best way to clean head

[240marcuSX]

i bought a spare head, and it has just sat there for a while, and i took it apart, so its just the bare head. it still has oil all in it and everything obviously, what would be the best way to go about cleaning it? I was told that i could use gunk, and a water hose, but im kindof weary about that. so what is recommended? is it safe to use a water hose?

btw i wouldve posted this in the N/A KA forum, but more people read here.

thanks

[Bill]

Go to your closes machine shop and let them hot tank it. Doesnt cost much and the head will shine like new.

[DbD]

I used gunk on my complete head and it cleaned it very well. Then i used a water hose to clean all of the gunk off. The i quickly dried it off and sprayed wd40 all over it so it wouldn't rust anything. After I got it all reinstalled on my car the valve seals leak like a 80 year old man. I burn about a quart of oil every three weeks. So I wouldn't reccommned the Gunk engine stuff if you have a complete head, but a bare head should be perfectly fine!

What is involved with hot tanking a cylinder head? Do they just drop into a solution of really hot liquid?

[240marcuSX]

can you hot-tank the block too? it looks like thats what ill do with the head anyway.

[Nathan]

Yeah, you can definitely hot tank a block...you can hot tank just about everything. I wouldn't hot tank a complete cylinder head though, just a bare one. My way of cleaning a cylinder head is to just wipe the carbon out of the exhaust side as much as possible and run some 220 grit sandpaper through there. I take out all the buckets but keep track of which valve they go on and just wipe EVERYTHING down really well with white paper towels...then oil everything and put it back together. This is what I'm doing to my cylinder head right now along with a light port and polish on the exhaust side, we shall see how well it works.