The International Cessna 170 Association

Miles or someone mentioned a good method of getting cooked on oil off the muffler shrouds at some point. I can't seem to remember the method. I've got one cylinder that is dripping oil (its a Continental you know ) onto the left muffler shroud and that black stuff is really attached. I need to stop the leak/drip & then clean up that mess on the shroud.

Frank,

I posted the question here about half way down the page. Vic (mrpibb) posted the answer that I used... oven cleaner. Of course, the shrouds were removed, as I would not want to get oven cleaner on any aluminum parts. It took several applications, and the cleaner had to sit for a while to soften the carbon before scrubbing with scotchbrite, but it did eventually soften. Be sure to use rubber gloves, as oven cleaner is a strong lye solution. The result is shown about 2/3 of the way down this page.

Miles

Good evening, realize that this post was from eons ago, however, I am presented with the same oil drip on my left side heat/muffler shroud. What was causing your leak and how did you remove the baked on oil? The posts that Miles references are no longer in the C170 Association forum (even when logged in as a member). Thanks in advance for your help!

Miles (new Miles, not smart/helpful Miles)
N2386D

170C wrote:Miles or someone mentioned a good method of getting cooked on oil off the muffler shrouds at some point. I can't seem to remember the method. I've got one cylinder that is dripping oil (its a Continental you know ) onto the left muffler shroud and that black stuff is really attached. I need to stop the leak/drip & then clean up that mess on the shroud.

The links in Miles post to the thread you are looking for are fixed. You can now see the entire thread whose main discussion was around MIles rebuilding his engine. In that thread MIle's decided to delete the content of most if not all his posts, including what he tried to clean the baked on oil. There are however some posts with suggestions.

Would Barkeeper's Friend and a damp rag work? It works wonders on my stainless cookware.

I seem to remember having used oven cleaner on my shrouds in the past. Of course you’d want to have them off the engine and rinse them thoroughly before reinatallation, as the lye in oven cleaner would easily damage any aluminum it contacted.

Also, I recently used CRC brand contact cleaner to remove heavy carbon from the aluminum pistons in one of my Model T Ford engines. No abrasive required, it just wiped off with a rag after a short soak.

As far as where your leak might be coming from, it’s probably either a valve cover gasket or the outboard end of a pushrod tube where it’s swaged into the cylinder.

cessna170bdriver wrote:, I recently used CRC brand contact cleaner to remove heavy carbon from the aluminum pistons in one of my Model T Ford engines.

Building up a Pientenpol Air Camper engine Miles?

Bruce Fenstermacher wrote:

cessna170bdriver wrote:, I recently used CRC brand contact cleaner to remove heavy carbon from the aluminum pistons in one of my Model T Ford engines.

Building up a Pientenpol Air Camper engine Miles?

I have two actual Model T’s Aircampers used Model A engines, 40hp vs 20hp for Model T. Bernie did design the Sky Scout for a Model T engine but I’m only aware of one example, which is in the Model T Museum in Richmond Indiana.