On 06/09/2011 10:51 AM, Ed Huntress wrote:
"Bill wrote in message
...
On 06/08/2011 12:37 PM, Ed Huntress wrote:
wrote in message
...
Ed Huntress wrote:


What do you think of this "stuff" for cleaning the grunge out of a
two-stroke expansion chamber? Castor oil is great for bearing life, but
kinda messy in the exhaust... thanks for any suggestions.

I doubt if it would do much, Bill. This is straight lye, with goop in it to
keep it from sliding off of surfaces. It will saponify fats and oils, and it
will attack some polymers and proteins (like the ones in your body cells),
but it won't touch carbon.

If the problem is partially-burned castor oil with some carbon mixed in, it
might work. But, chemically, it's no different from "heavy duty" version of
Easy-Off oven cleaner. You might try that first. It's less hassle for small
projects.

I've never had much luck finding a chemical way to get carbon out of an
engine. There supposedly is some treatment but I can't remember what it is,
nor have I tried it. When I did it, I used scrapers. Ugh.

Tried the oven cleaner already, not so great. Sandblast would be
interesting, but the shape of the pipe makes it impossible to really get
inside with a normal nozzle. I'm actually desperate enough to be
thinking of making a high velocity water jet with sand entrainment to
try and scrape the gunk off "around the corner" of the chamber. Right
now, I can get a reasonable cleanout only if I'm willing to spend hours
fussing with it, and getting pretty grubby in the process. Must be a
better way...

bill