Re: Cleaning heads

[jlandry@domain.elided (John A. Landry)]

"Joseph M. Shaw, II" <MikeIIDC@domain.elided> scribbled in the sand:

>Anyway, assuming I actually get the heads off
>of this thing, what is the best substance to use to clean the parts that
>I have off with?  Just to clean the dirt, grime, and grease that has
>accumulated over the years.

I use kerosene because it's cost effective and not as dangerous as gasoline
and not as smelly as diesel, but any will work.  Just be very careful with
gasoline... use in a well ventilated area away from any possible sort of
ignition source.  I have a couple of big rectangular plastic pans... I believe
they are old cat litter pans our cat would never use.  I place the parts in,
dump in some kerosene from a jerry can and go at it with a variety of
different sized stiff bristle brushes.  When the grime is scrubbed off, I
transfer the parts to the other clean pan and rinse again with fresh kerosene.

>I was going to just "GUNK" everything and spray it
>down good, but don't know if "GUNK" has any abrasive qualities to it. 

No... gunk isn't abrasive.  I don't know if I'd want to use Gunk in your
situation though.  It's meant to be sprayed on, maybe brushed if the grime is
really bad and the hosed off *with water*.  I wouldn't want to get a bunch of
water inside my parts.  Gung is best used on the outside of engines.  I'd
stick with some petroleum based solvent.

>Someone suggested Brake Fluid, as it is supposed to
>eat through nearly everything, but I didn't know about this for sure
>either.

No way... using brake fluid would be way to expensive and a horrible mess!  It
has a sticky quality and is almost impossible to clean up completely.  You
have to try and rinse it off with a solvent anyway... yuk!  I could see using
it to remove paint in special circumstances, but not to clean heads!

Regards,

John
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