Be careful using abrasive pads to clean head gasket residue

[bockwho]

good god Those things are expensive I would hate to count how many ive just chuncked into the can cleaning up the hanger.

[GasSavers_Erik]

bockwho,

Those look interesting, what are the bristles made of? Plastic?

[Otistheminivan]

They have small pieces of metal covered by plastic. Once you burn of the top layer you can see the metal in there.

john

[GasSavers_Erik]

All,

What is the best solvent for gasket removal and where do you buy it?

I have tried some Permatex gasket remover (below) from autozone, but wasn't impressed- even after letting it soak for an hour or so.

[GasSavers_Gollum]

I've used sandpaper, razors, and grinders to remove gasket material.

For an aluminum cylinder head I usually sand down as much as I can with a medium grit wet sand, then razor softly. It's easy to take chunks out with a razor, so it's not really good at doing the whol job on it's own, but it does a very good job of removing what the sandpaper is having a hard time with. The key is to use both of these tools SOFTLY. Forcing sand paper or razors to remove something only leads to BAD removal of metal. If some gunk is being a pain, use solvents as mentioned here, and try lots of angles with the razor. It will come loose eventually.

I'll use a grinder with a soft pad on some parts, even a cylinder head, but I generally don't trust myself with a grinder. It's too easy to push too hard.