im in the process of tearing down my 22re and notice that the intake manifold has a build up of gunk in it and thought that is was reducing the airflow to the motor and was wondering how i should clean it

 

This worked perfectly for me, but it requires some equipment:

Take the manifolds to your favorite engine shop and have them boiled. This will remove much (but not all) of the gunk. What's left will be mostly carbon residue. Next, get your hands on a sand blaster and load it with crushed walnut shell media. Stick the end of the gun into every opening it will fit into and swirl the blast around. With a little patience, the inside of the manifold will come out looking like new.

Be sure to check all the vacuum fittings and ports to make sure there is no carbon, gunk, or bits of walnut shell blocking them when your done. Wash everything with soap and water to get the walnut dust out of it.

BTW: walnut shell blasting works great on throttle bodies too. But be careful not to blast plastic with it. It will cause burn/scuff marks on plastic.


ps: Some engine shops have large tumblers similar to those little rock tumblers, except they can tumble large engine parts. This will also work too.

 

that sounds like it would cost alot to do that any cheaper ways of cleaning it

 

On the vehicle:

Induction service. Find a shop with "BG" services in your area and have it done. Or you can buy your own pressure bottle and fill it with a cleaner and do it yourself.

Basically, there is a presurized bottle with a cleaner (I wonder if Seafoam would work?) and then a hose with a fine mist nozzle on the end. You start the motor and spray the cleaner through your intake.

Another thing you can do is to buy a can of carb cleaner and squirt it in your intake while the motor runs. But this is not nearly as good as the actual induction service.

Off the vehicle:

If you have it off the vehicle just take it down to a machine shop and have it hot tanked. Take your valve covers and other stuff down too to save time and money. Sand blasting is okay I suppose, but excessive in my opinion.

If you are dead set on doing it yourself, get a metal bucket or tub and soak the intake in mineral spirits. Leave it in for a few hours, come back and rinse it off with water. All that carbon will just melt away. Use gloves and be in a well ventilated area.

Remove all plastic and rubber with either off the off vehicle methods.

Good luck.

 

I re-read the post and just wanted to add that I think mineral spirits will be the best option for the money. You can do it in a utility sink with a wire brush if you don't want to wait for it to soak.

Keep in mind however, this is not environmentally friendly at all. That's why I mentioned the bucket before. I usually save my mineral spirits until they are no good, then recycle it with my oil. Not to get all green on you or anything, but please don't pollute the water table.

 

oven cleaner works very well!

 

thanks i will try the mineral spirits i have a few cans if oven cleaner ill give that a try also

 

Hey Elton, just wondering which method you used? And if you tried both mineral spirits and over cleaner, which one did you like more and why?

 

im going to soak them tonite..... i will take pics

 

i let it soak in mineral spirits for about a day then used foamy oven cleaner then i used a power washer
before http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h1...Picture005.jpg
after http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h1...Picture004.jpg its looks almost new

 

I was hoping for a side by side comparison between oven cleaner and mineral spirits, but oh well... some other time I guess. Did you end up with a preference for one over the other?

Regardless, your intake looks super clean. Good job man.

 

nope i like useing both... the power washer really helped

 

I got a good story, I was cleaning my throttle body, like i read here, and the damm red straw, that directs the spray on the can flew off and went down the plenum, luckily I was able to fish it out, but I was ÅÅÅÅting bricks there for a minute.

 

whatever you do, do not hot tank your plenum!! its aluminum, and the caustic soda solution will eat it up, leave it in there for to long and it will simply disappear! i highly doubt a shop would not tell you that though. hot tanking is only for iron/steel. you can try spraying stuff in it while running, but it will not do that good of a job on the carbon. to get it completely clean, you really gotta pull it, and either soak in mineral spirits for a while(overnight is best) then use brushes either by hand or drill, or take it to a machine shop that has a steamer and jet spray booth.

 

LoL, thats funny, i was just thinking why not hot tank it...now I know why.