heat risers

[zabo]

40hp clogged heat risers $#@#$@!

this thing is killing me - spent over 3 hours trying to get through these things.
Multiple thickness of able- nothings doing it.

A ton of carbon has been removed but still clogged as ever

[ruckman101]

I used the "frayed clutch cable in drill" which worked real well on the first two of the three I was trying to clear. The last one got the best of me, though. I haven't taken the torch to it, which I've heard is another tact that could work.


good luck,
neal

[hambone]

Man this subject comes up a lot, bad design...
Gypsie got them clear with the cable + water and a propane torch danced across the tube until the water boiled and sputtered. Still a lot of work!
I have a pile of them in my shop, all with clogged heat risers. I should clear and sell the bastards...

[zabo]

yea its not fun- I was hoping on having my engine back together before my vacation was over but oh well- soaking them in clr tonight- no expectations but we'll see

[hambone]

hot water is the only thing that worked for me.

[ruckman101]

They are buggers. The frayed clutch cable was my first success.


neal

[RSorak 71Westy]

The only thing that worked for me was tapping the heat riser many many times on the concrete or with a small hammer...the shocks broke up the carbon and made it come out in little chunks.

[bajaman72]

I cleaned mine up with a coat hanger in my drill. I had about 4 pieces from 2 - 8 inches. Started with the shortest and worked my way to the longest using PB Blaster like a mo fo. Good luck.

[hambone]

Yeah that burned carbon gets really hard in there. You guys got me inspired to go clean mine out, I'll let you know how it goes.

[zabo]

well after 2 more hours and no luck i gave up - i think i spent a total of 6 hrs trying to clean this thing.

Ended up taking it to the old timer shop near my house.
We tried heating it up there with the acetylene torch and then boring through it- still no luck
compressed air- nope.

Eventually decided to drill a hole at the elbow so we could bore straight through it.
That worked- brazed up the hole and i was set to go.

[Amskeptic]

Anybody try an upside-down fill-both-sides-with-carb-cleaner soak-for-a-few-days before the clutch cable roto-rooter?
Colin

[hambone]

Yes yes you suggested this worthless tip a couple years ago. Oven cleaner, worthless too.
I'm telling ya, fill the tube with water before you heat it. It will sputter and spit out black watery mess. Then drill. Over and over and over.

[zabo]

i actually tried the water trick- didn't seem to help- i think mine was an extreme case.

after heating it up at the shop the carbon was smoking-blew compressed air into one end and the smoke never wavered

[Amskeptic]

Yes yes you suggested this worthless tip a couple years ago. Oven cleaner, worthless too.
I'm telling ya, fill the tube with water before you heat it. It will sputter and spit out black watery mess. Then drill. Over and over and over.

Take it easy. I got the TBRRD's heat riser cleared out in 30 minutes with the above (clutch cable provided by City Councilman pj) method.
That suggests that minor clogs can be fixed easily enough with the worthless method.
Tough ones may require more effort. That means, in your universe, some methods may not work for you, but in other universes, they have worked fetchingly for others.
Drilling holes in the heat riser and welding them shut after they have been cleared really works, but I strongly advise that we patiently go from "worthless" method to "I tell ya" method to "drill the damn thing out" method.

"Worthless" is a very interesting word that was used to describe old VW buses in the early 80's. I patiently waxed my worthless bus to an almost priceless degree. (that's a tip)
Colin

[Gypsie]

Another method:
With water and heat on the tube and a flexible auger (ie clutch cable like):
for the auger I used an old drain snake (1/4"). about $10 at yer local hardware/department store. I snipped off various lengths (3 or 4 lengths should do it, 6", 10" 14"...)and bent over the end like a little hook for scraping the cake. Make sure the hook points back toward the wind so you are tightening the coil while it scrapes. Also the hook should point a little inward so it won't scrape the sidewall. Tempered (heat hook to glowing red and plunge in cold water so it won't wear down too quick). Attach to drill the end so that only 4-6 inches sticks out of the tube. water, heat, scrape. pour out. repeat. As you remove gunk you will crawl in toward the center.
The various lengths help with the snakes tendency to wrap over itself because you keep the exposed flex area short. I also held my hand over the exposed area to keep it in check. I avoided the chemicals for this because of splatter and fumes from heating, goggles are a must anyway.
Bob was there. Seemed to work ok.