Im in the process of putting in a new head gasket on my 94 LS. I have the head off the block. Giving everything a good cleaning before reassembling. Whats the best way to clean all the carbon buildup on the valves and pistons?

 

When me and my friend put together one of my other friends engine we used picks to scrape of the carbon of the valves and then cleaned them with wire brushes and gasoline and it came out *******

 

Ill try soaking some gas on them. brake cleaner does nothing. Thanks for the reply!

 

Solvent is not going to remove carbon. A torch with an oxidizing flame will remove carbon, but subjecting the valves to that temperature is a bad idea. I would try to polish them with a brass brush.

 

Try seafoam. Did the job for me or just bead/sand blast them.

 

Get a valve job done, you'll be glad you did.