Cleaning carbs & fuel pumps.

[russcc]

What do you all use to clean the exterior grime off carbs ? Just looking to clean the well, not restore them. Also what dissolves the white junk inside fuel pumps and carbs ? Thank you Fordbarners.

[Charlie ny]

I use an OMEGA SONIC sonic cleaner. I like any top quality water base cleaning solution.
The tank has a heating that raises the temp of the solution to 185 and assists the high freq vibration
feature to clean things up quite nicely. There is still a place for low pressure media
blasting for sure.
Charlie ny

[Tim Ayers]

Charlie:


The unit it's self or their cleaning products or both? I had the smallest Harbor Freight unit and it bit the dust after a year.

[marko39]

acetone dissolves the gas varnish on carbs, it will also eat engine paint.

[rockfla]

My brother uses HOT lemon juice concentrate and will dilute with "some" water based on the amount of corrosion. He uses an old crock pot he got at a garage sale and has cleaned the carbs and a few other pieces on a 66 BMW motor cycle someone gave him. It works absolutely great!!!!

[philipswanson]

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Carburetor cleaner, the stinky stuff in a can.

[rockfla]

Here is a before and after of a float bowl in the lemon juice after about 15 to 20 minutes.

[flatheadmurre]

Only downside to lemonjuice or any acid cleaner is that it eats up the external finish to...
Ultrasonic cleaner is great...like you have someone scrubbing your carb like mad...and don´t complain about it

[rockfla]

Originally Posted by flatheadmurre

Only downside to lemonjuice or any acid cleaner is that it eats up the external finish to...
Ultrasonic cleaner is great...like you have someone scrubbing your carb like mad...and don´t complain about it

Only IF you let it. Its a little bit of a learning curve as to ratio's and time BUT a $5 crock pot and a $4 bottle of lemon juice is much cheaper than a good quality ultra sonic cleaner. IF you are doing professionally like CharlieNY absolutely.....for the "home" mechanic....cheap cleaning and a little rinse of water afterward and a good drying and its as clean as new!!!! Again, proof is in the picture!!!!

[1952henry]

I know this will get poo-pooed and some will want to argue, etc, but here goes...a 24 hour minimum soak in acetone, after complete tear down. Once dry, a complete bead blast. After a thorough blow out with air, a chase with canned carb cleaner through all orifices. Making sure cleaner comes out where it should. Then, into a diluted phosphoric acid bath with a scrubbing from brass brush. Yes this will delete the chromate conversion coating, but I replace that as a last step. Check my pictures before the flaming. And steel pieces get replated after blasting/polishing on steel wire wheel.

[Ggmac]

Purple stuff or white vinegar

[tubman]

Originally Posted by Ggmac

Purple stuff or white vinegar

If the "Purple Stuff" you are referring to is what I think it is, it and white vinegar are completely different. White vinegar is an acid, however weak. To much acid of any kind can cause real problems.

[1952henry]

If you use purple power, dont leave the carb in there too long. It has lye in it,and zinc/lye don't get along too well. Unless you want to re-rust some metal, then throw carb in, add heat, a rusty part, later pull out clean part that has a zinc coating on it. Although Purple power prolly doesn't have enough lye to complete the chemical reaction.

[philipswanson]

The original question was external cleaning, not taking them apart. Makes a big difference for cleaning.

[Tim Ayers]

Originally Posted by philipswanson

The original question was external cleaning, not taking them apart. Makes a big difference for cleaning.

Hi Phillip:

Looks like the OP had a two part question. I pulled the quote from his original post.

Also what dissolves the white junk inside fuel pumps and carbs?

[philipswanson]

Originally Posted by Tim Ayers

Hi Phillip:

Looks like the OP had a two part question. I pulled the quote from his original post.

Also what dissolves the white junk inside fuel pumps and carbs?

Yea, but everybody, almost, is ignoring the first question which is external cleaning. Cleaning when assembled is harder because you want to avoid disturbing surrounding areas.

[richard crow]

back in the day we used bexdix solution in came in a metal can. it stunk like hell . but it did some job. if you walked in a shop that used it you knew right away buy the smell. was also great for cleaning pistons

[russcc]

Thank you all for your sharing your experiences and expertise. I will give acetone a try on the exterior grime, and lemon juice or vinegar a whirl on the white stuff. The before and after photo of carb bowl was impressive.

[rockfla]

Originally Posted by russcc

Thank you all for your sharing your experiences and expertise. I will give acetone a try on the exterior grime, and lemon juice or vinegar a whirl on the white stuff. The before and after photo of carb bowl was impressive.

That was about 20 minutes in the "crock pot" in approx a 60-40 (or so) mix lemon juice to water. DO IT OUTSIDE!!!! let the mix get hot in the crock then drop it in, go check it about 10 mins into the process just to see how fast its cleaning and you'll be able to gauge how long it will need to stay. When you are happy with the result, pull it and rinse it in water, blow it out/off with the air house and I spray my stuff with LPS-1 to protect it. IF its heavy corrosion then you can increase ratio of lemon juice to water and vice versa if its less corrosion then ease up on the ratio. Good luck