So, I'm(not quite done) pulling the head on my 22RTE. However I've noticed as parts come off, that they cannot be what one would discribe as "clean" inside.

The inside of my "air chamber" is pretty filthy, as is the entire intake manifold. I'd really like to clean them up before bolting them back on to a nice new shiny head.

I know brake/carb cleaner gets off just about anything, but while I could get an aerosol into spots, I can't get a brush in to really clean it. So does anyone have some tips for getting all the gunk out of those hard to get to spots? I was thinking about filling up a bucket with varsol and letting them sit...but I don't have a sparte bucket right now.

 

The plenum/intake on my 3vze was so bad that no brake clean or carb clean would take off the gunk. I had to scrape it off with a screwdriver.

I'd say use a pipe brush and shove it in where you need it.

 

One option is to take it to a local repair shop and have them throw it in their hot tank. When I did mine, I put them in my little parts washer and let the pump circulate solvent through the various passages for a few hours at a time. Then various brushes to clean out the loosened gunk, and repeat.

 

So get a bigger bucket and make a parts washer it is!

 

Soak an old tshirt in throttle body or carb cleaner, and shove it down into the intake ports, leaving a bit hanging out. Then, take a drill with a medium size bit (3/8" or so), twist the bit of tshirt that is left around the drill bit, and slowly start the drill. The drill bit will grab the tshirt and spin it inside the intake port. Get it up to a decent speed for a minute or so in each intake port, and it should get a lot of the buildup off.