Cleaning up a cylinder head

Quick soak in the acid bath. Local engine shop should be able to help you out..

Tim..

Tesco Value vinegar works a treat, apparently.

i take it this is the rover head your doing ? & from what your asking im assuming your not going to get the head skimmed ? if you were doing it the correct way by getting it skimmed, the enginnering company if asked would do this for you as they have a bath for soaking such items.

i have used a light spraying of carb cleaner on the piston crowns, but to be honest i would'nt recommend it, id leave them as to much cleaning the bores will wash them & you *might* have smoking problems.

but to get the pistons up to the top to clean them you have to rotate the engine, since these engines have liners and rotating the crank with no head isnt a good idea as you might pop the liners up !

Does the head have to be skimmed every time it comes off?

I've raced cars where some of the (much) better off competitors would have the engine rebuilt in between every race - if they were skimmed every time there would be nothing left in a few months!

Anyhow, I don't have any liner retainers, so I guess the pistons will have to stay as they are...

Anyhow, thanks for the advice! Andy.

No. Seems a popular idea, but it's not always necessary. If the head is not damaged. The mating surfaces are not burnt or pitted, and it is flat within 0.006". IOW 6 thou from end to end, IME it is safe to replace it without skimming. IMO if skimming can be avoided, it is best to do so. A slight bend will be taken out when the head bolts are tightened, which is better for the camshaft on an OHC engine. Which most engines are these days. Mike.

It's proably a good idea if the reason it comes off it a head gasket failure, and anyway, we are talking K-Series here, aren't we? If it were me having to take the damn thing apart again if it packs in again, I'd take every precaution, at least with an engine that's noted for blowing the HG if anything isn't 100%.

Just be grateful it isn't one of these.

Steve

"shazzbat" wrote in news:f27rkg$sgo$ snipped-for-privacy@news.datemas.de:

I never realized quite how small the japs were.

lol, excellent picture. I might print that off & give it to our apprentice next time we give him a simple headjob to do & he moans !

Woulsn't be appropriate. It's a photo of a cylinder block, rather than a cylinder head. Mike.

yes i know that, hence i shall show the apprentice, some days he dosnt know his arse from his balljoints.

OK... USE A SAND STONE. ONLY FOR THE MATEING SURFACES OF HEAD AND BLOCK. IF YOUR CLEANING THE HEAD OF AND REMOVING CAM AND LIFTERS JUST THROW IT IN A PALE OF GAS OR A CAN OF BRAKE CLEAN WORKS. YOU KNOW IF YOUR WOMEN, LOL OR YOUR MOM DON'T MIND JUST THROW IT IN THE TUB. HOT WATER AND SOAP. (BUT TAE THE CAMS AND LIFTERS OUT). DON'T FORGET TO BLEED THE LIFTERS BEFOR YOU RE-INSTALL.

If this is a K series, I would *always* have the head skimmed whilst bolted down to a torque plate.

You don't want to be doing the job again...

Tim..

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember DUBINOUT saying something like:

No need to shout.

the head does not need to be plained but should be checed for warped surface