I’ve been reading all sorts of information about removing carbon deposits from my MGB pistons and finally decided to try something. Originally I was planning on trying Berryman Chem Dip but this product doesn’t appear to be readily available in Canada. Perhaps it’s too toxic for us. Another product highly recommended is Simple Green but it sounds like Simple Green may etch aluminum and being that MGB pistons are aluminum this might not be good. Oven cleaners have the same problem with reports about aluminum being etched.
I stumbled across a few automotive web sites that recommended Pine Sol, letting the parts soak for a day or so and then easily removing carbon deposits without having to use a grinder or a scraper. This sounded like something worth trying.
The best thing about Pine Sol is that it’s cheap with this bottle costing less than $3.00 at Wally World.
I dumped a small amount in two of the pistons and let it sit for perhaps 30 minutes then being the impatient person I attacked the piston tops with a small piece of Scotch Brite.
Amazingly the carbon deposits became very easy to remove and the total time I spent working on this was about 1 hour. Something else I learned is that the pistons are .020 oversize so at some point this engine was rebuilt. I expected this but now have the confirmation. Time to clean the deck and try to remove my 1 frozen cylinder head stud.
On to the cylinder head next.
