Cleaning pistons & cylinders?

[khamul02]

Before I do this I wanted to double-check. I have read several threads about using an ultrasonic cleaner on pistons and cylinders. The majority say it is ok with dawn dishwashing liquid. Some people say 3 30 minute sessions with a wipe down between works well. My questions are:
Is this in fact safe for nikasil and everything else?
What else should be done after, red scotchbrite on the cylinders? Measurement check? Re-ring and reinstall?

My preference is to take care of this phase myself but is it just safer to send everything off to a machine shop for cleaning and inspection? This engine probably has about 60k on a top-end rebuild.

[Dpmulvan]

Ultrasonic is fine, but blasting is faster, you can blast tops of pistons and outsides of cylinders. After cleaning use red scotch brite in soapy water. Dry in oven or with compressed air.

[khamul02]

What grit media do you recommend to blast the tops?

[reclino]

I taped off the ends of the cylinder and bead blasted the outside. Be sure top and bottom surface is well taped off, then just wash ID with hit water, dawn dish soap and a scotch Brite pad.
The pistons and cylinder head combustion chambers I just used aircraft paint stripper, it burns right through all the baked on carbon, and it wipes off with virtually NO scrubbing.

[john walker's workshop]

To glass bead the cylinders, I plug both ends with a couple of plastic paint mixing cups. They get a good grip and don't come loose.

[kevingross]

Vapor blasting.

[mikedsilva]

Originally Posted by kevingross

Vapor blasting.

Yep, this is the best result I think. A friend has a good setup and he does work for the public and offered me to have a go myself. It was my first time and while it looks decent you can see it's not perfect.
I'm taking them back to get them done by the professional.

The 2 cylinders were bead blasted... then I vapour blasted one for comparison.

[Discseven]

Careful with media blasting. Can eat through cylinder fins quickly. Got to keep the gun/dispenser moving constantly over fins.

[T77911S]

i let a machine shop do it.
mainly because I did not have a good way to do it.

[Dpmulvan]

Originally Posted by john walker's workshop

To glass bead the cylinders, I plug both ends with a couple of plastic paint mixing cups. They get a good grip and don't come loose.

Never thought of mixing cups, good idea.

[john walker's workshop]

probably no good for mixing paint any more.