Good way to clean out hard buildup in water galleries?

[Howieau]

Ive got my head back from the machinist, though the wash they did on it didnt seem to clean out the water galleries that well, if they cleaned them out at all.

Heres a pic of the buildup thats still in there;



I just dont want it coming off when the engine is back together and pumping around in my coolant system.

Any ideas on how to remove it, is there some acidic crap I can run through the galleries or shouldnt I bother?

[LeeRoy]

Well they probably bathed the head in an acidic bath so thats probably what didnt come off. You could always get a gerni onto it but it should be right how it is. Id probably also look into getting the parts where the head has coroded fixed also.

- LeeRoy

[oldeskewltoy]

Not sure what product line you have "down under"... but in the USA there is a product called CLR...(Calcium, Lime, Rust) it is NOT an acid, but a BASE... I'd find a tin pan that holds the head and soak it in the CLR over night....

[Howieau]

Can I do that safely with my cams installed on the head?

Its just that the machinist setup the valve clearance and all that for me already haha.

[oldeskewltoy]

Can I do that safely with my cams installed on the head?

Its just that the machinist setup the valve clearance and all that for me already haha.

I wouldn't... in fact it really can only be done on a stripped head.... cams gone, shims gone, buckets gone, VALVES gone. No... or as little steal on the head as possible

[Screamn_Sleeka]

Not sure what product line you have "down under"... but in the USA there is a product called CLR...(Calcium, Lime, Rust) it is NOT an acid, but a BASE... I'd find a tin pan that holds the head and soak it in the CLR over night....

Also known as DRAIN cleaner.
Go grab a bottle from a supermarket. It wont wont react with metals, but will dissolve minerals.

[3sgte]

Not sure what product line you have "down under"... but in the USA there is a product called CLR...(Calcium, Lime, Rust) it is NOT an acid, but a BASE... I'd find a tin pan that holds the head and soak it in the CLR over night....

Based on my memory it is not a base.

The MSDS for CLR also confirms this.
http://www.hescoinc.com/Msds/comcl4.pdf

[3sgte]

Also known as DRAIN cleaner.
Go grab a bottle from a supermarket. It wont wont react with metals, but will dissolve minerals.

The ingredients in many common drain cleaners react with aluminum.

One of those is sodium hydroxide (lye). Suggesting the use of drain cleaner on an aluminum cylinder head is inappropriate to say the least.

In this MSDS, one of the ingredients listed is aluminum. This is because the aluminum contributes to the heat producing chemical reaction of the drain cleaner.

http://www.scjohnson.com/msds_us_ca/...og_Remover.pdf

[Howieau]

I think Im going to wing it. The machinist has already reinstalled all the valve train and camshafts properly for me, if I was to remove it all I would either have to reinstall it all myself (and properly mess something up good) or pay him again to re-do it, so Ill go with it as it is.

When the engine is running Ill just run some sort of cleaner through it and then flush it out, and change the flush the coolant altogether very often hoping that some of it will come out.

Cheers

[EVOSTi]

none of that stuff will come out into your coolant onces its going, thats how most look on the inside

[BeRad]

indeed. when i pulled my 3sgte head off back when i had it, the galleries were disgusting. bit of a clean up with the gerni and was good as new.

[EldarO]

put a high pressure cleaner in the holes and give it a right blast, whatever comes out, if anything, will be the majority of the crap that will dislodge.

my 7M head, when i had it cleaned up looked sorta like that, but it was, admittedly alot cleaner.

Elmo.