#1 Is it worth poping head off and cleaning/polishing head and top of piston from time to time ?

#2 can i reuse head gasket once ?

#3 would this maybe sort out pinking and knocking on down revs ?

Thanks

Matt

Wont harm it in any way but dont know about the reuse on the head gasket !!, as for the pinking take a look at the air screw needs olny to be around 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 turns out this will help at the bottom mate ok.

Danny

NO NO NO NO

no. try useing super unleaded

NO NO NO NO

Come on Chewy, Valid question, and deserves a proper explanation, Why NO? it is very common in other motorsports involving 2Stroke engines (especially Karts) to inspect the piston head and polish as frequently as we clean our carbs & filters, In Fact a lot of the old skool can tell you more about fuelling based on the deposits on the piston head than 'reading' the spark plug!

Personally once a year as part of my end of season ritual I completely rebuild my lump and this includes removing the carbon deposits on my piston. Maybe thats why im still riding my 2000 Rev competitively in the A group (May buy an Evo soon though )

I agree that you should never recycle gaskets

ok will try fresh fuel and carb clean first thanks for the helpfull comments

I was told by a bsa expert carbon on the piston is good because it protects piston from heat a bit more than a clean piston

Build-up of carbon on the piston (or head) is bad in 2 ways:

1) It increases compression (it could be a good thing if you wanted that...)

2) The carbon is likely to get hotter than the piston itself and glow red-hot. This can ignite the mixture before the spark-plug fires, causing pre-ignition or detonation.

So, it would be a good idea to clean up the piston and head if you are chasing a pinking/detonation problem, but like the other post said, make sure your carb settings are right for your altitude and your fuel is fresh first ... because it's cheaper and easier before getting into engine dismantling...

how old is old mixed fuel ? is a week ok to leave mixed super ?

how old is old mixed fuel ? is a week ok to leave mixed super ?

I have fuel sitting in a can up to two months with no problems, but the opti2 oil that i use for motor lube has a fuel stabilizer in it.