What do you see here?

[mhopkins]

This is the head from a M18 with over 1000 hrs. My wife sees an angel. I wonder how so much of this surface is "factory new".

 

[jchamberlin]

Mike: I always assumed the "flame front" had pretty much spent itself by the time it got to the far side of the combustion chamber, the smallest part of the "wedge."

Interesting shot, though, and interesting question.

 

[digger]

Personally I see a plug that's either to cold or that doesn't have the right gap and gas that's not had MMO,Seafoam or Sta-bil added to it or is old.
Just my 3 cents on the deal.

Is that brown gunk hard of soft?

 

[mhopkins]

Charlie, The plug in this cylinder looked pretty normal(brown color, good gap). I've been using MMO in the gas for only about 3 years. Gas doesn't get old, since it's used year round. The gunk, that's still there is hard, the stuff that scraped out was more like dry soot.

Should I worry about getting more of that gunk out of there?

Thanks,

 

[digger]

If it were mine, I'd clean that sucker so well that you could eat off it, LOL
And do the other one while your at it, and resurface them both as well.
Is there a possibility that your using to much MMO?
That's some nasty lookin stuff you have there!

 

[bbranstetter]

Is that really all that bad for 1000 hrs?

How would fuel grade effect play into it?

 

[mhopkins]

Charley, Any recommendations on cleaning the heads? Not sure what you mean by resurfacing them. I tend towards over doing things like cleaning and have been known to create more problems for myself. I'm confident the MMO mixture is correct to the instructions on the bottle, but it only saw straight gas for the first 20 years.

 

[digger]

I use parts cleaner and or carb cleaner/lacquer thinner myself, then a wire brush on an angle grinder.
Resurface would be getting a really flat surface, glass or an old piece of counter top, laying down some 120 grit sand paper and sliding it around to make sure that the head is not warped.
OR, if you have a machine shop close or have a 8" wide belt sander, that makes for fast work for truing up the surface of the head.

 

[stanner]

Soak the head in water overnight, it will soften the carbon up. If you want faster results, get a can of CRC or permatex gasket remover...