cleaning heavy soot in exhaust

[slamonte]

I picked up an old 1980G with heavy soot in the exhaust system. Any recommendations for cleaning internal pipes / exhaust?

[Steve]

Ride it when it's properly tuned. \\/

[Suzuki_Don]

On my GT750's 3-1 system I used to take out the baffle and fill the system with caustic soda. Leave it for 6 to 8 hours and then rinse it out with water to remove the debris and caustic soda. don't know if you can remove the baffles or not.

[Matchless]

Yes that caustic soda trick works very well. You can speed up the process by cutting a drum in half, fill with a strong caustic soda solution and make a fire underneath and keep the solution boiling. Very nice for stripping old paint of metal parts etc. Just wash down with clean water and you have a clean part!

[slamonte]

where do you pick up caustic soda? I assume the fumes are dangerious, especially while heating. Is it flamable? The drum you are referencing is like a 55 gallon drum or equivalent?

I hope these are stupid questions... I'm just a slow learned (new to this):-D

[Suzuki_Don]

I had a chromed system on my GT750 so did not want to get caustic soda on the external part of the exhaust. I would just sit the system on the ground with the header pipes and the tail pipe exit at the same level and mix the caustic and pour it in so it lapped at either end of the exhaust system. I would then let it stand for a day or so depending on the strength of the caustic. You can then do another application with a fresh batch if all the soot and stuff has not been removed.

The procedure that Matchless is talking about is a different one if you dont mind cleaning up the outside of the article.

P.S. you can obtain the caustic from hardware stores.

Cheers

Don

[Matchless]

where do you pick up caustic soda? I assume the fumes are dangerious, especially while heating. Is it flamable? The drum you are referencing is like a 55 gallon drum or equivalent?

I hope these are stupid questions... I'm just a slow learned (new to this):-D

I used a 44 gallon drum cut in half lengthwise. Caustic Soda is a very strong alkaline and is also called lye, used for making soap and cleaning drains and many other things. I get mine at the detergents in our supermarket.
It is definitely not flammable and is water solvent, the fumes are strong, so best to "boil" a part outside.

[Suzuki_Don]

I used a 44 gallon drum cut in half lengthwise. Caustic Soda is a very strong alkaline and is also called lye, used for making soap and cleaning drains and many other things. I get mine at the detergents in our supermarket.
It is definitely not flammable and is water solvent, the fumes are strong, so best to "boil" a part outside.

Thats a good description MATCHLESS. Couldn't have summed it up better myself. You've covered all aspects. It looks like we use this product similarly in S.A. & OZ. BTW it is the stuff that is used in products like Draino and stuff for cleaning toilets, drains, etc. cleans all the slime and gunk out.

Cheers

[Matchless]

Suzuki-Don,
Quite a few years ago I rebuilt an old AJS 500 single completely, re-chromed etc and used this method to clean all the metal parts. I could even see the original colours as they came off the tank in layers and the beauty was that no scraping or sandpapering was required, the base metal stayed factory smooth. And all of the mess stayed in the drum!

I just discovered that I still have the original complete owners toolkit after all this time! Must have sold it without the toolkit.

Our countries have a lot in common i.e. rugby, cricket etc!
Keep well.

[TheBigRed]

The Lazy parts of me..

Ok, this has me wondering, would this procedure be harmful to the aluminum that is the engine of our wonderful bikes, to remove years and years of oil grime..... I'm thinking that the aluminum would be too porous for this to work without damage, but if it would work, would save HOURS of cleaning.

Amos

[physics-teacher]

No, no!

Lye will violently attack aluminum, releasing hydrogen gas. Goodbye engine.

[TheBigRed]

Knew a definitive answer would come out if it was suggested. Thanks.. guess I'm in for some long hours of cleaning.

Amos

ps. though :grin:, if I could come up with a decent method of collecting that hydrogen :twisted: .. (seing as I've got 3 engines sitting around.. )

Lye will violently attack aluminum, releasing hydrogen gas. Goodbye engine.

[TheCafeKid]

I picked up an old 1980G with heavy soot in the exhaust system. Any recommendations for cleaning internal pipes / exhaust?

Try an engine cleaner/degreaser? Preferably a gelbased spray type. Make sure you rinse thoroughly... Just an idea...

[Suzuki_Don]

Lye will violently attack aluminum, releasing hydrogen gas. Goodbye engine.

When we are talking about using caustic, it is only on the harder metals like steel, tin, etc. not on aluminium and the softer types of metal. I assumed the exhaust being spoken about in the original question was of these harder metals that was also chromed and not an aluminium exhaust or muffler. If the soot is really baked on as is often the case ordinary detergents will not touch it. My comments were only in reference to the internals of the exhaust system.

[slamonte]

I did use the caustic soda on the internals, Left it overnight. Worked we well, just don't let it sit on the chrome. Thanks for all your feedback!