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Having problems cleaning the cyl. bolt holes

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Old Jun 25, 2007 | 06:46 PM
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Default Having problems cleaning the cyl. bolt holes

Well I cleaning the holes and got a piece of the shop towel in there. Well I used the vacuum, scribe, and mechanical fingers and I'm getting frustated right now. Anyone have ideas to share.
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Old Jun 25, 2007 | 07:49 PM
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if you have a air compressor,get a cheap 5$ blow gun type nozzle thats about 8 inches long and bend it to fit all the way to the bottom of the bolt holes and blow that crap out.or borrow a small pancake comp from a friend.
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Old Jun 25, 2007 | 08:18 PM
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Make shore you clean the threads to , used a old head bolt and grind down one side of it and take a file to make shore there's no bures on the threads on the bolt ,and run it down the block as many times it takes to clean the thread locker ( factory Lock Title) and use a shop vac with a small hose attached to it to suck the water and dabre out. That's what i do and it work every time and the bolt don't cut the threads nether
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Old Jun 25, 2007 | 08:44 PM
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I'm doing this for the first time and did a rookie mistake but I was soaking up all the coolant that the vacuum couldn't pick up. But now I need to get that piece of shop towel out of there.
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Old Jun 25, 2007 | 09:37 PM
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use air and then get some of the long Qtips like at the doctor office to get down in there and clean the holes. I bought a box of like 100 at the local pharmacy for like 5 bucks. They are about 6 inches long
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Old Jun 25, 2007 | 10:09 PM
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I used those but the cotton was soaked up with anti freeze that I went thru them pretty quick. So my wife had some of those sticks to do manicures with and I taped up a piece of the shop towel and didn't tape it up right.

So does anyone have an idea where I can pull this piece out?
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Old Jun 25, 2007 | 10:58 PM
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I would say that compressed air is the only option then.
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Old Jun 25, 2007 | 11:02 PM
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Duct tape a straw into the end a shop vac and suck everything out of there...
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Old Jun 26, 2007 | 05:25 AM
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I used these brushes http://www.goodway.com/accessory/548-gtc-211.aspx and carb cleaner to clean my threads, but I had the engine out of the car. You can put one of these in a battery drill and have every hole cleaned out in less than 20 minutes.
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Old Jun 26, 2007 | 08:23 AM
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the straw idea is a great idea,or compressed air
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Old Jun 26, 2007 | 08:36 AM
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I use this with a peace of vacuum hose on the end and run it down the hole and it cleans water and debre out of the bolt hole and threads ,It takes about 5 mins.to cleans all the hole ,you can get it at WalMart pics below >>>>>>


http://www.totalvac.com/store/graphi...001/80189t.gif
http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.c..._1955_20156035

Last edited by Randy WS6; Jun 26, 2007 at 08:52 AM.
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Old Jun 26, 2007 | 09:42 AM
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Originally Posted by 00 Freak
Well I cleaning the holes and got a piece of the shop towel in there. Well I used the vacuum, scribe, and mechanical fingers and I'm getting frustated right now. Anyone have ideas to share.
Look at http://www.ls1howto.com
They show how to use old bolts (grinded on 2 sides as a thread cleaner tool)
I also use wire gun cleaning rod. A 22 long rifle one should work, available a Walmart/K-mart or such. (It looks like a circular wire brush at the end (just in case you've never used one before)


Last edited by PREDATOR-Z; Jun 26, 2007 at 09:51 AM.
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Old Jun 26, 2007 | 10:24 AM
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Im a big fan of the straw taped to the shop vac, but it might not get the towel out if its caught up. Id go with teh home made thread chase first, then try and vacuum it out. Anything that dosnt dislodge and come out at that point can probably live there forever. Assuming of course youre talking about a small piece and not half a rag
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Old Jun 26, 2007 | 12:01 PM
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Sounds like you have a shop rag stuffed into the hole you can't get out? I would take a bolt smaller than the hole and cut a slot spiral in it and sharpen the end a bit and put that into the rag and turn it. See if you can wind it up enough that you can pull it out.
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Old Jun 26, 2007 | 12:36 PM
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can we can a better description of what and now it is stuff.. maybe a picture..? maybe use a dental pick with hook on the end ? but I am stil wondering what it looks like, how big of a piece ?...
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Old Jun 26, 2007 | 08:11 PM
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The piece is about 2in by 2in wrapped up tight to get all that junk out. I've been looking for a brush to clean those holes easier. Thanks fellas. Back to my problem. Well I'll look for those pieces for the vacuum and I'll see if that works. It think it's stuffed in there pretty good.
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Old Jun 26, 2007 | 10:20 PM
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I used the straw method with a shop vac( I used a bic pen). Next I used 3 or 4 pipe cleaners(crafts section at Wal-Mart) wrapped together to get the rest of the moisture out. Finally I used a stock head bolt ground down....like Predator Z talked about.

The straw taped to the shop vac should pull the peice of shop towel out.
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Old Jun 26, 2007 | 10:42 PM
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If the rag is that big just use something like some long and skinny tweezers to pull it out. Then just continue on your way cleaning.
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Old Jun 27, 2007 | 07:57 AM
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This tool is your freakin' friend. I'm not entirely sure it would fit down there, but it would have a good chance. If this doesn't work, then get some LONG tweezers.

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Old Jun 27, 2007 | 10:25 AM
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Although this sounds scary, if you're out of all other options, what about a long very thin drill bit. Just try to get it tangled up in the rag and pull it out. We're talking about a cotton type rag, not a paper towel, right? If it's paper I would just use something to shred it up and then blow it out.
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