cleaning a cylinder head.....

[oi_oi_savaloy]

Bought a cylinder head a while back and am finally getting round to preparing it to put it on the car (well, someone else will!).

But I want to clean it of the crud (oil etc) that has built up around the valves on the underside of the cylinder.

Any advice on this chaps? Or should I just send it away for an acid clean (is that right?) or something.

I'm having it stripped shortly for the pressure test.

I'm on a tight budget but anything I should do before they put the cams back on and valve train. Replace particular parts etc?

Any help gratefully recieved. The Savaloy.

[m_jermyn]

I cleaned mine with a mixture of degreaser and Kerosene 50/50... Came up pretty clean... I then got the head rebuilt and while he was at it I had him chemical clean it.... Came up like new...

I asked him what they use and he said its like a watery paint stripper, it did smell like paint stripper..

So when cleaning my inlet manifold I tried some paint stripper.... It cleaned off everything even the crusted on crap that I couldnt even get off with a wire wheel..

You can even get paint stripper in a rattle can..

Try paint stripper it works.

Mike

[charlE30]

I cleaned mine with a mixture of degreaser and Kerosene 50/50... Came up pretty clean... I then got the head rebuilt and while he was at it I had him chemical clean it.... Came up like new...

I asked him what they use and he said its like a watery paint stripper, it did smell like paint stripper..

So when cleaning my inlet manifold I tried some paint stripper.... It cleaned off everything even the crusted on crap that I couldnt even get off with a wire wheel..

You can even get paint stripper in a rattle can..

Try paint stripper it works.

Mike

Might give that a go myself

I've just done one using an engine degreaser called 'Gunk' available from halfords and the likes. Give it a good soak then scrub with a stiff nylon brush and jet wash off... comes up quite well but does require a bit of effort.