What's the best way to get rid of carbon?
 

And if anyone says "green power" I'll smack ya. :p

I'm re-doing a cylinder head and want to de-carbonize the upper chamber surfaces. I've been using some Seafoam and a wire brush, but that's still pretty labor-intensive and a PITA. Anyone have a better way to get deposits off of heads, valves, exhaust ports, etc?

Try some Hoppes #9 or other gun cleaning stuff

re-assemble and do an italian tune-up.

Can you soak it? If so, I'd recommend the stuff you can get at the FLAPS for soaking carbs. It comes in one gallon paint cans. Works great.

If you can't soak it, I'd wipe on any of the before mentioned solvent and repeat until the carbon softens and you can scrap it off with a plastic scraper.

Blast with crushed walnut shells in a sandblasting cabinet.

soak the parts in simple green,
scrub with a tooth brush,
rinse well with hot water

I'm a little reluctant to use Simple Green as it's an aluminum head and I've heard some things about aluminum/magnesium alloys experiencing hydrogen embrittlement when exposed to highly alkaline substances (like S.G.) for extended periods. I'm probably way overthinking this and being paranoid but just a thought...

I'll try some of those ideas. Don't have a blasting cabinet unfortunately - just a standalone blaster which would make a heck of a mess.

Die grinder with a Scothbrite pad.

Jeff, with the blaster, just stick everything in a big clear plastic bag. You can still hold the gun and see everything. Thats what i do with stuff that wont fit in my blast cabinet

G-r-e-e-n p-o-w-e-r!!!

Sometimes just soaking in plain water over night will loosen the deposits up.

That's so simple it's brilliant. One of those things that makes you smack yourself in the forehead and say "duh, why didn't I think of that?"

I've got a few things to try but if I get to busting out the sandblaster (I gotta' find somewhere that sells media around here) I'll do that. Great idea!

Harbor Freight sells media in small quantities. Is there is HF store near you?

Wire brush

On Gas Turbines, when we're running residual or untreated crude oil, we would get deposits on the hot sections. These were not just carbon but also vanadium and other stuff you don't want on the GTs. THe primary thing we did was run water into the combustors, soak the carbon deposits, then fire the units up. The vaporizing water would break up the carbon depositis. You might be able to simulate this by soaking the part in water the hitting it with a very high temp concentrated heat gun.

+1, give it a try!

I did that with a set of pistons once, I was amazed, the thick carbon just fell right off.

Acetone should break it up nicely as well....

Hire Barry, Nancy and Harry...they ought to come up with some legislation that would create a government program that would fix your problem.

Of course their ultimate solution would be to condemn your part as being a product of the capitalist society that has driven this economy into a ditch and would require you to purchase a new environmentally clean car from GM...That would iturn solve their economic problem by GM having to hire employees to keep up with the demand. See how a simple request on how to clean a part can fix the whole US economy.. This was easy

1. you can easily build a blasting cabinet with wood & plexiglass for cheap - not saying it will last a long time but you don't need it to

2. cost to take it somewhere??

3. soaking - how safe is oven cleaner on Al? might worry me

4. buy the special impregnated 3M things for that die grinder - they work a LOT better than a chunk of scrubby that you try to chuck up and spin at high speed

5. your wife's dishwasher will do an amazing job - she will be delighted if you give her a gift certificate for a special 3 hour shopping spree at her favorite store; tell her it is "just because"

Only thing is you have to leave some kind of vent hole in the bag. otherwise it will blow up on you. ( ask me how i know..):D

NO oven cleaner on aluminum!!!

Unless you are trying to remove hard anodizing. Then really think about it. Oven cleaner will etch aluminum.