rossman Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 I did something really stupid today. While porting my intake I accidentally left the bag that was supposed to be covering my freshly rebuilt head open and exposed to hundreds of tiny little aluminum chips. Of course the ports were face up so lots of the chips got in behind the valves and stuck to the white grease around the valve stems. After reciting every expletive in the book, several times over, at the top of my lungs, I started to think how I could get the chips out of the head. I ended up blowing out all the ports, springs, lifters, etc. with compressed air. I'm starting to think this isn't good enough. I can't see any chips but with my luck there will be one little chip left...and there goes my head/engine. Any ideas how I can clean the head up without taking it apart? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jknc90 Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 I use shampoo to clean my head lol. Sorry couldn't resist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossman Posted October 13, 2008 Author Share Posted October 13, 2008 Yeah, yeah, I need the inside of my head cleaned for leaving the bag open... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossman Posted October 14, 2008 Author Share Posted October 14, 2008 How about flushing the head with water then blowing it dry? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nismo280zEd Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 Brake clean has worked for me in the past, however I'm not sure what it would do to your new vavle stem seals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jknc90 Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 I think brake clean would be fine, but I definitely wouldn't use carb clean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossman Posted October 14, 2008 Author Share Posted October 14, 2008 Should I be concerned about solvents cleaning off the grease on the valve stems? The head has white (lithium?) grease on the valve stems where it engages the valve guides. I assume the grease is there for initial start-up only. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jknc90 Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 If the brake clean were to get on the grease, I would clean the grease off too. Since that's basically what brake clean is designed to do. So you would probably want to reapply the grease if possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayolives Posted October 15, 2008 Share Posted October 15, 2008 The answer lies in the old adage about risk verses reward and what's at risk for YOU and YOU only! Think about it. Can YOU risk taking the chance and then being able to be happy with any result? The decision is easy. Weigh the effort required to properly disassemble and clean your head against the effort required to repair what could happen if you decide not to take a closer look. Aint it a bitch! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossman Posted October 16, 2008 Author Share Posted October 16, 2008 Aint it a bitch! Yes it is! I bought a valve spring compressor today so you can guess what I'm gonna do. I actually have a new set of Nissan valve guide seals in case I muck one up. I don't have the little condoms to protect the seals from the grooves at the end of the stem. I wonder if heat shrink tube would work?? While I'm at it I think I will un-shroud the valves a tad and smooth out the rough cast surfaces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted October 16, 2008 Share Posted October 16, 2008 I would simply depress the valves and blow the ports out with solvent, generous ammounts of solvent. I would not pull the valves and reinstall them, the risk for cutting the stem seals would put me off on that. Really, if the engine is prelubed properly valve greasing is not an issue. From my experience the white grease is more to lube up the stem so it passes through the seal more than anything else. If you have the ports sideways like they are when installed on the engine, and the valves down and opened, and flush in that position, any grease you might flush off is extra anyway, and will do nothing other than get washed off by fuel vapors when you start the engine...or gloop down onto the back of the valve head and drop in the cylinder when hot. Personally, I'm not a big lubricator so that it shows all outside of the friction surfaces. If I was 'preservative action' I'll use something persistent and spray on like cosmoline. You want something that picks up grit and dirt and is really persistent in not giving it up under a solvent bath? Try cosmoline. Old Cosmoline. Hard, sticky, tacky, cosmoline. Good Luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PanzerAce Posted October 19, 2008 Share Posted October 19, 2008 You want something that picks up grit and dirt and is really persistent in not giving it up under a solvent bath? Try cosmoline. Old Cosmoline. Hard, sticky, tacky, cosmoline. Good Luck! *shudders* I'll be honest, I would ONLY use cosmo if the head was going into storage for a LONG time. I honestly can't imagine trying to clean a head that had been coated in comsmoline. Hard enough getting all of it off a rifle, but then you can atleast see EVERYTHING.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted October 20, 2008 Share Posted October 20, 2008 Dude, when was the last time you heard of me taking anything out of the stash of parts and putting it to use? I had stuff in storage for five years, and realized then that the rust was starting to 'eat' my 'investments'...so since that time I've cosmolined everything under the thought that I never know WHEN I'm going to get around to using it. 15 years later....I'm finding that cosmoline, in my case, was probably a good idea! LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PanzerAce Posted October 20, 2008 Share Posted October 20, 2008 Dude, when was the last time you heard of me taking anything out of the stash of parts and putting it to use? I had stuff in storage for five years, and realized then that the rust was starting to 'eat' my 'investments'...so since that time I've cosmolined everything under the thought that I never know WHEN I'm going to get around to using it. 15 years later....I'm finding that cosmoline, in my case, was probably a good idea! LOL Point, but some of us can't afford to not use or sell stuff, so we know that if we cosmo it up, it's going to have to be UN-cosmolined at some point, which is going to suck. (since I don't think a cylinder head or similar could fit into my oven. Conrods and pistons, sure, but nothing else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted October 20, 2008 Share Posted October 20, 2008 Key is, buy it cheap when you got the $$$... Then, if it sits around a couple of decades, and you got the storage space...no skin off my nose. As I reply to my wife: 'Because a damned horse needs to be fed, groomed, brushed, and otherwise tended to, MY stuff just sits in a box till I get to it...THAT's why a car is better than a damned horse!' I mean, you can't cosmoline a horse into suspended animation. And if someone's figured out how to, don't tell my wife, or we're going to have horse crap all over the back yard because my last argument against it will be gone... The Z's played hell with the damn goats she had. They like to climb, and the roofs were soooo tempting. Damnable hooved horrors. Horses don't like to climb everything laying around do they? That would be the next argument I suppose 'The Z's were there first!' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PanzerAce Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 lol. Well, I finally (after 10 months) got a job interview, so I might have to look into getting some cosmo, since I'm planning on turning my L30 into an L30et and storing all the parts I've got now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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