Caprimaniac wrote:High- speed rotating grinder with scotch- brite pads cleans the top and ring- area quickly. Soak the pistons in WD40 or eqivalent some time before if really bad. Take care not "grinding" into the ring lands.
We prefer not to use Scotch-Brite as it is an abrasive. We use the yellow 3M plastic bristle on aluminum if it's a critical surface and are manually removing grime.
PackardV8 wrote:I've got a set of obsolete-no-longer-available pistons which were glass beaded. Any hope of getting the beads out of the aluminum so they can be reused?
jack vines
WOW. Not sure how you will be able to do that without removing some material
Wide Open Throttle Technologies
Pompano Beach, FL
John@m20guru.com
How you get it out of the ring grooves, I don't know, but you can deal with the bead that's impinged in the skirts. Get the pistons warmed up so the grain opens up and use coarse steel wool. That won't get it all, but it will get some of it, and help prep the skirts for the next step, which is to apply a thin layer of a heat-cured moly disulfide coating to the skirts. I've done this with a home-applied product called Gun Kote, which in the heyday of 2-stroke bike racing was also sold as Piston Kote. Do a search here if you want try this; I'm pretty sure I wrote up a description of the appliccation process. If you want a professional job, talk to Swain Tech or the other coaters. This is a pretty good idea anyway for keeping unobtainable parts going. When the coating wears off (quite slowly, normally), apply another coat. The coating (have them apply .002", of which the outer .0005" or so will quickly burnish off in operation) should keep any residual glass bead off the cylinder walls. The piston crowns you could mirror-polish. As for the ring grooves, well, in the early days of molycoating pistons (mid-'60s) some guys were lightly coating the grooves, others were coating rings; they learned that you only want to coat one wear surface, not both of the surfaces.
Lots of guys claim to see no problem with glass-beading pistons. I passed on the ring manufacturer's warning for whatever you think it's worth.
I use an ultrasonic with simple green/water. The heated version is a must. L&R,Vigor are good models. If I chose a stronger chemical it would likely go faster but I choose simple green. Usually 15 minutes per piston while I do something else works well and I drop a handful of fasteners for 5-10 minutes and they come out like new.
goldmember63 wrote:I use an ultrasonic with simple green/water. The heated version is a must. L&R,Vigor are good models. If I chose a stronger chemical it would likely go faster but I choose simple green. Usually 15 minutes per piston while I do something else works well and I drop a handful of fasteners for 5-10 minutes and they come out like new.
i let some aluminum parts sit in simple green for a little too long and they discolored a dull gray.
t3steve wrote: ↑Tue Feb 10, 2009 11:15 am
I've been told that reving the engine up and spraying water through the carb will clean the carbon off.
Has anyone heard or tried this?
Yep it works, did it at the shop many times to correct a carbon knock. Water turns to steam, and the steam cleans the piston and chamber.
Newold1 wrote: ↑Fri Jun 07, 2019 7:53 pm
Berrymans 905 Parts Dip. Let them soak and then wash them off! Use rubber gloves if you want to keep the skin on your hands!!
I can attest to that, if I don't have my rubber gloves on, I feel physically ill in just a few minutes. The stuff works incredibly well and it's hard to believe I can still get it in Calif. at NAPA. It doesn't come with a basket so order a couple 950's(basket number). I've never used it for pistons(just carb stuff) but I'm sure it would work.
Not very homebrew. I want to say the 5 gallon costs ~$100 and the baskets are ~$13.
Heat is energy, energy is horsepower...but you gotta control the heat.
-Carl
oven cleaner works great for carbon just the tops.then we soda blast.we dont reuse many pistons though.we use ultra sonic with rust remover cemical parts come out like new i would love to have one big enough for blocks but dont have the dough right now.
