Piston Kleen, Removing carbon from pistons Options

[dknechtly]

I have my engine pulled apart for a rebuild. As expected the pistons were carboned up and I dreaded the chore of cleaning. I found this stuff called "Piston Kleen" and let them soak a couple of days. It took the carbon all off! Outside, underside, ring grooves. Some places I just wiped off a little bit. It did a great job. Saved a lot of work and potential piston damage. I just wanted to pass along the good info.
I couldn't find it retail anywhere. Just ordered from the web site. Free and fast shipping.

http://www.orisonmarketing.com/pistonkleen.html

Edited: I have plain old 1.7 original pistons. When I was researching this, I did see some of the cleaners harmed aluminum. This does not. Just gives you nice, clean, unscratched or scraped pistons.

[walterolin]

The ill fated Chevrolet Vega had a 4 cyl aluminum block - no sleeves. The rings rode directly on the aluminum. I believe the walls were impregnated with something like silicon which prevented wear - unless the block overheated. Unfortunately GM elected to forego a $5.00 coolant recovery kit, and of course the block overheated and the two middle cylinders would melt.

I thought it was a beautifully designed engine. I could disassemble and remove the entire engine except for the cam in under two hours with hand tools. You didn't need a lift because the aluminum block only weighed a few pounds. And it ran well.

[Mark Henry]

The ill fated Chevrolet Vega had a 4 cyl aluminum block - no sleeves. The rings rode directly on the aluminum. I believe the walls were impregnated with something like silicon which prevented wear - unless the block overheated. Unfortunately GM elected to forego a $5.00 coolant recovery kit, and of course the block overheated and the two middle cylinders would melt.

I thought it was a beautifully designed engine. I could disassemble and remove the entire engine except for the cam in under two hours with hand tools. You didn't need a lift because the aluminum block only weighed a few pounds. And it ran well.

I believe it was an early form of alusil, like in many Porsche engines. These still use a aluminium piston but it has iron impregnated into the surface.