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valve cleaning?

S

SVT#4967

CEG'er
Joined
Sep 12, 2007
Messages
322
Location
Michigan
So I got the heads out of the car the other day. I also pulled the valve springs and valves from the head so I could replace the valve seals. As you can see by the following pictures some of the intake valves are quite dirty. The valves that are the most dirty are the valve that are in the secondary ports.

Valve Springs/Retainers/Valves/Keepers


Dirty Intake Valve


LH Head Parts


RH Head Parts


My question is, is it ok to clean the valves? What should I clean them with? I assume I shouldn't use any wire brush or anything that would scratch the shaft of the valve as that would probably affect how the valve seals against the valve seal. So some general cleaner and a tooth brush?

As you can see I have everything marked and in order of the way they came out of the heads so I can re-install them in the exact place they came out of.

I am looking for a suitable bottle/tube brush so I can start cleaning the ports in the head as well as in the upper and lower intakes.
 
oh, I just saw that at autozone when I went to get more shop towels and more PB Blaster. I don't recall the price but I will have to go check it out.
 
You clean them with a wire wheel. It's a messy job. You won't hurt the stems. If you are concerned about the stems, all you need to do is back off on the pressure against the wire wheel as you get close to the metal.

Wire wheel have been used for this since the beginning of the automotive era.
 
my computer wouldnt let me open the berryman's link....but if its for berryman's B-12 carb and choke cleaner that stuff is only 3 bucks for a can works great
 
68fordman said:
my computer wouldnt let me open the berryman's link....but if its for berryman's B-12 carb and choke cleaner that stuff is only 3 bucks for a can works great
Click to expand...

no, it's actually for Berryman's B-9 Chem-Dip Carburetor and Parts Cleaner. It's about the size of a paint can and has a basket inside to set the parts into. It's $19.99 at AutoZone.

I bought it and I also have some Berryman's B-12.

I've been busy this past week and haven't had a chance to get out in the garage and work on the car. I plan to get out there later today and give this stuff a shot though.
 
Update: I've used the Chem Dip and it works pretty good on the intake valves. I just use a plastic puddy knife to scrape the built up crud off the intake valves. Then let them soak over night. When I pull them out the rest of the stuff on the valve is bubbled up and easy to remove with a brush. Just a few specs left on the valve.

On the exhaust valves though the chem dip doesn't do much if anything.

I bought a variable speed bench grinder with a brass wire wheel and grinding wheel from Sears. It was out of stock so I finally got it on Friday. I went out and started working on the valves with the bench grinder and wire wheel yesterday. That works great! Got all the valves done for the RH head. Since I removed most of the crud from the valves already it wasn't all that messy.

Now I just have to clean up the head. Get the part were the valve seats all cleaned up as well as the intake/exhaust ports. The secondary intake ports are just as nasty as the valves that were in them. I sprayed those with B-12 yesterday, I'll start cleaning them today.

Seeing as how nasty the intake is, especially the secondaries, I am going to make sure I get some sort of oil separator installed by the time I'm finished with all this to help keep all that stuff clean from now on.
 
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