Champagne wishes...

[bbolesaz]

Where do you get an ultrasonic cleaner big enough for a piston from a twin?  I've only seen little jewelry ones.

[Scud]

So... I soaked it Simple Green for an hour last night, then chipped some away deposits with a plastic scraper, then put it in the ultrasonic (with only water) and ... then soaked it face down again in a shallow pool of Simple Green overnight... and this is probably as clean as it's gonna get.

 

 

Phil - are you using some kind of solvent in the Ultrasonic cleaner? I just used water for three 10-minute cycles and it didn't break much loose.

 

 

[swooshdave]

Where do you get an ultrasonic cleaner big enough for a piston from a twin?  I've only seen little jewelry ones.

 

Harbor Freight, eBay, Amazon...

[bbolesaz]

I figure if the squish band is clean, that's good enough.  That's where the crud could start detonation.

[Lucky Phil]

Where do you get an ultrasonic cleaner big enough for a piston from a twin?  I've only seen little jewelry ones.

I bought a 30 liter one for around $450us off ebay. Not that it was from the states but there's an idea of the cost. It can take a Daytona cylinder head ( maybe 2) so anything up to an average small car:)  You can buy them anywhere from a liter to 30 liters. Mine I must admit is a little big for most stuff and because you need to run it around 80% full its a little bit of a pain but you can do some decent sized stuff. I think on balance a 10-15 liter would be good.

 

Ciao

[footgoose]

my HF ultrasonic said use a household cleaner in it. I used simple green ....worked great on carbs 

[Scud]

Thanks again for the reminder about ultrasonic. I did a little more reading to figure out how to use it correctly. And here are two excellent results:

 

 

The piston on left is the one that I soaked overnight twice and did a lot of brushing and scraping. On the right, this piston spent 20 minutes in the ultrasonic cleaner with diesel fuel.

 

I also read about an interesting technique. You can place small parts in a plastic bag with just a few ounces of solvent, and fill the ultrasonic cleaner with water - and drop the bag in the water. I put these head nuts and washers in a bag of CLR (calcium, lime, rust remover) and ran the cleaner for 10 minutes. One of the cylindrical nuts was so rusty that it pulled the stud out of the block. Now even the inside of the threads are spotless.

 

[Tom M]

I've used the wire brush on my bench grinder to clean carbon off of pistons before.  It took 5 minutes and didn't seem to effect the aluminum in any way.  Was that not a good idea? 

[bbolesaz]

Scud, nice results.  Can I blame you when my wife sees the bill for the ultrasonic cleaner?  Oh, wait, I got it.  "Honey, I noticed that your jewelry was looking dirty."

 

Tom M, wire brush is so old school. Plus, like the corrosive Simple Green, you removed 3 grams of alu material from the top of your piston, affecting the compression ratio by 0.00084% and changing the flow dynamics in the squish band.

[docc]

Tom M, wire brush is so old school. Plus, like the corrosive Simple Green, you removed 3 grams of alu material from the top of your piston, affecting the compression ratio by 0.00084% and changing the flow dynamics in the squish band.

This is precisely why I'm keeping the carbon on my pistons: it has been meticulously applied over an extended time period, conforms to where the squish band allowed it, and bumps my compression ration by ~ 0.00084% . . . 

[gstallons]

Now you're talkin' right !

[Scud]

Can I blame you when my wife sees the bill for the ultrasonic cleaner?  Oh, wait, I got it.  "Honey, I noticed that your jewelry was looking dirty."

 

Sure, blame me... then let me know her reaction.  Maybe there would be a new piece of jewelry in the cleaner?  That could improve the reaction.

 

I bought a magnasonic brand cleaner.   It's only 850ml capacity, but the piston fit. Now that I figured out to use solvent in a plastic bag, it will be super easy to clean little parts - and cheaper too, because I can fill the cleaner with water instead of solvent.

[swooshdave]

Scud, nice results.  Can I blame you when my wife sees the bill for the ultrasonic cleaner?  Oh, wait, I got it.  "Honey, I noticed that your jewelry was looking dirty."

 

Tom M, wire brush is so old school. Plus, like the corrosive Simple Green, you removed 3 grams of alu material from the top of your piston, affecting the compression ratio by 0.00084% and changing the flow dynamics in the squish band.

 

Not if he used the purple Simple Green. Doesn't harm aluminum.

[Scud]

Makin' progress...

 

 

 

[Unkept]