<VV> Cleaning Piston Crowns

hank kaczmarek kaczmarek at charter.net
Thu Apr 3 13:01:33 EDT 2014


Well, if you have the head off, you can wire brush some of the carbon off 
with a wire brush, wipe down the tops. Did that once but had the heads off 
anyway.
Much better than water is the GM top end cleaner.
1. Remove Plugs
2. Spray about 1/3 of a can in each hole, replace plugs and wires.
3. Wait 24 hours.
4. Start up car with breather crossover off, and have someone in the back to 
goose the throttle.
5. Car will smoke like a freight train----Then take another can and spray 
down the carb throats while goosing the throttle.
6 Car will continue to smoke---when done take it for a good 20 mile run.

Still available from the General.

Cures a LOT of ills.  Cleans piston tops, combustion chambers, valves, 
without removing anything.

If you feel you have to "drizzle" something into the engine, use Seafoam 
Engine treatment. It's petroleum based, and if you pour in too much it won't 
do near the damage that water will.
I use Seafoam on all my water pumpers. Just unhook vacuum hose from brake 
booster, cover hose with thumb and start engine, move your thumb over a 
little and pour it into the hose.  Same effect. Seafoam salesman did that to 
one of my cars when working at NAPA.

HANK

-----Original Message----- 
From: corvairduval at cox.net
Sent: Thursday, April 03, 2014 12:27 PM
To: paulvair at yahoo.com ; corvairduval at cox.net ; virtualvairs at corvair.org
Subject: Re:  Cleaning Piston Crowns

If we are speaking of cleaning while the engine is still operational, use
the water trick. Just google water decarbonizing engine. This is a good
trick to remember to do before tearing an engine down, as it gets the
combustion chambers cleaner than not doing it.

And of course there is (was) GM Top Engine Cleaner.  Follow directions on
can!

I'm sure there are a number of other expensive snake oil treatments to pour
into the engine while it is running. But water works and is cheap!

As Paul says, keep the engine running, or it may lock up against a carbon
chunk. Besides, pouring anything into a stopped engine will result in
hydrolock. To cure hydrolock, one must remove the spark plugs and bump the
engine over. If it hydrolocks while running... expect bent parts.



Original email:
-----------------
From: Paul Fox paulvair at yahoo.com
Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2014 05:10:47 -0700 (PDT)
To: corvairduval at cox.net, virtualvairs at corvair.org
Subject: Re: <VV> Cleaning Piston Crowns


I'd be careful doing that any other way than driving it hard. The reason
is, if it comes off all at the once it falls to the bottom of the
chamber and can jam the pistons so you can't turn the engine. I've had this
happen more than once. When it happened I thought something was broken
inside the engine. after I pulled the heads it was just carbon that had
collected in the quench area of the chamber.
On Wednesday, April 2, 2014 1:13 PM, "corvairduval at cox.net"
<corvairduval at cox.net> wrote:

I don't know a best way, but...

I strongly recommend you pull the pistons out of the engine (by removing
rods from engine) to examine them closely for cracks.

If you find none, you can put them right back in, just keep the same
bearing shells in the same locations.

The OEM pistons crack a lot. Especially around the oil ring groove. This
causes the top of the piston to come off.

Frank DuVal


Original email:
-----------------
From: Paul Michalczyk paulm at tdl.com
Date: Wed, 2 Apr 2014 10:01:34 -0700
To: virtualvairs at corvair.org
Subject: <VV> Cleaning Piston Crowns





I'm preparing a spare engine for my 65 140 Corsa and don't want to tear
things down further than I need to. What's the best way to remove carbon
buildup on the piston tops without removing the pistons and rods from
the engine?

Paul Michalczyk

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