Bought a used carb. Gas flowed out of it when I cranked the engine over. Hasn't been used for a couple years. I have ordered an Edelbrock rebuild kit and floats. Is there any products or suggestions to clean it back up before ***embly? Thanks
https://www.youtube.com/user/MikesCarburetor Mike from Mike's Carburetors makes excellent step by step videos demonstrating how to diss***emble and re***emble. He doesn't get into troubleshooting or cleaning. If you understand exactly how your carb works, you will be able to figure out what's making it dump, and how to properly clean it. Read this book, usually on the shelf at Pep Boys or Advance. All tricks and tips specific to Carter/Edelbrock are well explained. Sometimes it takes more than a kit to get a carb operating properly. "Cleaning" doesn't mean getting the body to look new, (a carburetor doesn't care how it looks), it means getting all of the gunk out of the working parts, and opening up every hole and channel until the air and fuel can flow freely. Personally I have messed more of them up by soaking them and trying to get them to look good, I've had more success tearing them down as little as possible, and getting their holes clear with carb cleaner and air, getting their ****erflies closing properly, changing out gaskets, adjusting them to spec and leaving them alone. When they leak, most of the time it's a stuck float or blocked float needle. Motorcycle carbs are way harder, tiny holes, they het gummed up when you look at them funny. Regardless, I've always had to tear any carb down at least 4 times until I got it right. Good luck!
I bought a stainless steel square pan&lid for a steam table at a restaurant supply place that fit the carb , and soaked it over nite in carb cleaner that comes in those those gallon cans. The basket that comes with the cleaner worked good for the small parts. I have lots of outboard motor carbs to do, so it justified getting 2 gallons and the pan
I was going to buy one of these from Ebay (a lot of guys on gearhead sites swear by ultrasonic cleaning carbs). Then a lot of unexpected family expenses came up and I found myself sh&@ as$& broke yet again. By the time I had some extra scratch all of my motorized vehicles had clean carbs. Have you looked into it, since you have a bunch to clean? Byp*** the chemicals, supposedly better results. Haven't tried it myself. http://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/ultrasonic-cleaners-for-carbs.27965/ http://www.practicalmachinist.com/v...ted-using-ultrasonic-cleaner-home-shop-96298/
Never thought about those.....just old school soaking and blowing out the orifices with compressed air Will a four barrel carb body fit in one?
Maybe my dentist would let me clean my carb in hers LOL. Thinking of baking soda boiling in water. Thanks for the video links, I will take pics and label the jets . I don't want to use vinager on aluminum toxic. I also read Lemon juce in boiling water for 20 Min then rinse with baking soda water.
Harbor Freight has a little machine, "Ultrasonic Cleaner", '2.5 liter' capacity. Cheap, used for cleaning jewelry, and 'precious metal'... right up our alley. I bought one last week, it'll hold a big Holley (all apart) better to do it in 2 batches. (end bowls in first, base body in the second) It was recommended that I use water...and just a teas**** full of dish soap! (Dial) The ultrasound does the rest...Comes out like NEW! I have a LOT of carburetors, so it was a Bonanza to me. One of my 2 bbl Carter/Webers (Pinto type progressive 28/32 mm) was just black, I took it apart and dropped it in the 'soup' (soap???) 2 days later it came out nice and silverish. Pretty enough for my OT '66 raked VW! I used real 'Carb Cleaner' for years (since '55) and the smell...and getting rid of it later...Terrible! Ultrasound is the answer. Some guys say to use Simple Green. (I've used Anti Freeze (Glycol) in an old crock pot for model airplane engines, worked great until I did an ancient Twin Stack (valuable) that was cast from some junk slag around WWII and it came out black...and sintered. Yeah. Wall Art.)
I just rebuilt a lil 500 cfm holley 2 barrel last week. I bought a 1 gallon can of the carb cleaner from napa for ~$20. It came with the little parts basket which is nice and useful, but the body of the carb would not fit in the small 1 gallon can. I poured the contents into a clean 5 gallon plastic bucket, was able to put in all the parts and lean the bucket against the wall in a corner so all parts were covered and soaked over night with a plywood top on the bucket. When finished I poured the contents back into the 1 gallon can and is ready to use another time. One thing that I read was a neutralizer of sorts, I just used a can of gunk carb and choke cleaner to spray things off and then compressed air and clean rags. Came out good.
Since you are Canadian, you can go to your local parts store and buy a gallon of Kleen-Flo-KLF-651 Carb Cleaner. Not available tot my knowledge in the US. Strip the carb bare of everything that comes loose, soak the carb and all non plastic parts overnight,, rinse twice in hot soapy water, changing the water each time and blow out every p***age with 100psi + air until dry. I then treat every br*** part with metal etch and rinse them and blow dry. A quality carb kit should make it new again.
Clunker, and others. CAREFUL! I am one of the ones that advocate the use of the ultrasonic cleaners, but be careful what you get!!!!! About 6 years ago, listened to a good friend in the carb business that loved his ultrasonic; so paid $600. for one on ebay large enough to clean a Carter AFB. Put one in, and it was amazing! Cleaned about 3 more (4 hours total), and it burned out. From China (check out the origin of the HF units) and of course no warranty, no return, no refund. Found a US company and bought a US-made unit at SIGNIFICANTLY more cost! It still works great after hundreds, probably thousands, of hours. I knew better, just didn't want to spend the money! So I ended up spending more! They do have small units (mine holds about 4 gallons) that are a lot less expensive, but I like to dip the entire carburetor. Not only is it cleaner when dis***embly, it comes apart easier, as the ultrasound helps loosen the threaded parts. Mine will accept a complete Carter AFB or Holley 4150. Jon.
The ultrasonic does the preliminary cleaning. Then complete dis***embly, further cleaning, inspection, etc.; but yes, put the entire carb in the cleaner prior to dis***embly. Jon.
I had some TSP at home used it with dish drops in hot water. Used my air gun as a bubbler instead of boiling. Seems to have come out ok. Thanks for all the ideas. Blew out with air gun . I don't do this often enough to invest in an ultrasonic.
Have done a lot of carb cleaning with Simple Green. Seems to work better than most carb cleaners. Scrub parts with a tooth brush (don't use your own !) and finish off with brake cleaner. Don't forget to check all those tiny progression holes. It worked for me. Garpo
I think car carbs work well with some of the old time methods: Simple Green, Pinesol, etc. Where ultrasonic cleaners are a blessing are with motorcycle carbs. Some of the p***ages are so small, the little gunk in there makes can be tough to get out. ****s cleaning a carb and only having to tear it apart again when it is still plugged up somewhere.
Air bleeds and such plugged up sure seems to be more of a problem now days than it did before we got alcohol in the gas.
I used to use Mac carb dip , but they changed the formula and no more methyl chloride in it ( thats the funky smell besides the tall oil ) and it plain ****s , I also have a ultrasonic cleaner I use for small engines, motorcycles and fuel nozzles for diesels , its a 15 liter unit ( 3.75 US gallon) its heated and I use this in it https://tinytach.com/images/cleanerinfosheet72.jpg I do a external wash to clean off the big chunks then dis***emble them and heat it up and depending on the crud level its about a hour total time . you have to be carful with the cleaners as I found some are more alkaline and love eating the diecasting metals used for carbs. as for the cleaning formula , I let it settle and pour it off ( unit has bottom drain valve ) and seperate it an reuse it . I also used sharpertek products , but are more expensive for the home user . ( about $120 a gallon )
The thing with ultrasonic is that you need the heated ones, mine gets to near boiling and does a good job. I wouldn't say a great job, they come out clean but don't look band new as they would have you believe. I was disappointed but the reality is if you got cruddy old junk going in, it'll be a clean old junk coming out.
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