Carb cleaner?

[cradlescyth]

Having just aquired a couple of carbs, I would like learn about them.

Figured the best way is to rebuild them. This leads me to the question

" What kind of cleaner do you soak them in?"

Any help would be appreciated. THANKS

[1931 flamingo]

cradlescyth: There was a fellow on here who did an animation of how the carbs worked. I know it's not how to clean but very informative.
Paul in CT

[cradlescyth]

Good stuff, but I am after a solution to soak them in.

any ideas!!

[hardtimes]

Originally Posted by cradlescyth

Good stuff, but I am after a solution to soak them in.

any ideas!!

Good question, but I've 'located' no good solution...like there used to be!
Back when, used to buy 21/2 gallon container of carb cleaner(geeze,even had two baskets in it!). But, like todays light bulbs, is/will be thing of the past. That was real carb cleaner that was sold for decades..IT WORKED! Someone told me epa said no more of that... Would buy it at any auto store then. Now, I can buy quart can of 'carb cleaner'...that the dog laps up without harm, well mabe not. But, it certainly DOES NOT clean carbs. Ever long for good ole days, at times
Anyway someone here probably knows of a product/process that will NOT eat up a potmetal stromberg/whatever carcass but clean it. Good luck and let us know if you happen onto something good.

[Mike V. Florida]

Are they rusty or varnished or both? Different things for different problems.

[Jack '29 Sport Coupe]

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)

NAPA sells a carb cleaner that you can soak your carbs in.

Jack

[Jon-Ohio]

On a Tiller / small engine forum that I'm on , they recommend a product called SeaFoam for cleaning small engine carbs. I got some at the parts store last week for my sick TroyBilt tiller engine but haven’t tried it yet. Might be worth a try for 'A' carbs too

[Mikeinnj]

NAPA CARB CLEANER WITH PARTS BASKET :

https://www.napaonline.com/Catalog/C...006414466&An=0

[Cool Hand Lurker]

Carb cleaner is expensive but you can make your own a little cheaper. Get a quart each of Alcohol, Acetone and Xylol from the hardware store and dump it together in a used gallon paint thinner can. You then have carb cleaner. Works great at less than $15 total for 3/4 gallon.

[Pilotdave]

Hey Cool...I'm not familiar with Xylol...what is it?

[Cool Hand Lurker]

Xylol is another paint thinner but it is really strong. It is great for renewing old hard paint brushes. But if you store it in a plastic jug it can eat its way through overnight and dump 5 gallons all over the floor and takes a week with a fan to get the smell out. This I know FOR SURE.

So I keep it in a steel one gallon paint thinner can. For soaking carbs I took another thinner can and cut the top off so there is room and depth for putting all the carb parts in at once. You don't have to soak them very long either.

[Jim Brierley]

A friend of mine uses a product called Awesome. It is a multi-purpose cleaner available at 99 cent or Dollar stores. The container is about a quart in size, you may need to spend big bucks and get 2? It does a great job on pot metal, not sure about cast iron but worth a try.

[Pilotdave]

Originally Posted by Cool Hand Lurker

Xylol is another paint thinner but it is really strong. It is great for renewing old hard paint brushes. But if you store it in a plastic jug it can eat its way through overnight and dump 5 gallons all over the floor and takes a week with a fan to get the smell out. This I know FOR SURE.

So I keep it in a steel one gallon paint thinner can. For soaking carbs I took another thinner can and cut the top off so there is room and depth for putting all the carb parts in at once. You don't have to soak them very long either.

Sounds like potent stuff! Will have to try this recipe. Thanks.

[Bruce Lancaster]

The NAPA carb cleaner I bought was OK, better than just thinner, but not like the old days. Definitely EPA neutered.
A discussion on the HAMB coughed up this nugget: Berrymans part #0901.
Plenty of chemical outlaws over there in the bomb factories and secret labs of HAMB.
I ordered an experimental gallon via Amazon. It arrived damaged and leaking, but there was that old-timey birds falling dead from the sky carb cleaner smell. Front steps still stink of it a week later, and I doubt the UPS guy survived for long after dropping the stuff off. Truck probably became a title 13 toxic site.
It is still in quarantine while I hunt for a suitable container, as my old NAPA bucket turned out to have rust holes from the water used to seal the goo, but from the smell I think this is indeed the good stuff. I may need to spring for a serious industrial tank to avoid dissolving my house.

[Russ/40]

Evapo-Rust good for rusty cores.

[Gerard]

does anyone ever used White vinegar ?? Don't keep it to long in there because it will dissolve the brass

[Robert]

A Shade Tree Story With Some Free Advice
When I was a kid, I burglarized my Mom's kitchen and my Dad's top drawer. Her can of Red Devil lye worked great on the iron parts of my Zenith 2. Vinegar and steel wool worked OK on the brass parts and cardboard from one of my Dad's starched dress shirts worked for the gasket material. Also--- it was at this young age that I learned what lye does to human tissue. SO--- just go to NAPA and buy a gallon of carb cleaner-(it even comes with a basket so you don't have to fish around for your parts). Then buy the rest of the stuff new!!

[hardtimes]

Originally Posted by Bruce Lancaster

The NAPA carb cleaner I bought was OK, better than just thinner, but not like the old days. Definitely EPA neutered.
A discussion on the HAMB coughed up this nugget: Berrymans part #0901.
Plenty of chemical outlaws over there in the bomb factories and secret labs of HAMB.
I ordered an experimental gallon via Amazon. It arrived damaged and leaking, but there was that old-timey birds falling dead from the sky carb cleaner smell. Front steps still stink of it a week later, and I doubt the UPS guy survived for long after dropping the stuff off. Truck probably became a title 13 toxic site.
It is still in quarantine while I hunt for a suitable container, as my old NAPA bucket turned out to have rust holes from the water used to seal the goo, but from the smell I think this is indeed the good stuff. I may need to spring for a serious industrial tank to avoid dissolving my house.

Bruce,
Ha,ha! That's the stuff! Thanks for the tip and part #, outstanding!
Years ago, before epa, I bought a 21/2 gal. container of the 'good' stuff. Two baskets,one small parts and one large parts. This stuff was SERIOUS carb/metal cleaning mans tool catagory!
Well, a man doesn't use it that often, so out in the old tin shed (10x10) it went with other precious car stuff! After quite some time...it ate the bucket! Yikes, what to do as the entire back yard smelled good but you couldn't go into that shed on a hot day w/o passing out! SHE said..get it out of here..now. I tore the entire shed down and dug up the thin cement floor to cart it off. Oh yeah, you did not want to get this stuff onto yours clothes and not on your hide..wore rubber gloves to the elbows. Ah , the smell of that carb cleaner in the cool morning air got the juices flowing to work on the car, every time

[Jon-Ohio]

10 or 15 years ago I use to use Gunk SC concentrate which you mixed with kerosene to dilute it. Auto stores dont carry it anymore but I found it on line :

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalo...nkproducts.php

[cradlescyth]

Hi Guys

Can not believe all the good stuff!!

I'm going to try a few, probaly start with the stuf for NAPA

Thanks for all the help

[Bruce Lancaster]

Carbs contain a lot of different things on the crud front...sometimes multiple approaches are needed. Thinner for first cleaning (saves damage to expensive solvents), then carb cleaner (the fiercer the better), then into the Evaporust or something like that to clean the iron. Sometimes detergent helps near end of process, to remove actual dirt that ignores the solvents, and sometimes acids to kill off lime and water deposits.
If glass beads have been anywhere near the thing, final cleaning with detergent is mandatory to remove beads hiding in there waiting to destroy your engine.

[cradlescyth]

Hi Guys

Thanks for tips.
Went to NAPA and got a Gal.

OK but no cigar!

Will try a couple of the other alternatives and let you know.

[Bruce Lancaster]

Example of multi-cleaning needs: I'm going through a distributor for a friend. Bought a good housing that had been cleaned with a wire wheel, leaving nooks and crannies of minor rust. Degreased with various solvents, dumped it into Evaporust and got it to downright beautiful. Looked into the oiler hole...!!! Inch-long total barrier of crud after all those soakings!!! Gouged it out with awl and .223 gun brushes: Simple DIRT, soil, sand. Any oil or grease in it was long gone from the solvents, but what was left was not soluble at all in the chemicals used. It MIGHT have flushed out with detergent, but probably would never have left without the attack with cold steel.
Now think about all those invisible passages below the carb floor, where water, mineral, and dirt have settled over the years into impromptu cement.
I also wonder how many decades that thing had lived with no oiler functioning...that dirt was well established and comfortable in there!

[Cool Hand Lurker]

Good point, Bruce! A lot of times I am tempted to just let the part dry instead of blowing out the passages with compressed air but your comments showed me the "light".... Thanks!

[hardtimes]

Originally Posted by cradlescyth

Hi Guys

Thanks for tips.
Went to NAPA and got a Gal.

OK but no cigar!

Will try a couple of the other alternatives and let you know.

Yeah, I knew that that result was coming! That stuff is a waste of $..MO! In addition to the 'things' that you have to do to geter done correctly: buy the proper tools(read: not cheapest). And, learn how to use the tools properly, mainly meaning slow/patiently. For instance jet removal ,etc. Some of these jets will seem IMPOSSIBLE to remove. Slow steady/power and patient back/forth movement once you break them loose. Then as Bruce says...even after you think that you have a pretty/cleaned carb..wait till you see what has turned to solids at the bottom of those jet wells..OMG And, you were ready to put in back in service that way!