Tech Forum : what to use to clean block and pistons?

chad	Posted Friday, Jun 13th 8:51am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]
Member Post nr. 8 saskatchewan, canada 79 320i, 82 320i	i am about to finally put my head back on my 79 320i, and the tops of my pistons and the top of the block are fairly dirty with carbon deposits. what should i use to clean these off? also what would be best to clean out the holes for the head bolts in the block? is brake cleaner okay to use? thanks, chad

Tricord	Posted Friday, Jun 13th 11:49am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]
Administrator Post nr. 49 Belgium, Europe 323i Baur	For the bolt holes, there's nothing better than pressurized air. If you don't have a compressor handy, maybe you can pick one up. I bought one with a 24L expansion tank for less than $100, so you should definately be able to get a fairly good one for less than 100 bucks as well. As for the block surface, it has to be absolutely perfectly clean before you put the head back. You'll have to carefully sandpaper it, and if you want you can do the piston heads as well. Check out the first paragraph on my engine rebuild page.