I had to pull the head off my XL1200, to repair a broken exhaust stud. Im posting some pic showing how much carbon has built up in 80,000 miles. I use only Chevron and Shell fuel.

 

Thank you for the pic.
80K mileage...using only top gear fuel.

1 - Did you have a "pinging" issue when accelerating?
2 - Ever use Redline Cleaner for Motorcycles (typically sold at dealer) or the Chevron Techroline concentrate additive?

 

No ping or knocking. Never used any fuel additives.

 

So you pulling the other head too?

 

Looks normal for a bike, my Triumphs looked worse.

Carbon is not all bad, it insulates the piston tops somewhat.

Brett

 

That is a new one to me. Please expound upon that.

Respectfully,
BINGO53

 

Its like insulation, a film of carbon does not pass the heat as well as bare metal.
In the old rebuild instructions, they said not to remove all the carbon, just thick/high spots.
The books also said not to use any steel when scraping carbon off piston tops, use an aluminum or non metal scraper.

I has never caused any problems unless you have a very high compression motor on low octane fuel.

Removing carbon has never changed the way anything I ever had ran.


Brett

 

Is this the rear cylinder you're working on?

 

The front cylinder. I won't be pulling the rear for a while, saving my nickles for an 88 ci kit.

 

If your front has that much carbon built up the rear typically has more. Too much carbon is not a good thing and can lead to dieseling amongst other issues.