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[RayG]

I have been trying to remove some baked on oil on a new S&S rear cylinder & head area.  I noticed some oil on the rear heads and around the rear exhaust outlet also.  When I removed the air filter quite a bit of oil was present.  I keep the crankcase 1/2 quart low for the breather overflow, but that didn't help.  I also saw some oil on the rear head gasket area.  I'm scheduled for a compression and leak down test in the next week or two but I'm still trying to remove the stubborn burnt spots on the fins.  I ended up putting over 1000 miles after I noticed the stain so I know it's baked on there pretty good.  I have tried Gunk, full strength Dawn, Simple Green, All Purpose Purple cleaner and used a stiff brush to clean the area.  I barely made a noticeable difference in 30 plus minutes of cleaning.  I sprayed regular water using a fine mist bottle completely around the area but not on the area I was trying to clean.  I did not want to stain or discolor anything else with the cleaners.  One of the problems is the fins are much deeper than the Harley fins making it more difficult to get all the way in there.  I called S&S and felt stupid asking but I was told Dawn!  Dawn works great for fresh oil but not for baked on oil,  it looks like one of my wife's old cooking pans with stains that are there for life.  I have some other ideas like metal cleaner with a Dremel tool but I have no place to test and I don't want to damage the fins making it worse.  If someone has an idea, I can try it on the underside of the fins.  Sounds simple but it isn't working out that way.  This is not like cleaning the steel parts form the older bikes in the 60's & 70's. 

Any ideas

Ray

Thanks     

[Rooster]

Don't use oven cleaner says one of our members

[CVODON]

If the un-coated bare aluminum on the end of the fins is stained it can only be chemically cleaned or bead/sand blasted. The alum is stained in the pores, impossible to clean alum that deeply using normally available consumer products. You might help it some by using mag wheel cleaner but I think the only one that will totally cure it is the etching type, and unless you protect all the area that is not stained it will be affected by the cleaner. If powder coat exists in the area and it is stained you will have to remove it to bare metal and re-apply.

[Saljemar]

Make sure the clamp for the head pipe to the head is torqued down. I had some staining like you described and it went away after I tightened the nuts down.

Also, try lacquer thinner on the end of a q-tip. It dissolved the burnt oil on the fins for me.

[FlaHeatWave]

You might try Acetone (momma's nail polish remover)

[Saljemar]

Try nail polish remover first since you can get a small amount but if it does not work get lacquer thinner which is stronger and even stronger if it is automotive lacquer thinner.