How's it going guys. I got a question. I was going though my AFR heads and I noticed there is a lot of aluminum shards and particles that where left behind from the machining. How do I clean these bad boys off prior to installing them?

 

I take mine to the car wash and use high psi hot soapy dawn filled water after I have run them thru the parts washer.
Blow them off with a air gun when you get home.

 

Perfect. Thanks TTOP350.

 

This is acceptable for new heads?? Especially of this expense?

 

I was thinking the same thing. I'd box them back up and send them back. Demand refund on your shipping and tell them you want a new set.

AFR is supposed to be a very high flowing, high value and high quality head. If they can't even send them to you without getting the metal shavings out of them, I see a big problem.

 

I actually had a disc stuck inside the internal coolant passage of my AFR 210 race ready. Luckly found it clattering before instalation.

 

It doesn't matter if the part is new or not.
You should ALWAYS check your parts out when you get them.
NEVER just install them, push rods are some of the worst offenders. They are full of shavings all the time...
I tear all of mine down and inspect them for anything wrong.

 

Take them apart to wash them, if you wash them assembled you run the risk of having rust form on the valve seats and washing all the lubrication on the valve stems. Initial startup+ dry valve stems=stuck valves.

 

They do their best to clean them, but there's always a chance they missed something. Its always a good idea to tear them down and clean them. Chips left over from machining are an annoyance, but absolutely no cause to panic and send them back.

Mine were free of chips when I got them, but I smacked them with a deadblow hammer gently to dislodge any left over chips, and blew them out with compressed air. I didn't see a single chip come out, so I didn't feel the need to fully disassemble mine, aside from spot checking a couple of valves and springs.

 

So how bad is it to have aluminum dust as compared to the lazy machinist to clean out the metal shavings from a freshly honed cylinder?

 

I'm a CNC Machinist, and its amazing to see how even soft stuff like brass or aluminum can embed itself into a harder metal under pressure (like a valve closing against a seat). I would imagine the results of either debris left in the engine would be disastrous.

And when you think about it, your bearing clearances are tighter than the thickness of your hair, so potentially, a single hair on a crank main journal could cause the oil film on your bearings to be insufficient to protect your crank from contacting the bearings