Since I'm doing the head gaskets I decided to do some cleaning on my existing parts. Years of sludge and crap just caked on. With purple power and scrubbing I've managed to get them damn near squeaky clean. Obviously I didn't get every bit off but I'd say I did good job and well you can make that judgment for yourselves. The valve covers are actually a lot cleaner but I took a bad shot.

 

Nice. I bought an ultrasonic cleaner for my rebuild project (6L capacity, $115) and let me tell you- it has been worth every cent. The 6L model is big enough to fit everything in and I love being able to put grimy, oily parts in, hit a button and come back 5-10 minutes later with sparkly clean parts with basically zero effort.

 

Is that the one from Amazon? Had my eye on it but some of the reviews weren’t great. How long have you had it?

 

That’s the one! I’ve had mine for about 7 months, here’s my review:

Pros: Works as advertised (at least mine does)! Put the parts in with the cleaning solution, set the timer for 5-10 minutes and hit go. You can watch the dirt flake away literally before your eyes. It helped remove oil from just about everything and even took off quite a bit of carbon from my valves (and weakened the rest, I’m sure, so it was easier to remove later on). I use mine heated up with a solution of ultrasonic cleaner concentrate at he maximum recommended concentration of 10% (more on that below) and it seems to work wonders. The tank has a heater which is nice (hot solution work way better) and the 6L model also has a drain petcock so draining away the old solution is easy. I dump mine in to a 5 gallon bucket and take it to the household hazardous waste center when it fills up. I’m at the end of my tear down and I’ve just filled the 5 gal bucket up.

Cons: It’s loud. I’ve had to put mine behind a closed door while it’s running, its not bad then but if you had it going right net to you it would drive you bonkers as it buzzed away. I’ve also purchased a specialized “ultrasonic cleaner solution” which was $30 for a gallon, so that was a little expensive but it seems to work so was worth it for my project. I’ll probably substitute regular detergent like Dawn afterwards. There are also some “dead zones” in the tank, well not truly “dead” but certainly weaker. Mine cleans better on the left hand side than the right hand side, ultimately not a big problem- I just put the really dirty stuff on the left!

 

Which one ? Vevor?