intake valves cleaned

[Kiwi Peter]

Originally Posted by Ian///M

What method do you use Pete? .... by hand or blasting?

By hand as this is the cheapest way, the walnut blasting service will come soon but will cost a little more due to a bit more mucking around with clean up etc.

But Walnut cleaning will be the better way to go

[skidz]

Originally Posted by skycat

Sorry no pictures, we don't take pictures of every job we do.

yeh thanks for the mental image of chris takn a photo of one of HIS jobs

[flinchy]

Originally Posted by skycat

Sorry no pictures, we don't take pictures of every job we do.

fair enough.. i'm sure it was much the same as pics already posted of crazy gummed valves haha

[drjekl]

If anyone is keen to get their intake valves cleaned and are the DIY type pm me.

I'm going to go ahead and purchase around $1500 worth of gear to do this and help out a few other members here also by doing it together.

[RadiuM]

I'm a DIY guy and have access to most tools but if you have an appropriately powerful compressor and the shells, isn't it just a matter of getting a hand blasting gun (or one with a bendy end, and one which fits the media) like the one below and going nuts? (pun not intended)

Isn't that it or are people over complicating it, or am I missing something?

http://www.supercheapauto.com.au/onl...spx?pid=214306

[drjekl]

What can i say i tend to overdo most things, like my last car the head unit died but i couldnt replace the factory headunit without replacing the speakers. $10k or so later i had a awesome stereo all because my head unit died on me...

This is my list:

Stanley 2.5 HP compressor $700 AUD
Dry vac $100

harbor freight:

Bags of media x 4 $100 USD (I thought a few bags extra would be handy)
media blaster kit $100 usd
remote starter $11
nozzle gun $20
rifle brushes $20 (scrape remaining crud off)
postage $150

Subtotal ~ $400 USD

BMW parts

Adapter plate $65 usd (I think its important to get this as it forms a nice tight seal & having fine walnut shell leak throughout the nooks and cranny of your engine bay is not a good look, and will be troublesome to remove once it comes into contact with an oily surface)

nozzles $40 usd (I'm sure you could make up some nozzles but for the sake of $50 i would like to buy these as they will work with minimal stuffing around making up my own on the day and having them leak shell all through the engine bay)

postage ~ $40 usd

Subtotal= $145 usd

At the end of the day you can buy something like that nozzle you posted on supercheap, but you will be filling that thing up every 5 seconds and you will have walnut shells all through your engine bay (unless you fabricate a shroud to go over the intake to suck the shells as you blast) and you could use a cheaper compressor but once again you're limited with a short cycle duration.

Like anything there is a hard way or an easy way I'm preferring to spend more and attempt to do it the easy way

[RadiuM]

Yeah, that nozzle was just an example and there's ones with feeds from buckets. I actually have all this gear (bar the adapters) at our workshop but couldn't see what I was missing as it seemed all to simple to me.

Now to just find the time.

[mcmn]

I did this myself yesterday... I opted to do it by hand, after assessing the cost of the stuff to get setup with the walnut method, and in actual fact most of the baked on grub in the howtos is removed with carbon cleaner OR by hand afterwards.

Your results may vary, my car is out of warranty - and I'm not prescribing the way I did it is either the best, or recommended i.e caveat emptor

First - the stuff I used.

• From bunnings I got a wet/dry bucket vaccum looked like this:
  
  http://www.homedepot.com/p/Bucket-He...0100/202017218
  - you might need to extend the hose. as it makes life a little easier.
  
  - In addition you want to purchase some clear fuel line to act as an extension to the vacuum to get into the intake. Something like this (I got it from bunnings)
  http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Clear-5-1...-/150746914557
  
  - I put this into the end of the vac hose and covered the gap with my hand, whilst on i could modulate the suction by covering more or less of the gap. YMMV
  - Please be aware some threads are saying that this could turn the vac into a bomb, by sucking out the cleaning product. I took the risk, but I derisked it by not spraying and vacing at the same time, soaking up most of the liquid with a cloth first, and not running the vac for sustained periods of time.

• From bunnings/supercheap/costco I got
  - some shop rags/cloth (note - thin tshirt like cloth is better than the big towel like material.)
  - some painter plastic/cloth tarps do cover the engine bay whilst the car was undergoing surgery.
  - some 3M Blue tape to cover the open valves whilst cleaning the others.

• I made a remote starter rated at 15AMP+
  - 1M of dual core wire
  - 2 Allegator clips
  - 1 Momentary push button

• I tried a couple of different cleaning products namely the two were the most effective. Obviously this stuff was only used for a short period of time on closed valves and was vacuumed out. Do not do what the instructions on the bottles say....
  
• - Throttle body and cary cleaner by Nulon ($7.95 from Supercheap)(http://www.nulon.com.au/products/Aer.../#.UhlfTGTbo_8)
  
• - The subaru upper engine cleaner ($20 from MRT in Rhodes) - This stuff is rocket fuel.
  - I recommend going for 4 cans of the Nulon stuff. You may not need that much, but I only have one car, and I aint putting the car back together mid way through to go get more.

Second - the reality

• This isnt a walk in the park. It's a pain in the ar5e, time consuming and generally frustrating.
• On reflection, what Pete/skycat is quoting at Advan is well worth the outlay. I've been in this situation before, when I installed by downpipes on my own.... and here I am again.
• If you feel like a challenge, do it, if you think it'll be an easy few hours - you are wrong.

Third - some tips that helped me

• Remove the car battery when you dont need to turn the motor. You are too close the starter motor and it is very easy to short shit.
• The EVIL box attached the the manifold, after you remove the throttle body / and the manifold screws take the manifold off until you can reach the three torx (?) screws on the under side of it.
• Turning the crank bolt was too bothersome for me, it was by far easier to do the remote starter method.
• For the remote starter method to work, the KEY must be in the car, the battery must be reconnected... dont press the farken start/stop button though! 1/4 sec pushes are all you need. (For safety I removed the spark plugs and coils before i did this) and when you've moved it enough, go and take the battery off again
• remember if your car is auto, and it's in park - you wont be able to move it until the car is back together (unless there is some secret method that I dont know about..)
• The torque settings on the throttle body is NOT 15NM.

Fourth - the outcome

• Car is MUCH smoother, ar5e dyno says power has definitely been gained. especially mid/low range
• I'm no expert but it feels like 10-20Kw in my case..

Fifth - parting comments/thoughts

• My car has 44k on it, been modified since low 30k. and there was pretty significant buildup - especially on the rear 3.
• I had an issue with a coil, on cyl 5. Where the coil/sparkplug didnt have a good connection, creating arcing and misfires under WOT. Interestingly enough this was by far my worst cylinder.
• An oil change/service is now in order, I will be taking my car my Advan friends to get this done hopefully this week.
• Install an OCC at the same time as doing this...
• This isnt a walk in the park. It's a pain in the ar5e.

oh and did I mention This isnt a walk in the park. It's a pain in the ar5e?