I probly posted before, and if I did the replies were inconclusive. I bought a cheap one, then was loaned a hi end one, and then bought a middle of the road one. All with less than impressive results on very old and heavily varnished carbs. The hi end one was dropped by a factory rep with their own special chemical. He was as disappointed as I was when he came days later to get the machine and I showed him the parts. He had me heat the machine and mixed the chemical and water himself....for the same bad results. He seemed confused as well as disappointed and told me he'd talk to "tech" and get back to me.....he never did. So, on my heated, middle of the road machine what do you suggest for a cleaner and ratio to water?? THX
I just have a small cheap one. I wish I had a before pic. These carbs had sat for years. Probably over 20 easily. They were black. I cleaned them with a cheap Harbor Freight ultrasonic. Used straight Simple Green. It took multiple cycles and the liquid had to get hot before it worked very well.
Yep, that was my results too. One nice thing about these is you can clean rubber or other 'soft' parts without damaging them, something that doesn't work too well in regular carb cleaner. DO rinse any parts THOROUGHLY in clean hot water immediately after using simple green, as it's very corrosive (particularly on aluminum) if allowed to dry on parts.
To go along with the sonic cleaner get a shaker. I fill mine with fine "sand" for reptile viewing tanks. I use it for all small parts. I've cut the handles off strainers and wire them rim to rim so to not loose small parts. It make the sonic/shaker a great team to clean linkage and the like...
When we were still restoring carbs, we used Dawn dishwater soap. It did a great job on dirt, grease, etc., and would not damage metal, rubber, or plastic parts. It would not, however, clean carbon build-up inside. Auto choke cleaner, then the Dawn. We have an adjustable ultrasonic, and ran the ultrasonic wide-open and the heaters at about 185 degrees. And a rinse to remove the soap is also required. Jon.
I've got a tumbler and it works very well. Ceramic pyramids from HF, water, dish washing liquid, and a pad of coarse steel wool just for the fuck of it. What's in your shaker?
Depends on the parts, I do the motorcycle and scooter carbs in the ultrasonic, power valves and other small parts I do not want to tumble or media blast. I use the corn cob chips in the tumbler and it polishes the parts. I put the larger carbs EE-3's and Holley's in the dishwasher. I soak the carbs in Dawn with a mix of half a cup to a gallon of warm/hot water. I use the soda blaster to clean the carbon and hard stains from the parts. Just be careful of the tumbler on small brass parts, the ends will become worn and if you use a small particle media it can clog the orifices (word of the week)
In my 5 gallon ultrasonic tank , I use 2 cups white vinegar, 4-5 tblsp. of dawn soap. All added to 3.5 gallon of water. heat machine to 180@ and run ultrasonic for 1 hour. Then rinse the ship out of everything before using hi-pressure air in the galleys and ports.
Beware of some of the small hobby-type "ultrasonic" cleaners advertised on Evilbay, as they are not ultrasonic, but a small DC motor with an out-of balance shaft, attached to a small tank. They sort of work, but nowhere as good as a proper ultrasonic. When I was an apprentice we were told to keep our hands out of the ultrasonic parts cleaner ( a big one, bathtub size), as it would turn your cartilage to mush.
Supposedly you can do an aluminum foil test. A real US w/transducers will perforate a piece of foil pretty quick. I imagine an out of balance motor won't. LOL
BTTT for some fresh ideas. Remember, I was using this on a highly varnished and carboned carb that hadn't been off the car in over a half century!!!!! I'm not talking gun parts or jewelry that will NEVER be this nasty!!!
I have the HF special. I've cleaned all sorts of stuff in mine. Carbs I'm never too impressed with. Ive done them with simple green, paint solvent, Yamaha brand carb soak. They usually get clean after a few cycles, but Im no carb expert either. I mostly use mine for paint gun cleaning. Ill fill it half full with solvent, rinse my gun off and toss the parts in for a few rounds. I had a 40+ year old pressure/siphon gun that it cleaned to new looking. All the girlfriends love it for jewelry too. If I had the chance, I'd buy one a little bigger. I have more than gotten my money worth out of the HF unit
I just had to buy dish soap for dishes and because they were out of Dawn I bought the wife Palmolive and figured they're all the same. I will tell you Palmolive won't even clean a greasy dish, I can't imagine getting any results on a carb. Buy Dawn.
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