Topic: Whats the easiest way to clean the crap off the valves?

[CB750R]

Hey, I'm rebuilding a head, and the exhaust valves have a brownish deposit thats hard as a rock, on the exposed side of the stem and the head.  I've been carefully sanding this stuff but man its taking forever!!  any way to speed the process up here, or just thank goodness there's only 8 valves?  the intakes are just a little black, and the deposits are easier to remove, but not by a ton.

Thanks
G

[Terry in Australia]

Have you got access to a bench grinder with a "wire wheel" attachment? That's what I use, and it works well. Cheers, Terry.

[CB750R]

D'oh!! knew I wanted one of those for a reason!

[heffay]

bead blasters work well too... little trickier to afford tho 

[kghost]

Chuck the Valve in a drill.

Spin and use emory cloth. (or sandpaper, it just doesn't last as long)

[heffay]

Chuck the Valve in a drill.

Spin and use emory cloth. (or sandpaper, it just doesn't last as long)

oooooh!   forgot about that one... works extremely well also... perhaps even quicker than the method i suggested

[Sam Green Racing]

Wrap tape round stem before you put it in the chuck.

[CB750R]

now why didn;t I think of that, its how I've been gripping the valves to lap them after all!!! Goes to show you how workin in the garage listening to the classic rock station too long makes the brain turn off!!

[Trevor from Warragul]

Buy some caustic soda.  Mix a few teaspoons in some warm water in a glass jar (be careful, it's DANGEROUS stuff).  Put the valves in the jar & leave for a day or so.  The deposits will then fall off.

[Flood]

I put them in a glass with this foamy oven cleaner for 24 hours, then put them in a drill (with the stems protected with a little strip of cloth).

Then scrape off the residues with something softer then the (hardened) valve. I used hard wood, sharpened. Then use sanding paper.

[CB750R]

Thanks to all the handy responses, its amazing to see how different the methods are to accomplish such a meanial task!! I also shoulda thought about the oven cleaner!! I'm a sales rep for a company specializing in cleaning solutions for restaurants and hotels, I gotta see what I have in the sample dept!!

[Sam Green Racing]

Any freeeebees

[Lumbee]

...dremel with the spongy rest remover...works like a charm!

[ElCheapo]

Another trick I use is one for a running bike unfortunately. I feed a little bit of automatic transmission fluid while it is running. It seems to work ok, I think.

Makes a killer cloud they can see in the next county

Or you can use Seafoam cleaner. When feed through the gas it cleans all the internals nicely. Feed it all at once and you get another killer cloud  .