Best thing to clean out pipe & S/A?

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wanaride
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Best thing to clean out pipe & S/A?

Post by wanaride »

I'm planning on repacking my S/A soon and I'm interested in cleaning out the S/A and maybe the pipe while I'm at it.

I was thinking about swishing some kerosene or similar substance in the S/A (without packing). Is there a better way to do this?

Thanks!
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Post by canyncarvr »

I've looked into the same thing...came up with caustic soda (lye). Thanks tp Farmerj I had a link to a chemical place that sells the stuff. It's not expensive, but shipping it is! I got a couple of pounds of flake for something like $8, shipping was $13 (hazardous stuff).

I soaked my junk spark arrestor in a solution of it (w/water). It cleaned it up a good bit..certainly softened the carbon a lot.

Now...the problem is what to do with softened carbon IN the pipe. My intention is to get some plugs for the pipe ends, fill'er up with a pound or so of flake, add some water and see what happens.

I think the whole thing is iffy. You won't be able to see inside the pipe to see what's going on...the whole idea of heating the pipe to blue with a torch I guess would work. I don't have an oxy/acy setup and besides, that much heat is going to surely discolor the pipe.

I likely won't get around to the lye job anytime real soon...there's too much riding to do!!

I'd sure like to hear what you come up with. If your interested in the lye link, let me know...I'll look it up.

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Post by FLAKDX »

I've used easy off oven cleaner a few times and it works pretty good. It won't make it like new as it next to impossible to get in there and scrub but it will remove about 85% of the mung. Spray it in, let it set for awhile, (swishi it around every 10 minutes or so) and rinse it out after about an hour. A WHOLE buncha goo and crap will come out :mrgreen:

I have never tried it but I heard Kerosene works pretty good to. :neutral:
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Post by KDXGarage »

Be careful with the Easy-Off. It will start to corrode the aluminum. I know from experience. :sad: I have since read that about 15 minutes is as long as you want to leave it on there. I don't know how the steel and aluminum mesh on the TC II, but thought I would pass along that warning.

On cleaning a pipe, I had some success with using a one foot long piece of stranded metal wire chucked up in an air die grinder. I also used a two feet long piece and a three feet long piece. Chucking it up in a drill didn't do much for it. It worked, but it was slow as can be.

I used a propane torch ($15) to heat inside the header portion. It started to turn a little blue after about 4-5 minutes. It was OK to do it for a couple of minutes, though. It softened up the carbon and made it easier to scrape out of the pipe with a brass bristle brush (after the unburnt oil flamed up).
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Post by Mr. Wibbens »

for the S/A try Yamaha Combustion Chamber Cleaner

Killer stuff and safe on allyloomynumb

Also a cheap Harbor Freight propane weed burner torch will work great on the S/A
Burn off all the spooge and brush it up with a wire brush and it will look like this
Image
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Possible Solution...

Post by Mark W »

How about throwing the thing inside a gas grill and turn the sucker all the way up. Would this soften up the material enough to make it easier to remove?

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Post by Indawoods »

May warp it Mark! :?
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Post by KDXGarage »

HMM! Cool. Thanks for the picture, wibby. I was wondering what that looked like on the inside. How hard was it to get the spark arrestor portion out?

What is the about one inch wide wrapped part on the spark arrestor?

Thanks.
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Post by FLAKDX »

Thanks for the tip on the spark arrestor Jason. I've never used the oven cleaner on it I was more refering to the main pipe which you can't really hurt with easy off.

I re-pack my silencer every other month so it never really gets that nasty. I'll keep that in mind though if I ever do go to town on the SA.
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Post by KDXGarage »

On the pipe, spray away. :grin: I did it just 2 weeks ago.

That wire I used was around $.50 per foot at Lowe's. I just got them to cut each section at 1, 2 and 3 feet.

Be wary of the carbon specks flying off and getting breathed in. Be careful.
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Post by Mr. Wibbens »

Jason wrote: How hard was it to get the spark arrestor portion out?.
Just hafta drill out the rivets and she comes right out
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Post by KDXGarage »

Cool. Thanks.
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Post by skipro3 »

I wonder if this might work for cleaning out all the carbon in a pipe:

After loosening it all up ala the CC lye method, attach a long flexable cable to a drill bit with several wires fixed to the end; kind of like a cat-o-nine tales. Then insert it into the pipe and turn on the drill, letting the wires wack away at the walls inside the pipe. The cable might be an old odometer cable as an example of what I mean.

Just some brain storming.
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Post by KDXGarage »

I am not trying to annoy the honorable monkey, but from a post of mine earlier in this thread:
On cleaning a pipe, I had some success with using a one foot long piece of stranded metal wire chucked up in an air die grinder. I also used a two feet long piece and a three feet long piece. Chucking it up in a drill didn't do much for it. It worked, but it was slow as can be.
Did you miss that?

Thanks.
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Post by skipro3 »

My suggestion is totally different. Not even close to the same. What the 'ell are you talkin' about anyway mate?

My theory has the wires twisting clockwise in the northern hemisphere. So there!!!

(actually, I knew I heard it somewhere before, just didn't realize it was quite that recent. Alzimers is setting in.)

Anyone suggesting I'm confusing Jason with KayDeeXer is asking for trouble from the annoyed monkey


P.S. I still don't get your avitar. forks, green line, skeleton, electicity? What?
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Post by Indawoods »

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Post by KDXGarage »

Uhh, I am in the northern hemisphere, too. :grin:


I was pretty surprised to see how much carbon came out of a pipe.

As far as brainstorming, I am thinking about taking some rocks from my head, throwing them in the pipe and shaking them around. Also, I am going to look for a 1" / 1.25" circular wire brush and maybe a drill bit extension to get down inside the header portion.

Indawoods was trying to figure out my avatar, too. I asked him what do I work on? On the top-left side, there are some _ _ _ _ _. On the bottom-right side, the guy is getting a _ _ _ _ _. Hopefully that makes more sense now.
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Post by Mr. Wibbens »

silverware and electrocuted?
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Post by KDXer »

I thought it was Fork YOU !!! :lol:

Fork Shock is it ?? What do we win for guessing it ??
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Post by KDXGarage »

If you thought the first comment, then I better change it. :grin:

There are some forks, and the guy is getting a shock. I didn't think it would be that tough to figure out. I just thought it would be something different.

Sorry, no prize. :grin:
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