- Thread starter BJames
- Start date
I was once heavily addicted to RC airplane stuff.
The Formula One Pylon racers were a particular favorite and the most messy. Nitro glow fuel is a nightmare to clean off an engine. The castor based lubrication oil in the fuel will coke on the head and the exhaust in a short amount of time. It's near impossible to remove with conventional thinking. Carb cleaner, brushes, whatever. Never made a dent in it.
Several of the old timers always had sparkly engines and it drove me nuts to see it. I was finally given the answer one day after pestering.
"Boil the engine in Prestone Antifreeze."
...and wholly shit were they right.
Good luck.
The Formula One Pylon racers were a particular favorite and the most messy. Nitro glow fuel is a nightmare to clean off an engine. The castor based lubrication oil in the fuel will coke on the head and the exhaust in a short amount of time. It's near impossible to remove with conventional thinking. Carb cleaner, brushes, whatever. Never made a dent in it.
Several of the old timers always had sparkly engines and it drove me nuts to see it. I was finally given the answer one day after pestering.
"Boil the engine in Prestone Antifreeze."
...and wholly shit were they right.
Good luck.
Steam works really well to remove carbon from the tops of pistons. We used to detach a vacuum line and place it into a small bottle of water and let the engine run. Works like the GM topside cleaner. One of the old guys taught me that when I used to be a tech.
This also works really well for removing oil residue from very expensive clutch discs, brake shoes and brake pads.
It smells like hell but works.
It’s also exciting when the glycol catches fire, so have the lid for the pot or pan handy.
This also works well as long as the carbon doesn’t close any of the spark plug electrodes....
Ask me how I know, lol.
I put my stainless steel muzzle brakes in my wet tumbler with stainless steel media and Dawn dish soap....let it run for 3 hours. It does a really good job. What’s left is easily cleaned with a shotgun brass bore brush attached to a pistol cleaning rod.
Sounds great. How’s that work for barrel crowns?
I didn’t say it did work for crowns. The guy I replied to asked about putting a brake in a vibratory tumbler.
For my crowns I remove my brakes every 200-300 rounds, and I hit it quick with a brass brush. Only takes about 5 minutes or less. Just have to remember to run a few patches through the barrel for any debris that gets into it while brushing
Maybe I should have included a smiley or something...
Oh yeah, smiley.
Oh yeah, smiley.
I'll let my brakes go until they are ridiculously bad, like flat across baffles on a Hellfire brake that has significant backwards angle.
I soak in 1:1 peroxide vinegar mix. Break off chunks with a small screwdriver, soak again. Takes about 20 minutes of scraping in total, maybe three soak cycles 8 hours each. Cleans it back totally carbon free again. Some very slight greying of the black finish but I add a coat of oil again after I'm done and that makes ir pretty much like new.
I'd try the boil in antifreeze method if I had the means to do it, that sounds like a very effective approach.
Can you hang it into an ultrasonic with peroxide and vinegar? works wonders for my cans, brakes, and AI bbl, mt 22/45 lite internals, etc.
I’ve always wondered about using the peroxide vinegar mix in the ultrasonic. Good to know it works. Does it damage the outside finish at all? Pretty much the only reason I haven’t tried it yet.
might dull it a bit on some stuff, only noticed it on one bbl out of 5. I've used it on mt titanium tbacs, and very cruddy .22 sparrow, no issues. Probably not good on aluminum, but not tried.
I have this unit:
was $120 in May 2019, heats quickly
I have this unit:
was $120 in May 2019, heats quickly
Thanks. I don’t care if it dulls things a bit, since I tend to keep a mirage cover on it anyway. Mine’s titanium, so it should be good to go.
Dental pick...
Interestingly I just sent off one of my brakes for QPQ. It’s a salt bath nitriding that is used on actions and oil field stuff. Really hard and very smooth finish.
I guess I’ll see in 2wks how well it works, I know it leaves parts super black.
I guess I’ll see in 2wks how well it works, I know it leaves parts super black.
