MOPED ARMY

Plastic ??

No plastic... Use a real live (old) butter knife.. like stainless steel.

And just scrape away... scrape... scrape... scrape... scrape.

You don't have to get it perfect or "polished"... just let the air flow.

If the butter knife won't reach in, you will have to use something else metallic

Try not to put scratches in the cylinder finish.

I am not arguing with you.... Or saying you are wrong dave.

The guys question was about how to get carbon out of the inside of the exhaust port

And inside the transfer ports.

Not on the head... like you are talking about.

How do you stick a flimsy piece of steel wool inside of a port for any good effect?.

You can't.

And scratches in ports don't hurt anything.

And carbon on the top of the piston and inside the head don't really "hurt" anything, and there will be no performance improvement by getting rid of them.

(in fact... they raise the compression ratio...more HP)

So I really don't worry about them.

I will scrape them off if they are thick and black... cause a piece might flake off.

But getting it all pretty and polished is just to satisfy a need for cleanliness I guess.

And by the way... they are only thick and black when the ped is running too rich (fuel to air). Or the guy was using ordinary motor oil.

My engines are jetted correctly and don't get thick black carbon.

Mine get a light brown thin coat (if any)... ...so I never even worry about it.

Actually ... a lot of moped ports are so small that I don't think a butter knife is even small enough to get in... The guy who asked says his port is almost clogged shut... that is probably going to take a screwdriver.. and then tap on the screwdriver with a hammer to chisel out the blockage.

The cool thing for him is that it is going to cost him nothing and his ped is going to act like he put a turbocharger on it compared to before.

..and in a humorous tone >>

And...Yes... I agree... Steel wool is greatly underutilized resource... I think if it was properly utilized.. we could solve world hunger and political persecution and ethnic hatred.

I also find that it removes tooth decay and plaque very nicely... I use it on the end of a drill like you described.........yum!

Probably have lower compression without all that carbon on your piston head. Let us know how it turns out.

Just curious, but did you use the steel wool to polish the manifold and intake port, or just the carbon covered parts?

daveb

It is the.. porting... on the "port and polish" that gets the HP increase.

("porting" is altering the shape and size of the tunnel the air flows through)

.. It is a fact that too smooth a finish in a port DECREASES air flow.

It is the exact same reason why a golf ball has a dimpled finish... because a smooth golf ball will not fly as far.

Professional race teams do not polish ports.

Local engine builders do it because their customers like it and think it looks cool.

Its like a Harley............. If it don't go.... chrome it!

Now... that was about PORTS... a head and top of the piston is a different story.

And polishing them does seem to give the carbon less to stick to.

But it doesn't change performance.

Port shaping is a science unto itself.. and I wouldn't try to explain what I know ... ..and each motor is somewhat different.

The most important thing high performance engine builders (car and bike...2 stroke and 4 stroke)... offer... is porting... and a good porter usually specializes in one brand or type of motor... and has years of trying and testing experience...and a lot of pieces that were turned into door stops by a wrong move.

It all has to do with how air behaves while moving through a tube... and many assumptions most of us make... are wrong... like a polished port being better.

I mean... before people proved a dimpled golf ball flew farther... how many people would have answerd correctly if asked "Which will fly farther... a dimpled or smooth ball?".... I would guess... almost none (including me).