I have a pair of Edelbrock 4 barrels I'll be rebuilding. The exterior of the bodies are oxidized. I don't have a blaster or access to one. What's the alternative to getting the corrosion off the external body? I know it may not get the factory fresh look. Just hate seeing oxidized aluminum under the hood!
I visited a local machine shop, and used his blaster to give mine a light dusting, so they'd look like raw castings again. Then spent a lot of time cleaning them to make sure I got all the glass out. They looked good enough to be on the cover of Hot Rod, so hey, it must work?
NO...sand blasting... Fine sand grit gets in between the body and the throttle shafts and you'll have CONSTANT sanding going on, eventually, over time, opening up the throttle shaft bores, and eventually having loose throttle shafts. Loose throttle shafts...equal vacuum leaks. This won't happen overnight, but it WILL happen, and become ugly eventually, depending on how much you open and close the butterfly's. Use the vinegar method. And, or maybe other household cleaners. Mike
You can make a siphon blaster using a air gun and some vinyl hose and blast them with baking soda or sugar.
Cheap blaster like above with baking soda is the way to go. It leaves a nice finish and super easy to clean up.
Follow up question: not a lot folks painting the carb - and if they do, it's this goldish tone most of the time. In a group that is usually super creative when it comes to customizing shit, I always wondered (besides of the protective aspect) why painting carbs isn't a really thing. Nest time I overhaul my carb, I think I give wrinkle paint a try. Should look pretty cool an a carb, just not sure of the color yet, but maybe red. Frank
I don't paint carbs because it doesn't work...the paint gets wrinkly. But the idea of starting with wrinkly paint is a great one, you won't be able to tell! Actually, you'll probably find some of the Carter W1 carbs get painted, because they're mostly iron, which is easier to get paint to stick to than zinc or aluminum
Any fuel seepage will eat the paint off in a short time. Best to leave painted carbs to the show don't go guys. Limited colors but caliper paint may tolerate some fuel.
There is a lot of gas resistant paint out there - like HYCOTE/POR15 and some others - that can handle any spill/flooding with ease.
Video from the web on how to make one on the cheap...easy to do... homemade soda blaster guy - Google Search
Before I had a soda cabinet I did most of it with Scotch Brite and Dawn. Fold and cut little pieces to work into the crevasses. It sucks. If you just have your hands, you can get almost everywhere in due time. Careful with vinegar (or most acids). If there is any iron in the mix (rusty carb parts or red/black in the corrosion), it can "anodize" your carbs dark. I've had them go really dark. A good acid based cleaner is Krud Kutter. Most cleaners (Simple Green and the like) are bases. Lately, my favorite base cleaner is Mean Green by Rustoleum. $11/gal at HF. Brightens pretty well. At least as good as the $30 Simple Green Extreme. It's a pressure washer concentrate. I use an ultrasonic with boiling water and about 4oz/gal Mean Green. Depending on the kind of corrosion, sometimes it dissolves it. Other corrosions seem to dissolve better in Krud Kutter. I'll do the aluminum parts first and then the steel. I only use the cleaner for 1 carb. Once it's dirty, it doesn't work in the ultrasonic much at all. It's just a buzzy soak. Also, you run the risk of the next carb coming out black. I still soda blast every carb. Some dark stains are not going to come out. They do look better, nice and even otherwise. There have been a couple that I ended up painting. They looked like they had leprosy no matter how I tried. Mike
I bought the biggest Crock Pot I could find at the local Goodwill store for $5, I can get a whole Q-jet in it. Use 30/70 Simple green to water and let it soak for 30 minutes while hot. It does a really good job of cleaning the dirt and fuel residue, then I give them a soda blast. This has some clear coat on the body and zinc plating on the steel bits. Screws are blackened by heating them and dipping in dirty diesel oil.
I cleaned mine in some old school carb cleaner, gave them a quick touch in a glass bead cabinet, then dipped them in Bonderite (formerly alodine 1201...to give them the green/grey tint) https://www.aircraftspruce.ca/catalog/cspages/alodine1201.php And ended up with this: Very happy with the results as these carbs looked very rough to start with. The coating seems to be impervious to gasoline.
Prior to a rebuild, I carefully, lightly dust them in my cabinet with super fine ceramic bead followed with a blasting of fine crushed walnut shells saturated with jewelers rouge. Quick, easy, cheap and doesn't adversely damage any components.
That looks interesting. Curious to know about how long you soaked these?I have been looking for options for quadrajets. Any other tips for the process? Just found the info. Mix Bonderite 33% to water 67%. Temp up to 100* Soak 2-3 minutes. Brushable right out of bottle. I would guess soaking gives more even results but at a cost of more material used.
I had a plugged jet in a Honda 90 last year. Had been sitting for who knows how long. Had no drill bits small enough, so picked up a can of Berrymans. Wasn’t that stuff I recall from years back, it took two days of soaking to be able to blow the jet out clean. The new stuff works, just takes longer.
Is this how they turned out directly after dipping? Or did you have other processes after dipping? They look great
Thanks...this is how they look after after the dipping and then rinsing. I diluted the Alodine 1201 2:1 with distilled water (2 parts water:1 part alodine) and then rinsed them in more distilled water after the dip. They were in the the dip for about 4-5 minutes. This was one of the the Youtube videos I watched before choosing this approach.
I dipped mine for about 4-5 minutes, (I used a test carb that I had pulled out every minute or so as a test to see what it took to get the color I was looking for). Once I was done with dipping the 3 carbs plus the test carb, I still had just under 3 quarts of material in the dip tank container I was using. I poured the mixture into a labelled jug and still have it available for the next time I need it (I had purchased the quart size).
I’m with Mike VV, I don’t like blasting abrasive material into places that I may not be able to get it completely out of.
I am suprised to see the carbs turn out green/grey and not gold like the video. The color you're getting is so close to factory color. In my eyes, anyways. Thanks for posting the video!
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