De- carboning the old exhaust

[Adrian]

Hi - I'm at that stage in the resto that I want to clean up the exhaust. I have a 16 year old Staintune system thats cleaning up really well with soft scotchbright pads and a high quality bike metal/chrome cleaner - even removing the staining at the top of the headers.
I am trying to remove as much of the carbon buildup as i can and have had a lot of sucesswith the xover pipes using a bottle brush attached to my drill. It would be more difficult with the main pipes and of course impossible to do the same with the silencers - or at least it seems that way.
So - does anyone have any advice on what to saok the pipes and silencers in to "wash out" these items to remove the carbon??? Thanks for any help - Adrian .......  

[Bengt_Phorqs]

Try the home built soda blaster.  I find it works great on things like carbon.  There should be a thread in the tech section complete with photos.  I'll see if I can find it.

Eurethra!  Here it is in the technical FAQ/Procedures section ...
Soda Blaster for Carbs
11/13/09 at 08:03:07

[Adrian]

Okay thanks B-P - I'm not sure I made myself that clear in my original post having just re - read it - I want to remove the carbon buildup inside the system - the outside is fine - plentyof shiny styainless steel even after all these years . So I'm hoping someone has a "solution" (pun intended) to help me clkean out the inside of the pipes and wotnot - Adrian .......

[tvrla]

Lye works really well dissolving carbon. Maybe close up one end and pour lye and hot water into the open end. Let it sit for several days.

We used to clean cast iron pans in a bucket of lye and they came out bare metal after several days.

I don't believe it'll harm the stainless, but might be good to run a test first.

[Adrian]

Hi and thanks Wirespokes - I'll hunt some down and see how it goes - I'm probably beeing over fussy but thats me as it is supposed to be a restoration both mechanical and all other ways - Adrian......  

[Session101]

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl3s73CM9zQ[/media]

[steve hawkins]

I am curious.

How much carbon are you expecting to find?

Its not a two stroke and you cannot even see inside the system.

I would be inclined to put the system on and go for a ride.

Rev. Light

[georgesgiralt]

Frankly, if your bike is a carburetor fitted and has not suffered severe mis tune of the engine, there is no carbon build up in the exhaust.
Of course if your engine has burnt a lot of oil, your mileage will be very different. But the mufflers,then, will be dead because as they're made for a 4 stroke engine they are not devised to be de-carboned...