<VV> Cleaning Cylinder Heads

Roger Gault r.gault@sbcglobal.net
Tue, 28 Dec 2004 20:30:27 -0600


Joe is correct, the Dremmel doesn't have enough torque (or in my experience
enough lifetime), to do the job.
The 1/8" drill in a regular drill works best.  Myself, I prefer the 6" long
drills.  The 12" ones break off too easily when you try to cut sideways with
the drill.  You will spend most of your time cutting sideways, even though
you know better.  The gaps between the fins are tapered from just over 1/8"
at the outside edge to less than 1/8" in the center of the heads, so if you
want a smooth job, you'll end up removing a suprising amount of material.

It's not too likely that you'll drill into anything important if you pay
attention to what you're doing.  If you're in any doubt whether that "wall"
you see down there in the middle of the head is flash or substance, look in
from the other side.  In my 140 heads, I don't remember any place where the
"real" part of the head doesn't continue smoothly through the centerline -
no steps you'd be tempted to drill into.  Don't know about the 110 heads.

My last experience shows that 2 heads requires 7-8 drill bits and several
hours.  If you don't chuck the drills too deep, you can get a couple of
breaks before they're too short. ;-)

Roger Gault


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "N. Joseph Potts" <pottsf@msn.com>
To: <corvair@home-town.biz>; <virtualvairs@corvair.org>
Sent: Wednesday, December 29, 2004 3:58 PM
Subject: RE: <VV> Cleaning Cylinder Heads


> The size (diameter) bit to use is 1/8". This diameter is available at
> hardware stores in what is called "jobber length" (I have no idea why it's
> called that), which is about 12 inches. While you CAN chuck this diameter
> drill bit into a Dremel, I wouldn't do it - I don't think Dremels develop
> enough torque for the job, and they run faster than you need, anyway. Use
a
> plain, old electric drill. About half the cutting is (trying to) cut with
> the SIDE of the bit (which normal bits aren't really designed to do), and
> the other part is cutting with the END of the bit, which IS how they are
> designed to work, and here, I want to CAUTION YOU to NOT drill through
into
> any of the combustion chambers. That will ruin the head (or at least
require
> a welded repair). Confining yourself to flash and avoiding castings is the
> idea, but of course it's easier to say than to do.
>      Just make sure, every time you drill with the end of the drill, that
> you're not drilling into a combustion-chamber wall. Study that head in
good
> light (including backlighting the head). You'll figure it out. I got
> especially useful views of the head backlighting it with a light directed
> against a large, flat, bright (white) surface, like the inside of my
garage
> door.
>
> Joe Potts
> Miami, Florida USA
> 1966 Corsa coupe 140hp 4-speed with A/C
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: virtualvairs-admin@corvair.org
> [mailto:virtualvairs-admin@corvair.org]On Behalf Of Dominique Allen
> Sent: Wednesday, December 29, 2004 4:34 PM
> To: virtualvairs@corvair.org
> Subject: <VV> Cleaning Cylinder Heads
>
> Hey everyone, I am trying to clean the flashing between the cylinder head
> fins and would like to use my dermal but I can't find any bits long enough
> to do the job properly.  Does anyone have any good suggestions for getting
> down inside the head to get all of the old flashing out?  Thanks for your
> help.
>
>
>
> Dominique Allen
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