Larry Jaques wrote:

(...)

Then you asked the wrong question and didn't give us guessers enough
info to go on. That's shameful, sir.

Don't blame me, I forgot.

I'm wrapping up my tour of Alzeheimer's stage 7, remember?

(Took *over an hour* to replace the valve cover gasket on my older
Camry this morning. Don't tell anyone.)



--Winston -- No more dripping oil. Yay!

Pete C. wrote:
Ed Huntress wrote:
"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.

Consider the nature of the deposit - thermally polymerised vegetable oil
+ carbon. If it was a drying oil (e.g. boiled linseed oil) + carbon
black it would be a paint so for easy decoking, use paint stripper.
Obviously don't use an alkali (caustic) stripper on aluminium parts, but
dichloromethane (methylene chloride) based ones are safe on all
metals found in an engine. Wash off any residue with methylated spirits
(or if you used an alkali stripper just with water).

CAUTION: It will attack seals, gaskets and of course paint!

The only notable problem is that plastic toothbrushes don't last long in
contact with dichloromethane based strippers, which is a pity as they
are ideal for cleaning ring grooves, round valve seats etc.

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

"Extrude-hone" comes to mind, forcing an abrasive paste/slury through
the inaccessible passages. Perhaps that will spark some DIY ideas...

I've seen a marine engineer (big ships!) burn out the carbon from a
bronze exhaust system off a launch with a Stuart Turner two stroke
engine - remove the exhaust from the boat, remove all the lagging, pour
a cup full of petrol down it and shake well, build a bonfire round the
whole exhaust and as soon as the flames coming out the far end died
away, hook up a vacuum cleaner on blow! The result was an absolute
inferno out of the manifold end and a dull red glow from the pipe.
Apparently the trick is to rake the bonfire away from the exhaust once
you have the glow and restrict the air supply as well if that doesn't
control it as you DON'T want a BRIGHT red glow ;-) It actually took
something like fifteen minutes to get the glow most of the way down the
exhaust, at which point the engineer commented that it was now done, and
he'd just let the bonfire burn out and it would be ready to reinstall
the next day and it was also annealed as a side benefit!

I've never had the need or desire to try it myself . . . . YMMV!


--
Ian Malcolm. London, ENGLAND. (NEWSGROUP REPLY PREFERRED)
ianm[at]the[dash]malcolms[dot]freeserve[dot]co[dot]uk
[at]=@, [dash]=- & [dot]=. *Warning* HTML & 32K emails -- NUL:

On Jun 9, 6:02*am, Winston wrote:
wrote:

(...)

Walmart carries Colman gas.
Karl

Not mine!

http://www.walmart.com/search/search..._refineresult=....

Thanks anyway, Karl.

--Winston

I'd call sporting goods and ask. Sports Authority carries it here
also.
Karl

"Winston" wrote in message
...
'Varnish Makers and Painter's' naptha is the only way
I've found for removing baked-on grease from metal surfaces:
http://paint-and-supplies.hardwarest...er-618030.aspx

It's disappeared from the shelves at all the hardware stores in
my area. Some now carry a 'substitute' product in gallon cans,
but I don't want to spend over 20 bucks and then have to drive
it to Hazmat Disposal if it works as well as do most
'substitutes'.

What's a practical alternative? Gasoline?

Thanks!

--Winston

Try Sports Chalet:

http://www.sportchalet.com/product/301531_5103233.do

They have quarts of Coleman fuel for $7. Click "Find In Store" on the right.
I don't know where you are in CA, but they have stores all around the S.F.
area.

Good luck.

--
Ed Huntress

On Thu, 09 Jun 2011 23:36:25 -0700, Winston
wrote:

Larry Jaques wrote:

(...)

Then you asked the wrong question and didn't give us guessers enough
info to go on. That's shameful, sir.

Don't blame me, I forgot.

I'm wrapping up my tour of Alzeheimer's stage 7, remember?

I thought that was Stage 4? Man, you're FAST!


(Took *over an hour* to replace the valve cover gasket on my older
Camry this morning. Don't tell anyone.)

Is that the one with six wide-open screws holding it down, and nothing
is routed over the top of it?

--
Never underestimate the innate animosity of inanimate objects.
--anon

On Jun 10, 7:29*am, "Ed Huntress" wrote:


Try Sports Chalet:

http://www.sportchalet.com/product/301531_5103233.do

They have quarts of Coleman fuel for $7. Click "Find In Store" on the right.
I don't know where you are in CA, but they have stores all around the S.F..
area.

Good luck.

--
Ed Huntress

Doesn't anyone realize that he is in California and that the stores in
California can not carry a lot of things that are available in the
rest of the country. Like TSP is not available in New York State.
You can buy boxes of stuff labeled TSP, but when you look at the
contents it is sodium carbonate.

There is no point in suggesting stores that carry Coleman fuel in your
area. He is in California.

Dan

Larry Jaques wrote:
On Thu, 09 Jun 2011 23:36:25 -0700,
wrote:

Larry Jaques wrote:

(...)

Then you asked the wrong question and didn't give us guessers enough
info to go on. That's shameful, sir.

Don't blame me, I forgot.

I'm wrapping up my tour of Alzeheimer's stage 7, remember?

I thought that was Stage 4? Man, you're FAST!

Nup. I was diagnosed at Stage 6 three years and four months ago.
Saturday February 2nd 2008.


(Took *over an hour* to replace the valve cover gasket on my older
Camry this morning. Don't tell anyone.)

Is that the one with six wide-open screws holding it down, and nothing
is routed over the top of it?

No such luck. The good news is that the cover is fixed using
the four 30 mm spark plug tube nuts. The bad news is that the
breather tubes were oxidized, making extraction difficult, and
there are a couple brackets and Cali emissions cables that have
to be disassembled to allow clearance for the cover to be
lifted off. The procedure in my Haynes manual didn't mention
the interfering parts. I spent a *lot* of time disassembling
*this* so I could access the fasteners to disassemble *that*.

Never happened to you, I assume?

I tried downloading a video of the process three times but
YouTube choked. They were prolly demonstrating it on a car
without the interfering emissions parts anyway.

Don't get me wrong. The weather was very pleasant and it felt
good to be doing something useful, so it was hardly upsetting.

Au contrare.

--Winston

wrote:
On Jun 9, 6:02 am, wrote:
wrote:

(...)

Walmart carries Colman gas.
Karl

Not mine!

http://www.walmart.com/search/search..._refineresult=...

Thanks anyway, Karl.

--Winston

I'd call sporting goods and ask. Sports Authority carries it here
also.

OK. Thanks Karl

--Winston

Ed Huntress wrote:

(...)

Try Sports Chalet:

http://www.sportchalet.com/product/301531_5103233.do

They have quarts of Coleman fuel for $7. Click "Find In Store" on the right.
I don't know where you are in CA, but they have stores all around the S.F.
area.

Good luck.

Steve says SC has Coleman fuel! I will cruise out there and have a look.
(Preparing for the shoulder shrug and "I dunno the *computer* says
we have four bottles.")



Thanks, Ed.

--Winston

"Winston" wrote in message
...
Ed Huntress wrote:

(...)

Yeah, he says somebody called before I talked to him. I figured it was
you.
I didn't reach him the first time I called, but someone in another
department told me he'd just walked by it so I was sure enough to post
the
info.

Better hurry -- now he thinks there's a run on it. d8-)

BTW, Coleman tells me it's the same all over. In most parts of the
country,
customers have switched to propane, so there are a lot of retailers who
aren't stocking it anymore.

Sears, K-Mart, and Target seem to be the best bets, on a national
average,
anyway. So says Coleman. But they don't make it or inventory it
themselves,
so they don't have a lot of information.

Man! That was *above and beyond* helpful!

Thanks again, Ed!

--Winston

It's a natural for an old reporter. If a problem hangs around for a few days
without an answer, there may be a story in it. It gnaws at me until I have
an answer.

You may not remember why I came to this NG in the first place. It was around
'02. I was writing for (then) _Machine Shop Guide_, and I was having a hard
time, working at home, coming up with enough items for my monthly Tooling
column. I needed four or five every month. So I just lurked here and watched
what people were talking about -- they actually talked about machining in
those days. I'd usually get at least one item per month that way. Sometimes
two or three.

I also found Dobie Dave and Hamei, both of whom became interview subjects
for full-length articles.

It's a habit of mind. All reporters have some degree of it, or they don't
continue to pursue that line of work.

--
Ed Huntress

Ed Huntress wrote:
wrote in message
...
Ed Huntress wrote:

(...)

Yeah, he says somebody called before I talked to him. I figured it was
you.
I didn't reach him the first time I called, but someone in another
department told me he'd just walked by it so I was sure enough to post
the
info.

Better hurry -- now he thinks there's a run on it. d8-)

BTW, Coleman tells me it's the same all over. In most parts of the
country,
customers have switched to propane, so there are a lot of retailers who
aren't stocking it anymore.

Sears, K-Mart, and Target seem to be the best bets, on a national
average,
anyway. So says Coleman. But they don't make it or inventory it
themselves,
so they don't have a lot of information.

Man! That was *above and beyond* helpful!

Thanks again, Ed!

--Winston

It's a natural for an old reporter. If a problem hangs around for a few days
without an answer, there may be a story in it. It gnaws at me until I have
an answer.

One of them 'pearl' metaphors, no doubt.

You may not remember why I came to this NG in the first place. It was around
'02. I was writing for (then) _Machine Shop Guide_, and I was having a hard
time, working at home, coming up with enough items for my monthly Tooling
column. I needed four or five every month. So I just lurked here and watched
what people were talking about -- they actually talked about machining in
those days. I'd usually get at least one item per month that way. Sometimes
two or three.

I like to think that manufacturers lurk on RCM for product ideas, too.

I also found Dobie Dave and Hamei, both of whom became interview subjects
for full-length articles.

Cool!

It's a habit of mind. All reporters have some degree of it, or they don't
continue to pursue that line of work.

Your investigation reaped huge rewards for me.

I didn't find the quarts for $6.97 but I did find GALLONS
for sale at $10.97!

I latched on to a gallon and didn't let it leave my sight.
Their SKU 0121860019. I didn't find it on their website so
I figure it's a 'store only' deal.

I cannot believe how cool this is! Somebody, pinch me!

Thanks, Ed. You are the Best!


--Winston

Ed Huntress wrote:
"Winston" wrote in message
...
Ed Huntress wrote:

(...)

Try Sports Chalet:

http://www.sportchalet.com/product/301531_5103233.do

They have quarts of Coleman fuel for $7. Click "Find In Store" on the
right.
I don't know where you are in CA, but they have stores all around the
S.F.
area.

Good luck.
Steve says SC has Coleman fuel! I will cruise out there and have a look.
(Preparing for the shoulder shrug and "I dunno the *computer* says
we have four bottles.")



Thanks, Ed.

--Winston

Yeah, he says somebody called before I talked to him. I figured it was you.
I didn't reach him the first time I called, but someone in another
department told me he'd just walked by it so I was sure enough to post the
info.

Better hurry -- now he thinks there's a run on it. d8-)

BTW, Coleman tells me it's the same all over. In most parts of the country,
customers have switched to propane, so there are a lot of retailers who
aren't stocking it anymore.

Sears, K-Mart, and Target seem to be the best bets, on a national average,
anyway. So says Coleman. But they don't make it or inventory it themselves,
so they don't have a lot of information.



My favorite find at Sears is "2 cycle Lawnmower fuel" at $5 - A QUART!
Somebody got a promotion for that one!

--

Richard Lamb
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~cavelamb
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~sv_temptress

"Winston" wrote in message
...
Ed Huntress wrote:
wrote in message
...
Ed Huntress wrote:

(...)

Yeah, he says somebody called before I talked to him. I figured it was
you.
I didn't reach him the first time I called, but someone in another
department told me he'd just walked by it so I was sure enough to post
the
info.

Better hurry -- now he thinks there's a run on it. d8-)

BTW, Coleman tells me it's the same all over. In most parts of the
country,
customers have switched to propane, so there are a lot of retailers who
aren't stocking it anymore.

Sears, K-Mart, and Target seem to be the best bets, on a national
average,
anyway. So says Coleman. But they don't make it or inventory it
themselves,
so they don't have a lot of information.

Man! That was *above and beyond* helpful!

Thanks again, Ed!

--Winston

It's a natural for an old reporter. If a problem hangs around for a few
days
without an answer, there may be a story in it. It gnaws at me until I
have
an answer.

One of them 'pearl' metaphors, no doubt.

You may not remember why I came to this NG in the first place. It was
around
'02. I was writing for (then) _Machine Shop Guide_, and I was having a
hard
time, working at home, coming up with enough items for my monthly Tooling
column. I needed four or five every month. So I just lurked here and
watched
what people were talking about -- they actually talked about machining in
those days. I'd usually get at least one item per month that way.
Sometimes
two or three.

I like to think that manufacturers lurk on RCM for product ideas, too.

I also found Dobie Dave and Hamei, both of whom became interview subjects
for full-length articles.

Cool!

It's a habit of mind. All reporters have some degree of it, or they don't
continue to pursue that line of work.

Your investigation reaped huge rewards for me.

I didn't find the quarts for $6.97 but I did find GALLONS
for sale at $10.97!

I latched on to a gallon and didn't let it leave my sight.
Their SKU 0121860019. I didn't find it on their website so
I figure it's a 'store only' deal.

I cannot believe how cool this is! Somebody, pinch me!

Thanks, Ed. You are the Best!


--Winston

You're certainly welcome. That's two good deeds for me today. One more, and
I get a gold star on my forehead, like Sister Maria used to give me!

The other deed was that I pointed out to my neighbor, who was trying to
drill a hole in his pressure-treated deck by creating smoke with his
cordless drill, that he probably had it running in reverse. He did. d8-)

--
Ed Huntress

I get nothing but 'deer in the headlights' looks when I ask about
'naptha' at the same darned stores where I used to buy gallons of
the stuff for ~$7.00 *then ~$9.00 then ~ $14.95.
Even the Pro paint store clerks now act like they never sold the
stuff! *What the heck?



Try Wal-Mart. Last year I got a gallon there. (only to find that the
little mom and pop grocer down the street from me had couple of old
cans on the shelf for $3 gal less.)

Roger Shoaf

Ed Huntress wrote:
wrote in message
...

(...)

Thanks, Ed. You are the Best!


--Winston

You're certainly welcome. That's two good deeds for me today. One more, and
I get a gold star on my forehead, like Sister Maria used to give me!

Here ya go. One USENET gold star. Value: Two attaboys

The other deed was that I pointed out to my neighbor, who was trying to
drill a hole in his pressure-treated deck by creating smoke with his
cordless drill, that he probably had it running in reverse. He did. d8-)

That is *much* funnier when it happens to someone else.....



--Winston

On Fri, 10 Jun 2011 09:48:21 -0700, Winston
wrote:

Larry Jaques wrote:
On Thu, 09 Jun 2011 23:36:25 -0700,
wrote:

Larry Jaques wrote:

(...)

Then you asked the wrong question and didn't give us guessers enough
info to go on. That's shameful, sir.

Don't blame me, I forgot.

I'm wrapping up my tour of Alzeheimer's stage 7, remember?

I thought that was Stage 4? Man, you're FAST!

Nup. I was diagnosed at Stage 6 three years and four months ago.
Saturday February 2nd 2008.

Shazaam! So have you called the guys back and thumbed your nose at
them yet?


(Took *over an hour* to replace the valve cover gasket on my older
Camry this morning. Don't tell anyone.)

Is that the one with six wide-open screws holding it down, and nothing
is routed over the top of it?

No such luck. The good news is that the cover is fixed using
the four 30 mm spark plug tube nuts. The bad news is that the
breather tubes were oxidized, making extraction difficult, and
there are a couple brackets and Cali emissions cables that have
to be disassembled to allow clearance for the cover to be
lifted off. The procedure in my Haynes manual didn't mention
the interfering parts. I spent a *lot* of time disassembling
*this* so I could access the fasteners to disassemble *that*.

I loved having to remove the air conditioning pump and bracket,
separately, including losing the freon, to get at rocker gaskets.
Flat rate was SIX HOURS. Chebby or Cad, IIRC. Effin' GMs...

And don't forget the six hour engine R&R to change a set of spark
plugs in a 260/289cid V-8 Mustang. Guys were cutting 2" holes in the
unibody fender wells to get at them. R&R front wheels, cut holes
once, and do tune-ups in an hour from then on. Body shops loved it
because when you even -tapped- a Mustang after that, it ripped the
front end off.


Never happened to you, I assume?

Nah! Never once, with all that wonderful German, Austrian, Italian,
French, American, English, Japanese, and Yugoslavian engineering.


I tried downloading a video of the process three times but
YouTube choked. They were prolly demonstrating it on a car
without the interfering emissions parts anyway.

Condolences. What was I saying? Oh, "never underestimate..."


Don't get me wrong. The weather was very pleasant and it felt
good to be doing something useful, so it was hardly upsetting.

Au contrare.

Forgot the "i" in contraire, mon frere. I enjoyed today's 78F with a
mostly clear cloud-sprinkled sky.

--
The ultimate result of shielding men from the
effects of folly is to fill the world with fools.
--Herbert Spencer

Larry Jaques wrote:

(...)

TRS Recovery shouldn't even be involved until:
A) Amazon ships the order
B) your CC bounces (which is usually instantaneous)
C) Amazon contacts you
D) proper time goes by and you don't respond
E) Amazon threatens recovery and you still don't pay.

All that should take over a month.

You *do* understand that TRS is a front for a criminal enterprise
that does not bother with niceties and expectations, yes?

The mugger that confronts you in the street does not say:
"Could you schedule me for an informal conversation
sometime next month regarding the current economic
downturn and the expansion of ad-hoc resource transfer?"

--Winston -- Well, maybe in Canada he would.

Larry Jaques wrote:
On Fri, 10 Jun 2011 09:48:21 -0700,
wrote:

(...)

Nup. I was diagnosed at Stage 6 three years and four months ago.
Saturday February 2nd 2008.

Shazaam! So have you called the guys back and thumbed your nose at
them yet?

Don't have to. (Hi Ali, you sick piece of crap.)

Ah where was I....

(...)

I loved having to remove the air conditioning pump and bracket,
separately, including losing the freon, to get at rocker gaskets.
Flat rate was SIX HOURS. Chebby or Cad, IIRC. Effin' GMs...

Gaaa!

And don't forget the six hour engine R&R to change a set of spark
plugs in a 260/289cid V-8 Mustang. Guys were cutting 2" holes in the
unibody fender wells to get at them. R&R front wheels, cut holes
once, and do tune-ups in an hour from then on. Body shops loved it
because when you even -tapped- a Mustang after that, it ripped the
front end off.

Whoops.

(...)

Au contrare.

Forgot the "i" in contraire, mon frere.

Pardon my French.

I enjoyed today's 78F with a mostly clear cloud-sprinkled sky.

It's good to be King.

--Winston

On Fri, 10 Jun 2011 17:13:16 -0700, Winston
wrote:

Larry Jaques wrote:

(...)

TRS Recovery shouldn't even be involved until:
A) Amazon ships the order
B) your CC bounces (which is usually instantaneous)
C) Amazon contacts you
D) proper time goes by and you don't respond
E) Amazon threatens recovery and you still don't pay.

All that should take over a month.

You *do* understand that TRS is a front for a criminal enterprise
that does not bother with niceties and expectations, yes?

TRS Recovery isn't part of the TRS credit reporting folks? I didn't
check into it. Hmm, the trio is Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. I
thought TRS was in there somewhere.


The mugger that confronts you in the street does not say:
"Could you schedule me for an informal conversation
sometime next month regarding the current economic
downturn and the expansion of ad-hoc resource transfer?"

--Winston -- Well, maybe in Canada he would.

Very colourful thought, suh.

--
The ultimate result of shielding men from the
effects of folly is to fill the world with fools.
--Herbert Spencer

Larry Jaques wrote:

(...)

TRS Recovery isn't part of the TRS credit reporting folks? I didn't
check into it. Hmm, the trio is Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. I
thought TRS was in there somewhere.

Nah. Nothing legit about them.


--Winston

On Jun 10, 2:42*pm, "Ed Huntress" wrote:


There is no law against selling it in CA, which makes sense, because they
sell gasoline. g I checked the law, too.


I am surprised that Coleman Fuel is okay. I doubt if the same stuff
is legal if sold as paint thinner. You can not buy regular paint in
California. It has to be low volatile paint.


But in the L.A. area it is against the law to sell gasoline powered
lawn mowers.



Apparently it's a matter of what customers are buying, and, thus, what
retailers are stocking. Coleman tells me that it's hard to find in many
parts of the country because customers have switched to propane.

BTW, in NJ, I just bought a box of TSP a few days ago.

Did you take a good look at the contents? I started to buy a box
clearly labeled TSP, but in the fine print it said that it was
actually Sodium Carbonate. I do not think you can buy detergents in
N.Y. with phosphates.


--
Ed Huntress

On Sat, 11 Jun 2011 01:07:08 -0700, Winston
wrote:

Larry Jaques wrote:

(...)

TRS Recovery isn't part of the TRS credit reporting folks? I didn't
check into it. Hmm, the trio is Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. I
thought TRS was in there somewhere.

Nah. Nothing legit about them.

Just a chip off the old acorn, wot? Suckage.

Perhaps it's time for everyone who uses Amazon to have a word with
them about their colleagues.

--
The ultimate result of shielding men from the
effects of folly is to fill the world with fools.
--Herbert Spencer

wrote in message
...
On Jun 10, 2:42 pm, "Ed Huntress" wrote:


There is no law against selling it in CA, which makes sense, because they
sell gasoline. g I checked the law, too.


I am surprised that Coleman Fuel is okay. I doubt if the same stuff
is legal if sold as paint thinner. You can not buy regular paint in
California. It has to be low volatile paint.

I didn't look too deeply, but what I found is that the basic law cuts
VOC-containing liquid container size down to a maximum of one quart, to
avoid commercial use.

I guess it sounded like a good idea to them at the time.


But in the L.A. area it is against the law to sell gasoline powered
lawn mowers.

How are the sales of goats doing? g

Apparently it's a matter of what customers are buying, and, thus, what
retailers are stocking. Coleman tells me that it's hard to find in many
parts of the country because customers have switched to propane.

BTW, in NJ, I just bought a box of TSP a few days ago.


Did you take a good look at the contents?

Yes. This one is 75% - 80% trisodium phosphate

http://www.savogran.com/Information/TSP_MS.pdf

It works for brush-type rust-removal, which I use a lot:

http://www.metalworking.com/Dropbox/...es/E-CLEAN.TXT

I've run into this for years. Few retailers carry it; I don't know exactly
how the law reads. My first choice usually is the local Sherwin-Williams
store. The last time I bought there it was 100% TSP. But I was in Home
Despot the other day and thought to pick some up.

I started to buy a box
clearly labeled TSP, but in the fine print it said that it was
actually Sodium Carbonate. I do not think you can buy detergents in
N.Y. with phosphates.

You can't buy detergents with them here in NJ, either. Or in Illinois. I
tipped my mother-in-law to buy some and to add two tablespoons to her
laundry, after she complained that the new detergents weren't getting things
as clean as they used to. That's the main reason I run out of it every once
in a while.

We have a real algae problem in NJ, from runoff, and I'm told that
phosphates actually are the bigger problem, over nitrates. Since they've
taken it out of most consumer products, the algae problem in the Delaware
River supposedly is much lower.

As long as TSP is sold in dull-looking boxes in big paint departments, it's
unlikely we'll see much problem with its overuse.

--
Ed Huntress

"When shopping for household chemicals, look for the skull and
crossbones." -- Ed Huntress

On Fri, 10 Jun 2011 08:00:24 +0100, IanM
wrote:


CAUTION: It will attack seals, gaskets and of course paint!

The only notable problem is that plastic toothbrushes don't last long in
contact with dichloromethane based strippers, which is a pity as they
are ideal for cleaning ring grooves, round valve seats etc.

M16 cleaning brushes last a little longer, but are still softened up.

Now Ohio Brush makes some very good wooden handled ones!!

(cue Tom....)

Gunner

"As physicists now know, there is some nonzero probability that any object will,
through quantum effects, tunnel from the workbench in your shop to Floyds Knobs,
Indiana (unless your shop is already in Indiana, in which case the object will
tunnel to Trotters, North Dakota).

The smaller mass of the object, the higher the probability.
Therefore, disassembled parts, particularly small ones,
of machines disappear much faster than assembled machines."
Greg Dermer: rec.crafts.metalworking

Larry Jaques wrote:
On Sat, 11 Jun 2011 01:07:08 -0700,
wrote:

Larry Jaques wrote:

(...)

TRS Recovery isn't part of the TRS credit reporting folks? I didn't
check into it. Hmm, the trio is Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. I
thought TRS was in there somewhere.

Nah. Nothing legit about them.

Just a chip off the old acorn, wot? Suckage.

Perhaps it's time for everyone who uses Amazon to have a word with
them about their colleagues.

Turns out Amazon is not the only infected outlet.
I read one story about how TRS got transaction
information from Walmart, too.
http://www.complaintsboard.com/compl...es-c10962.html

I guess it is safe to assume that TRS can do a man-in-the-middle
attack on *any* transaction, even writing a check *in the store*.

I sure am glad there is a video camera at each intersection to
catch crime.

--Winston

On 06/10/2011 12:00 AM, IanM wrote:
Pete C. wrote:
Ed Huntress wrote:
"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.

Consider the nature of the deposit - thermally polymerised vegetable oil
+ carbon. If it was a drying oil (e.g. boiled linseed oil) + carbon
black it would be a paint so for easy decoking, use paint stripper.
Obviously don't use an alkali (caustic) stripper on aluminium parts, but
dichloromethane (methylene chloride) based ones are safe on all metals
found in an engine. Wash off any residue with methylated spirits (or if
you used an alkali stripper just with water).

CAUTION: It will attack seals, gaskets and of course paint!

Had not considered paint stripper, no Al. here, so worth a try.


The only notable problem is that plastic toothbrushes don't last long in
contact with dichloromethane based strippers, which is a pity as they
are ideal for cleaning ring grooves, round valve seats etc.

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

"Extrude-hone" comes to mind, forcing an abrasive paste/slury through
the inaccessible passages. Perhaps that will spark some DIY ideas...

I've seen a marine engineer (big ships!) burn out the carbon from a
bronze exhaust system off a launch with a Stuart Turner two stroke
engine - remove the exhaust from the boat, remove all the lagging, pour
a cup full of petrol down it and shake well, build a bonfire round the
whole exhaust and as soon as the flames coming out the far end died
away, hook up a vacuum cleaner on blow! The result was an absolute
inferno out of the manifold end and a dull red glow from the pipe.
Apparently the trick is to rake the bonfire away from the exhaust once
you have the glow and restrict the air supply as well if that doesn't
control it as you DON'T want a BRIGHT red glow ;-) It actually took
something like fifteen minutes to get the glow most of the way down the
exhaust, at which point the engineer commented that it was now done, and
he'd just let the bonfire burn out and it would be ready to reinstall
the next day and it was also annealed as a side benefit!

I've never had the need or desire to try it myself . . . . YMMV!

Good thing it was a bronze part...I once tried gas welding a new header
onto a steel expansion chamber, and managed to diffuse enough of the
carbon inside the pipe 'into' the steel, that it just snapped off, so
darned brittle!
-bill