Any capable restorer of classic cars ought to know how to decoke an engine. Over time the engine on a classic car becomes backed up with carbon, which causes the efficiency of said engine to drop. When enough carbon builds up, it might be time to decoke the engine–but how do you know whether it’s the right time?
Throughout this course, Danny and Ed will teach you some of the basic tips any car restorer needs to correctly maintain cylinder heads and gaskets, focusing on how to decoke an engine once the head has been removed.
Once you’ve removed the cylinder head from the engine block, it’s necessary to dismantle the head to properly assess its condition and decide the next course of action. Ed teaches you how to search for any damage on the surface, including to the valves, head and copper sealing rings and the head gaskets, and then takes the head apart to have a look at each of the components inside.
As with most projects in the garage, it’s important to first learn the essential techniques and then challenge yourself on the more complicated scenarios. To help you gain an introductory understanding of classic car electrics, Danny Hopkins and Ed Hughes are here to demonstrate a number of simple car maintenance projects that focus on classic car electrics. With each of the five classes in this course, you’ll discover a new technique that you can implement in your own garage and grow more confident as a classic car restorer.
In the previous class, Ed showed you how to clean the valves and prepare them for reinsertion into the head. Now, you’ll learn how to lap in the valves using grinding paste and then decoke the engine in order to increase its efficiency and ensure top-notch engine performance for another several thousand miles. Ed introduces the tools you need to complete this process and then shows you how to use them.