Head gasket goo removal?

[SteveH]

I am trying to remove the baked on remains of a head gasket on a Toyota aluminum head. A buddy went over it gently with a Scotchbrite type pad, which cleaned much of it, but some goo remains.

Other than a methylene-chloride-type remover, with very gentle scraping, what else have people done? I don't want to keep grinding away with a Scotchbrite...

Thanks,

Steve

 

[Red_Chili]

You could take it to the auto parts/machine shop place and have them skim off just a tad? Should check for flatness anyway... Dunno, just a thought.

 

[SteveH]

Thanks. I've continued with acetone and paint stripper and brand new single edge razor blades and have gotten fairly close to 'clean'. This is a beater-car resto deal, and I'm trying to avoid socking huge amounts of money into it, else I'd take the head in for a light machining.

Steve

 

[Rzeppa]

3M Scotchbrite wheel. Best thing since sliced bread on cleaning head mating surfaces (and a BUNCH of other auto-related tasks).

 

[nakman]

3M Scotchbrite wheel. Best thing since sliced bread on cleaning head mating surfaces (and a BUNCH of other auto-related tasks).

Wow, took the paint clean off that hood!

 

[Rzeppa]

Wow, took the paint clean off that hood!

Heh. And faster and easier than just about anything else ;-)