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Old crusty carburetors: what should I soak them in?!?

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by Johnny1290, Dec 27, 2010.

  1. Mopar_Tony_SF
    Joined: Sep 21, 2009
    Posts: 66

    Mopar_Tony_SF
    Member
    from SEA

    Try some Naptha (paint dept at the hardware store). Many carb cleaners contain a bunch of this stuff. Cheap too. You can also add some xylene and Acetone, this gets it close to B12 (without the Benzene). But this is highly toxic and flamable.
     
  2. Deuces
    Joined: Nov 3, 2009
    Posts: 23,751

    Deuces

    Hey Johnny. Don't sweat the small stuff kiddo! :D We'll be glad to help you out with the re-build.. Just let us know when you run into any snags!! :)
     
  3. Johnny1290
    Joined: Apr 20, 2006
    Posts: 2,834

    Johnny1290
    Member

    Thank you, Deuces!

    Final verdict: boiling that sucker sure seems to have helped. It doesn't *look* like a new carb or anything, but its' definitely a cleaner one. I've got this white stuff all over it that I think is from not using distilled water. Maybe its from the soap but I don't think so.

    It could still use a going over with some carb cleaner and a brush to get some more of the remaining dirt on the outer surfaces

    in the oil field we doused tools in varsol and used hot, high pressure water on them and the caked on dirt came off real easy. I suspect a good dousing with a cleaner and a trip to the self serve car wash wouldn't hurt anything, and may even save some time that wwould have been spent scrubbing with a brush.

    That's more for looks than anything else, I have no doubt this thing has clear internal passages and whatnot.

    The funny thing is I thought this was a 750 cfm , I went in to Jegs tonight to get a kit for it and one of the old heads there knew right off it was a 525 cfm in 1958 for a 361 edsel engine. Showed me in the holley catalog, too.

    I've learned more about holleys in the last few days than I would have guessed!

    Thanks to all who had suggestions, I'm moving on to a 600 cfm now and I'll let you know the results :)
     
  4. 1952henry
    Joined: Jan 8, 2006
    Posts: 1,365

    1952henry
    Member

    Been brought up in different threads, but here it is again...http://www.aircooledtech.com/tools-on-the-cheap/soda_blaster/

    I made one for an aluminum 4V base. I didn't want to use my bead blaster, though with the pressure down there wouldn't be any harm ie the bead blasted look. I just wanted to try it. It really turned out nice.

    I'm going to use it for the metering blocks and the main body as well.
     
  5. Johnny1290
    Joined: Apr 20, 2006
    Posts: 2,834

    Johnny1290
    Member

    That baking soda blaster seems to work ridiculously well.

    Now can you use one of those $20 harbor freight guns instead though? I'm wondering if one of them would make it easier to regulate or if you specifically need to make this setup to use the baking soda.

    I feel a lot better about how my carb looks now after seeing that video. It's just not going to look great without some blasting of some type.
     
  6. carbking
    Joined: Dec 20, 2008
    Posts: 3,715

    carbking
    Member

    I don't get the HF catalog (please, don't send me one) so have absolutely NO idea what they can be selling for $55. that they are calling an ultrasonic cleaner.

    After several friends convinced me we should have an ultrasonic cleaner, I shopped around for some of the good ones, and was somewhat shocked (no pun intended) by the prices. We ended up buying one of the cheap, Asian-made units off of ebay for $500. Figured it wouldn't be the cat's meow, but worth a try. Well, it worked great, for about 3 weeks, and then it died. Of course there was no warrenty, so it just ended up a loss, but it did demonstrate how well the ultrasonic worked.

    We then shopped around some more, and found a USA company that makes, sells, and guarantees their product. One large enough to submerge a complete Holley 4-barrel cost about $3500. but entirely worth it; and the company customer service department contacts me about every 6 weeks to ask how things are going, anything we need, etc. They also supply a number of different products (we normally use Dawn dishwater detergent, at their suggestion) but we have acquired some other detergents from them for specialty cleaning.

    For us, this thing easily paid for itself in the first 6 months. And while cleaning is the primary use; we have found a secondary use in loosening stuck carbs. You wouldn't believe the junk some send to us for restoration. Now, a carb with stuck shafts goes into the ultrasonic before we even try to free it. Generally, a couple of hours in the ultrasonic, and it comes right apart; no twisted shafts, no damage. We used to use an acetylene torch (and occasionally, we still have to) but most of the time the ultrasonic does the trick.

    Jon.
     
  7. 1952henry
    Joined: Jan 8, 2006
    Posts: 1,365

    1952henry
    Member

    No before, but an after shot.

    [​IMG]
     
  8. belyea_david
    Joined: Sep 21, 2010
    Posts: 134

    belyea_david
    Member
    from Regina, SK

    I tip that I heard from a bunch of R/C Modellers with seized engines is to soak them in hot 100% green antifreeze in a crock pot for 6 - 8 hours.

    Carbs are made of aluminum like model engines, shoud work OK.

    YMMV

    Dave......
     
  9. chubbie
    Joined: Jan 14, 2009
    Posts: 2,336

    chubbie
    Member

    ty-d-BOL the ultimate carb cleaner?? any one ever tryed it??
     
  10. RayJarvis
    Joined: Oct 11, 2010
    Posts: 209

    RayJarvis
    Member

    ultra sonic sounds good if it is available to you ,boiling in water and detergent is available to just about anybody. personally if you have the time i like a 5 gal pail of desiel and a couple of weeks soak time. ray
     
  11. 1952henry
    Joined: Jan 8, 2006
    Posts: 1,365

    1952henry
    Member

    Some yes, some are made of pot metal-zinc alloy.
     
  12. belyea_david
    Joined: Sep 21, 2010
    Posts: 134

    belyea_david
    Member
    from Regina, SK

    True - The pot metal should be OK in antifreeze too.
     
  13. Johnny1290
    Joined: Apr 20, 2006
    Posts: 2,834

    Johnny1290
    Member

    So!

    I threw out the harbor freight sucker, got the crock pot and with just soap and water, the carbs come out cleaner.

    Sparkling new looking? No. But definitely less dirt and crud on them, but still lots of black soot or carbon or whatever on them.

    SO thanks to the private suggest of Old Gold I got an 8 dollar gallon of antifreeze from wal mart and let the carbs boil over night in the crock pot.

    They're not as pretty as sandblasting, but definitely cleaner than just water. From what I can recall 20 years ago I still had to do some scrubbing on the venturi? to get the black to come off after soaking. Well that's how this has come out. The carb is significantly cleaner than just soap and water, all that dark grimey stuff is pretty well off, and in fact on the choke horn, you can see a water line on it where it stuck out of the antifreeze. Clean below, dark and sooty above.

    I think it'll work even better at a real boil in a pot on the stove. The crock pot got it damn hot but never to a real low boil like it did with water in it.

    I stuck half the carb back in there to sit, figure it can't hurt.

    I like what another poster said about letting them soak for a week in diesel. I suspect if I just let this thing sit in the antifreeze for days it'll have an effect.

    But maybe boiling is the quick way to best results? who knows?!? I'll return with a verdict!
     
  14. RDP
    Joined: Dec 3, 2010
    Posts: 242

    RDP
    Member
    from Kansas

    I ran one through the dish washer and it was as clean as the day I bought it.
     
  15. Atwater Mike
    Joined: May 31, 2002
    Posts: 11,625

    Atwater Mike
    Member

    Sugar???? Suh-weet!
     
  16. Assuming one puts an entire, assembled carburetor in water & brings it to a boil, will the float(s) risk any damage?
     
  17. 31ACoupe
    Joined: Nov 14, 2005
    Posts: 1,416

    31ACoupe
    Member


    I bet your wife is real proud of you. Maybe I will try this too, she probably won't ever figure out I put a load of strombergs in it; or not.
     
  18. Johnny1290
    Joined: Apr 20, 2006
    Posts: 2,834

    Johnny1290
    Member

    I boiled one carb with metal float bowls in it. Didn't seem to hurt anything. Another one had plastic floats and I removed them. YMMV
     

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