Cleaning the Pistons and Cylinder Rim

Hopefully attached is a picture of the engine (minus head) I'm going to try to clean tonight.

I've known for a while that my engine was running rich, but I didn't realize it was this bad. According to Haynes, I raise the pistons to the top of thier travel, scrape the top of the pistons, taking care not to let carbon get around the sides of the pistons, and ....leave a ring of carbon around the outter edge of the pistons. (Still can't figure that one out.)

Hoping to get a few tips on this job before I start this evening.

Surely there's a better way to clean the piston surfaces than to scrape them.

By the way, the cylinder surfaces are really smooth and shiny. They appear black because they are reflecting the piston surfaces. And...I haven't taken off the old copper head gasket yet.

3M scotchbrite pads and Seafoam work great.

I always put a smear of grease arount the gap between the piston and cylinder wall to catch any junk.

Cordless Makita and a wire cup brush. Don't push down hard, be careful, work away from the driver's side, ie make sure the material is exiting toward the passenger side. Yeah, I know, I'm a freaking barbarian.