Jumped into it tonight

[newmaac]

Tonight I stopped procrastinating and tore into my engine.
It has been smoking pretty badly when I accelerate hard, and lately I have been having issues keeping cam chain tension, so I decided to get in there and freshen-up the top end.
I have the rings and gasket kit ordered, and Tom has agreed to sell me a new D.I.D. cam chain that he has.
The cyls will be honed (cross hatched) at a local machine shop. They also will most likely be sizing the rings for me. I bought
one-over rings, and will be sticking with stock pistons and cyls, assuming that everything mic's OK.

I was pleased that everything looked pretty good inside. The combustion chambers in the head are pretty clean, just a little carbon build-up.
The piston crowns have a fair amount of carbon though. (actually, it looks more like burnt oil, and not as dry and brittle as I have seen in some engines.)
What is the best method to clean these?
I seem to recall hearing of guys using oven cleaner, back in high school.
Does that sound right?
I plan to lap the valves and replace the seals, but hope to keep the head work to a minimum.

If I wanted to paint the cyls, does it seem sufficient to have it dipped at the machine shop and then rinse it at home with alcohol before hi heat paint, or should I look into bead blasting or something?

I plan to get this back together within the next week, or two at the most. We are scheduled to be bike camping up in the Gold Country on Sept 15th.

If I have missed anything in the top end, that I should be addressing now, but have not mentioned it, please feel free to enlighten me.

Thanks,

PS, has anyone found a source for replacements for the head bolts. Without a doubt, the ugliest part of my bike has, for years been the rusty looking crowns of those head bolts!!

[GNEPIG]

.. sounds like you have every thing covered.
i have had real good luck sand blasting before painting motor parts, gives the paint a little more to hold on too.
i just use a razor blade to scrape off the carbon.
other than paint or chroming them i dont know of another solution for your head bolts.
..i'm lookin forward to the out come of your new rings fitment, keep us posted

Gene

[randy]

newmaac;

Do not use oven cleaner on aluminum. Lye eats aluminum.

[DiverRay]

Mike,
I use Berryman's B12 Chemtool on the pistons. Buy a pint can, put a little on a green scrubber, and clean. You will be pleased with how little work it takes to get the carbon off.
Ray

[webbcraft2150]

Run em thru the dishwasher, use two rinse cycles, plead the 5th if ya get caught. Good thing to do when you get your cylinders back to. If your going to get in trouble, might as well make it worth your while.

[planedick]

Head bolt nuts...

Acorn nuts can be found at mcmaster.com, any size or material you want, including Stainless Steel. Great company, always in stock.

[excess11]

Carbon removal

The best thing to remove carbon from the pistons is Amonia. Get the plain strait amonia house hold cleaner. Take a shop towel soak it until saturated with amonia then wrap it around the piston making sure it has good contact with the carboned up areas. Let the pistons sit overnight and the next day you can whipe off the carbon with a rag or brush. This will remove every trace of carbon from the piston. They will look like new old stock. It realy does work,try it out!!! Amonia does stink so do this in the garage or shedd.