Cleaning Cooling Fins

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steveyacht

steveyacht

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Like most other Nortons and other Brit Bikes I have seen, there comes a time when we need to clean the brown crap that appears on our head's cooling fins. Baked on oil, road dirt, etc. What is the most effective means of getting this cleaned off? What Chemical or "Stuff" do you use?

Thanks
 
Just using a high pressure washer will take most crud off.
You'd want to pack around under the tank, carbs, etc with something waterproof to keep the moisture out of everthing. Same around the points housing, oil tank, etc etc.

For stubborn stuff, I've used sawdust blasting (as a variation on walnut grit). A small hand held blaster unit, that feeds out of a bucket. Just find a spot in the garden that needs mulching, and let rip. Again, block around up under the tank, carbs, oiltanks etc. Watch too that the neighbours aren't having a wash day or bbq. Even if they are 10 miles away...
 
Hard to beat dollar car pressure washer stations if not one of you own. Lessor method wd40 to gas or diesel and thin wire brush or rags and screw driver probing. Also I've used heavy detergent dish or cothes to splash on and hose off. I also like to spray with solvent then blast off to clean by air jet. On water wash beware not to drive it into wheel bearings. Takes me a while to start sometimes after a car wash until connections dry out enough. Wes and I as hillbillies don't worry about thermal shock washing hot as we have that happen riding into thunder storms no problemo.
Head alloy is darker by nature and nothing will brighten it up but paint, shine and polish yes but not slivery like cases. Bath and kitchen calcium/lime cleaner work good on head but can stain other metal if left very long.
 
I have used CT18 (Truck wash) for many years on all bikes, 500 ml squirty bottle, on he goes and off it comes. Good for dirty overalls as well.
For those stubbon stains, on Alloy,... Pressure Pac, Mag wheel cleaner. Squirt on, hose off.
Quite caustic, don't get it in your eyes.
AC.
 
I use carb cleaner for the stubborn stuff...careful not to get it on anything sensitive. Also find WD-40 will take the rest of the crud off. For my cleaning "instrument" I wrap a paint stir stick with a microfiber cleaning towel....perfect width and thickness to get between the fins and do a great job.
 
A lot of the same above and the paint stick works well. Also for those really tight spaces, I get a package of wooden skewers. About a buck fifty for a hundred or so. Get them in the grocery store. Cheaper than the craft store.
 
Thought I'd add a little post script after my earliler post today. For the really, REALLY tight spaces in the fins (and general head area) I combine carb cleaner and/or WD-40 with a handfull of Q-tips for that final touch. Ok, I know this sounds WAY anal...and realilze there have been several threads about the pros, cons & beefs about "keeping the shine"...but I'm a real fan about "pride of ownership" and IMO the little bit of extra elbow grease goes a long way for keeping the "Nortoneering" spirit alive & proud. I see way too many Nortons, BSAs and Trumps, etc. out there that look pretty ratty...and I'm determined not to let myself go there. I thank my lucky stars that I have folks like Windy (aka "bill" on this Forum) close by in Florida to help me learn and stay on top of the mechanics...but for me I want her to be eye-popping as well as running great.

IMO, keeping her clean is just as important as having the mechanics in perfect order.

For example...all spiffed up for a recent event:

Cleaning Cooling Fins
 
Gosh do we all love a clean machine so none us think its anal to Q-tip detail a nice finish. But it can snag and leave fibers to deal with. Q-tips won't reach touch the more porous textures nor blot up that much of the cleaner/solvent, but an air jet sure will. Just rag off for the mist like ejection on stuff that don't need a blast to look clean, but shoot its cleaner/solvent so gone with a rag wipe. I love to see the grime disappear before my eyes in the narrowest crevices and corner and seams by air jet. Yes its a bit tedious pleasure but not on same handling scale as Q-tip or tissue paper twisted points. Peel will have air on board and a air jet attachment to blow off the gritty dust out rims and spoke nipple and off textured hoses and shaft enteries and behind crankcase base nuts, even the chain ugh.
 
I'm going to be tearing into my 850 probably this w/e (all w/e's should be 3 days, after all) and probably like many of you, I've noted that the cylinder castings are, well, less than perfect externally. I've noticed some nicer bikes with nice smooth cylinder fins and, rather than just cleaning the fins on the cylinders I'd like to clean the slag off of them before repainting. Any tricks or just a fine file or coarse paper to remove the imperfections?
 
Any one ever use an engine de-greaser like Gunk? Spray on a hot motor, then use a dollar (more like two dollar) car wash to spray it off?
 
I always thought they had it backwards, work 2 days and a 5 day weekend :mrgreen:

powerdoc said:
all w/e's should be 3 days, after all
Click to expand...
 
OK, so how do you guys with tidy bikes smooth out those cylinder fins?
 
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