"Bill Martin" wrote in message
...
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

Yeah, well, good luck. If you find something that works, let us know. I
don't have to de-coke old British engine cylinder heads anymore, but it may
be useful for something. d8-)

--
Ed Huntress