Carburetor Cleaner

[RustyRatRod]

I have been rebuilding carburetors literally as long as I can remember. I think my first one I did when I was about 10. Anyway, the carburetor dip we had back then was the good stuff. The old guy I worked for brought it back home with him from the Navy after WWII. It never went bad or got weak. We just strained it about every few months and cleaned out the barrel. Worked good as new after that.

Anyway, I have a 5 gallon bucket of Berryman dip. It's barely a year old and it's dead. So dead in fact, that it will not even remove paint anymore. So here's my question.

Do any of you gents have a home recipe for carburetor cleaner dip that really works? And I don't mean go search the net. I already did that. I mean somebody that's actually DONE it and found something that really works. I have an idea that I plan to try myself and I'll share it if it works....and I think it will. But I thought I would ask yall first. Thankya.

 

[Budnicks]

I use allot of Lacquer thinner, for cleaning all kinds of stuff, even on carbs, in a well ventilated area, it ain't cheap thou...

 

[daredevil]

My tiller carb was gunked up and rusted and i dipped it in zeps calcium lime rust remover and it bubbled. Next day it was good as new but blackened. Works great again. Know this aint what you wanted but I had to share.

 

[RustyRatRod]

Doesn't matter. I'm lookin for ideas and that's an idea. Bring um on.

 

[HT413]

Probably not what you wanted, as i never used it to clean carbs, per se. But I used to work for a big heat treating plant in college and we used MEK straight from a 55 gallon drum to clean EVERYTHING. that sh!t destroys EVERYTHING from oil to paint to plastic, etc. i noticed my wife's non acetone nail polish remover has like 3% MEK in it, so that tells you how powerful it is.

Btw, dont light it on fire though. An old Vietnam vet I used to work with swore burning it created something similar to Agent Orange, but i guess that's just hearsay lol. Still, I would be damn sure not to light it on fire.

 

[Propwash]

I agree with Bud on the Lacquer Thinner. Use it as well...or an enamel reducer (virgin solvent)



Stuff works slick for isolated use........

 

[D575]

Doesn't the old stuff have MEK and toluene in it ? Can't get MEK in Calif. anymore. They have something called industrial coating remover. I wonder how that works on carbs ? The old stuff was potent you could smell and feel the cancer cells forming.

 

[RustyRatRod]

Well......here's what I am thinking about. I have a 6 gallon metal bucket. It has 5 gallons of something in it that I bought as carburetor cleaner. I'm fixin to 86 that and clean the bucket out real good. I'm gonna get 5 gallons of Castrol Super Clean and an electric hot plate. Fill the bucket up with 100% Super Clean and set it on the hot plate and let it get good and HOT and try it. I will be reportin back soon. But in the meantime, keep the ideas comin. Somebody might have a better one.

 

[MNBiker]

I saw where someone soaked his motorcycle carbs in pine sol over night. The outside came out nice and shiny clean. Not sure what it did for the internals.

 

[HT413]

Hey rusty, be careful with the hot plate. that stuff has sodium hydroxide in it (which is used as an HVAC coil cleaner). Dont do it inside. Wear a full face mask, gloves and long sleeves because if you heat it up and it happens to burp in your face, it'll quickly burn your skin or even blind you. If you get it in your eye, flush it out under running water with your eye OPEN for 10 full minutes. Just sayin.

 

[RustyRatRod]

Thanks for that. I will certainly be careful. Especially since I am already one down in the eye department now. I don't want it boiling, but it would probably work well if it was close.

Hey rusty, be careful with the hot plate. that stuff has sodium hydroxide in it (which is used as an HVAC coil cleaner). Dont do it inside. Wear a full face mask, gloves and long sleeves because if you heat it up and it happens to burp in your face, it'll quickly burn your skin or even blind you. If you get it in your eye, flush it out under running water with your eye OPEN for 10 full minutes. Just sayin.

 

[Wedgeamacallit]

Rusty, I have used this and it worked great for me. Had some six pack carbs that had been sitting for ages. http://www.gunk.com/products/cat_det.asp Summit sells it in their retail store. Hope it helps

 

[daredevil]

You need one of these too[video=youtube_share;6cSdL7I4AHM]http://youtu.be/6cSdL7I4AHM[/video]

 

[RustyRatRod]

Funny you post that. I have a similar hand sander and had thought about trying that. Now I may do it.

 

[wannadrag]

Anyone ever try Acetone?Pretty nasty,use to clean my mixing bowl for fiberglass resin.Even works after its hard.

 

[RustyRatRod]

I actually found a degreaser at Summit I think I am going to try. Here it bees.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/xtr-xtc03-5

Maybe with heat and the sander for ultrasonic action it will work.

 

[Meep-Meep]

I use an ultrasonic cleaner and purple colored simple green (I know, that sounds strange but it's purple) and it does a great job. My ultrasonic has a heater and I believe that helps. The purple colored industrial SG doesn't eat the aluminum up either.

The ZEP purple stuff is similar to the Castrol purple stuff in that they both have sodium hydroxide and are corrosive to aluminum. Unless you want a black AFB carb I wouldn't use it, however, it doesn't seem to bother zinc as much as it does aluminum. The dichromate finish will eventually change or be altered for the worse if you hold the parts too long in the NaOH (sodium hydroxide). Different aluminum alloys will be affected differently by the HaOH solution and you can use a nitric acid solution to desmut it. There is a product called aluminum jelly that does a pretty good job of bringing the aluminum color back.

I remember the carb dunk stuff and it did do a great job. Along with leaded gas, trichlor brake clean and other great solvents. Ahhh, the good 'ol days.

 

[RustyRatRod]

Yeah it all goes back to what I always say. It if won't make you have two headed babies, it aint worth a ****.

 

[Richard Cranium]

I had a friend who used to just put disassembled carbs in the dishwasher and he's swear by it.



Disclaimer: At the time, he was single, lived in a company rented apartment & had no woman to rag on him.

 

[sublimegtx]

Doesn't the old stuff have MEK and toluene in it ? Can't get MEK in Calif. anymore. They have something called industrial coating remover. I wonder how that works on carbs ? The old stuff was potent you could smell and feel the cancer cells forming.

Be careful with any mek... methly ethyl keytone as it is a proven cancer causing agent. I used to work for monsanto and any chance of exposure you used goggles/face shield, chem proof gloves and respirator. Then I worked at a paint/stain company and guys would use it on a rag to clean their hands. But these were straight 100% mek