Muffler Cleaning

[ljohnson]

I'm having some difficulty in removing the carbon from my muffler. I used heat to burn out most of it, but I found that there were some chunks of carbon that I couldn't shake out of the standard exhaust, which reduced its performance. I do not have access to welding tools, so are there any chemical or physical ways to break down the remaining carbon? I've heard of caustic soda being used, along with brake fluid, gasoline, or oven cleaner. Any advice?

[ljohnson]

Solved my own problem. Drilled a hole in the bottom of the muffler, shook out all the chunks, flushed the rest out with water. Worked like a charm.

[zombie]

Cool deal.
The best way to burn it out is heat either end till it is cherry red, and turn off the acetylene/propane, and run raw Oxy. into the pipe to feed the burning carbon. It will burn in a circular pattern until all the carbon is gone.

It WILL shower your work area like a jet engine so do this in a SAFE area.