Harbor Freight Ultrasonic Cleaner

We're doing the top end on Rommpy's 530 right now, 200+ hrs on it so we thought we would freshen up the top end. The valves had some carbon built up that needs removed, enter the ultrasonic cleaner. You don't want to use a wire brush etc to clean the carbon off since the valves have a factory coating on them that can be easily damaged. We dropped them in a Harbor Freight ultrasonic cleaner with some simple green and within a couple days the carbon was off the valves. You can get a great deal on the ultrasonic cleaner if you catch it on one of their sales...great for cleaning carbs etc.

Some pics....

Andy brought his cleaner over as well so we could speed things up a bit.




Valves out of the head






And out of the cleaner...no brushes etc needed.






Hodakaguy

Dang... that thing does a great job!





the top end needs a refresh at 200 hours? How many miles is that?

mjn wrote:

Dang... that thing does a great job!





the top end needs a refresh at 200 hours? How many miles is that?

We have a upcoming long distance desert trip this summer so it was more of a precaution than a need. After we got the bike torn down everything measured right in spec, even the end gap on the rings were right in spec. Knowing what we know now after measuring everything it didn't need to be torn down. Since it's already apart we will go ahead and overhaul the top end.

It had 4075 miles on it right now

Hodakaguy

Wow ...


How much was the cleaner ?

Here is the link to the website. http://www.harborfreight.com/25-liter-ultrasonic-cleaner-95563.html

They are selling for $74.99 now. If you wait until they go on sale and use one of the 20% coupons from the mailer add's you can get them for around $45.00 or $50.00

Rommpy, how many hours did you have on the bike when you tore it down? I'm thinking of doing the top end in my 450 and I'm right at 160 hours. Runs great but I like to be cautious too.

The bike had around 183 hours and 4075 miles. I did a leak down test before hand and it was running around 4%. The leak down test is usually a good indicator. anything above 10% and I would start thinking about rings and a piston. 5% is considered good. I built my own leak down tester your welcome to use it if you want.

Thanks for the offer of the leak down tester. I don't really have any indications that I need to do top end work, just the nagging feeling you get with a 170 hour bike. I'll have to borrow your tester after one of our juniper rides.

KnightRider wrote:

Thanks for the offer of the leak down tester. I don't really have any indications that I need to do top end work, just the nagging feeling you get with a 170 hour bike. I'll have to borrow your tester after one of our juniper rides.

170???

That's like just over a season of riding! I can't imagine doing a top end that often. That's like.. a valve check