Soda blasting combustion chambers with valves in?

Supergyro

Active Member
Is it a bad idea to soda blast my combustion chamber and valve faces all as one? I hear conflicting reports on even blasting the combustion chamber at all, so I have no idea whether it is advisable or not. I'm waiting on a valve puller yet, so if I have to wait a bit longer, so be it. At this point I'm trying to find the most expedient method of removing the carbon buildup and whatnot.
I searched the site and the threads I read never really came to anything, so I thought I would ask. Let me know if I'm off my gourd, or if there's a better route. I appreciate it greatly.
 
If it's just about removing the carbon buildup, get a high quality (e.g. Würth) gasket remover spray. Spray it on, wait for 10-15 minutes and brush it off with a stiff plastic brush. You may have to have two or three goes at it, but the stuff you can get overhere is amazing and as it doesn't creep, you can see cracks in the head very well, because the carbon won't be washed out there immediately making head damage easy to spot.

Otherwise, sodablasting should be fine as long as you have the valve still in there as the valve-seats are lapped surfaces, which MUST NOT BE TOUCHED by any blasting media. Also put in some old spark plugs as to protect the spark plug threads. Personally I don't blast heads, because the gasket remover is more gentle and I also get a feeling on how much oil has been burnt etc.

Cheers,
Greg
 
I soda blasted the head on the 360 with valves still in. No issues. Even if it did contact the valve seats it's not abrasive enough to have any effect. It does wash out with hot water so no worries about caking.
 
I sodablasted a fzr 1000 head with no problem..
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just used an old sandblaster..filled with soda/baking powder.
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Thanks for the input fellas. I'm going to definitely blast them now. 2 of the valve seats have to be lapped anyways.
 
If you have a soda blaster and a bag of soda then it's a good way to clean your cylinder head. If you have to pay somebody to do that - you're get similar results with gasket remover or EGR cleaner at 1/3 cost.
 
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