<VV> Ultrasonic Cleaning - VirtualVairs Digest, Vol 250, Issue 7

[Arlette Pat & Carl Kelsen]

TO:      virtualvairs at corvair.org
TOPIC: ULTRASONIC PARTS CLEANERS
---------------------------------------------
Original Message:
DATE: Wednesday 12 November, 2025 FROM: Edward Szuch  EMAIL: egszuch at gmail.com

"Anyone out there used an ultrasonic parts cleaner for engine parts such as the cylinder head combustion chamber?  I'm trying to get the carbon off and wonder if the Amazon priced units work.  The McMaster-Carr unit is out of my price range. What about cleaning solutions?  I've seen a mixture of Simple Green and water recommended.
Thank you.
Gary Szuch"
--------------------------------------------
Reply:
For what its worth, I will add my recent experience with ultrasonic cleaning. In a few words, I found this method of cleaning ideal, 'expensive but absolutely worth the dollars invested'.

In my case, I had the oil cooler from our 110hp Corvair engine professionally cleaned using ultrasonic cleaning.

The company that did this for me had a very impressive set up. I did consider purchasing my own untralsonic cleaner but this did not make financial sense. In addition the ultrasonic cleaner that I would have purchased would have been much smaller than the large professional set up and probably would not have given me the results I was looking for.

After repeated cleaning, and finally pressure testing. The Oil Cooler is now as close to 'brand new clean' as I expect it could be.

I am currently the in the middle of doing a complete rebuild of our Corvairs engine. With the time / money (Well north of $14,000 AUD) that I am investing in this engine build, it seems that the money spend on having our oil cooler professionally ultrasonic cleaned represents a wise investment.

If I were 30 years younger, I would buy my own ultrasonic cleaner! It largely depends on the item being cleaned, but this method of cleaning is ideal for many engine parts.
Carl Kelsen
1965 Right Hand Drive Monza convertible 110HP / PG
Proud CORSA Member
Melbourne, Victoria Australia