cleaning heads

[maddux31]

can i pressure wash my heads or will i be creating an opportunity for the valves and valve springs to accumulate surface rust.  if not pressure wash, will carb or choke cleaner eat at the valve seals.  just want to get the carbon and old oil off of them before i reinstall them, wondering what would be safe.

[Chris A]

Pressure washing should be ok.

Be careful with carb cleaner. Newer valve stems are Viton and are resistant to alot of things, but I wouldn't want to risk it.

I would take them and a brush and low pressure water and use a degreaser like simple green or super clean.

No matter how you clean them you should dry them quickly and spray them with something like wd40 to keep them from rust spotting.

Chris

[TurboGTU]

while your at it. you might want to smoth out all sharp spots on the combustion chambers to prevent detonation(knock). Use the old gaskets as a tamplet to keep you from sanding over the part of the combustion chamber that seals and sits on the gasket. Use some mid and fine sanding paper to smoth all the edges of the Combustion chamber and then around the valvs, between the valves and the spark plug. It will be a worth while investment of your time on a lazy day.