew

[bouncingVman]

This is becoming an interesting thread. I've already seen a few that i haven't heard of. When I took off my heads while doing the latest project on the bike, the stock squish area was almost completely full of carbon. I was thinking about using the hammer and chisel method -BVM