[yupetc]

Never thought of the alternator pulley method, good one, Kevin and thanks.

I've been reading this thread because I'll be doing the cleaning for my buddy's car. I have a garage full of tools, the blaster, and a 20-gal compressor. I've done this on the Mini Cooper S many times, just never done it on the N54.

Also, to add something useful for everyone here, the way I test to see if the valves are closed or not here's my way: I remove all the spark plugs to use that opening by feeding my vacuum tube into it. On my vacuum, I just have to make sure it's clean first, then I reverse the air flow so I can blow high volume air into the spark plug holes directly into the cylinder. On start, I'd do this through all cylinders to see which intake valves are completely closed, because you'll get no air coming out of the valve side, use you hand to feel it. I'd start walnut blasting with those closed valves first. Then when I get done, I'd go after the other valves by turning the crank, in this case, I'll adapt Kevin's method by turning the alternator, to set up the other un-cleaned valves. Now the only piece I'll need is the port adapter piece. I did modify an S-shaped coolant pipe to fit into a MK-6 VW Golf GTI port before. The vacuum works great, but the port match was poor, so it made a good mess despite being a little efficient. With the right adapter, it would save a ton of shell leaks or outside spraying for sure. If there's anyone needing this service done in Houston, TX, I don't mind to help on good weather weekends.