i need some help guys. i have some rochester 2jets that the finish looks like crap..i ve read and searched but wanted to know if there were some other ideas out there? i cleaned them up and had them powercoated silver and they turned out nice, except the powdercoater masked them wrong and the top part of the carb wasn't sprayed. 8 hours gettn that stuff off and cleaned and resandblasted then powdercoated again, for whatever reason they did this!! pores in the metal i guess didnt like the coating? i would love to have them with just a nice new like finish..a certain type of sand to blast them with that will give the metal a nice "sheen" any suggestions i would appreciate it matt UPDATE: well we ended up having the carbs polished and then i put a good automotive clear coat over the top of them... so we will see with time how they stand up.. i cant imagine how well that clear is going to stick to a polished surface, but im not going to start picking at it to find out!!
I cleaned my carburetors in an ultrasonic bath. After cleaning, the cast aluminum bases needed bead blasting to get a nice color back to them. The upper castings were treated with Alodine after cleaning. It gave them a greenish gold sheen. It's more evident in the sun than in the pic! You can get Alodine at hardware stores and boat parts dealers. Anyway, I'm pleased with the results!
I dip mine in this stuff for 20 seconds and get the browner color that I remember on the Rochester carbs. Is there a different number Alodine for the light green tint or am I just dipping it too long? I love the color of mine for my application but I'm always looking for new ways and ideas. Anything that is made of "pot metal, white metal" etc can't be powder coated. When it gets heated it gives off gases that cause the blisters. The steel tube is perfect but the pot metal base blistered. It was done as a unit at the same time.
did you dip the whole carb,or did you take it apart?what does it do to the steel parts?did you paint the bases? i have 4 2-g that need some help. thanks -danny
I started with some pretty rough carbs so they were completely disassembled, bead blasted, cleaned and then the castings were dipped for 20 seconds, blown off and allowed to dry. I then hit the castings with matte finish clear and then rebuilt with new gaskets. etc. The bases were painted this time. I have powder coated the cast iron bases in the past also.
It's an aluminum corrosion inhibitor. It helps protect aluminum parts on boats that are exposed to salt water. It's easy to find around here. Some boating supply catalogs (West Marine) also carry it. I'm not sure if it's available world wide. You may need to look for it as Iridite or a chromate conversion coating.
Here is a link to some technical info on Alodine 1201, how to use it, etc ... http://www.chemical-supermarket.com/product.php?productid=364
Oh Shit! No wonder it is good. That stuff has been outlawed here for 20 years. You get cancer just by looking at the can.
Yeah, and Uncle Max here on the HAMB uses Hydrochloric Acid with it, too. Makes for some damned nice carb finishes, though. ~Jason
I think this is one of those deals where someone in a boat offshore would have to run it over to you on the beach in a smaller inflatable boat in the middle of the night. ~Jason
To get my Alodine job "not quite so brown" I dilute a little, then rinse quick after the one minute dunk. If it's not dark enough, just let it dry and dunk/rinse for a while longer. Note: all original plating has to be removed from the carb bodies for the Alodine to give an even colorizing.
Great so do you volunteer? Seriously though.. how do we get this stuff over the shore? is there any laws agains shipping liquids by boats like there are on plane shipping?
any one ever use this on an aluminum intake? if so show me what it looks like..or is this a bad idea?
LOL! Granted, I've done more than a few "midnight runs" in my day, but nothing that advanced! Blondes? In Norway??? I have to admit, I like 'em red though - but the girls in Norway just aren't naughty enough... ~Jason
So let me present my case, since I'm going to be going through this at some point very soon. I bought some carbs off a guy and he started to polish the bodies of these things. I was going to finish the job but decided that it's more maintenance than I want to deal with and it really doesn't look appropriate for the overall look of my engine. Problem is that nice original casted look is gone since they were polished. I figured I would bead blast these and then dip or spray them with something to just protect the nice clean finish after media blasting them. Here's what mine look like as they sit right now.... I'm not sure I really want a greenish tint. I would really like them to match my raw casted aluminum intake manifold. Thoughts on this case in point?
Here's Aircraft Spruce's page: http://www.aircraftspruce.com/search/search.php the 1201 contains the yellow, the 1001 is clear, both are chromic acid, I think. I've messed with both, starting with carbs that have a smooth consistent bare finish from scrubbing with toothbrush and vinegar...tried 94's and Strombergs. Don't like my results...both produce a dismal sort of finish, clear or yellowish, that isn't much like OEM anything. Looks more like unusually even weathering than a finish... Ford published a system for local rebuilders in service bulletins and carb manuals before and after WWII; The original bulletin was quickly replaced with one containing twice as many safety warnings, you should note! Probably some poor dealership mechanic got dissolved...anyway, Vince has put the recipe online: http://idisk.mac.com/forever4/Public/pages/zinccolor.htm I've never tried this, and suspect homeland security would call half way through the gathering process... They end with a presumably clear rather than yellow wash, chromic plus some other scary stuff. They refer to it as "brightening", so presumably the other acids alter the process. I found the chromic-only stuff, which is made for aluminum rather than zinc, to be flattening.
These? I got 'em here (Vince's website has changed): http://www.fordgarage.com/pages/zinccolor.htm ~Jason
I agree the finish doesn't look OEM new. To me, it looks "fresh from the rebuilder" clean. I remember carburetors from Quality Rebuilders in New Orleans having a similar look. I just need some of their Quality Rebuilt seal stickers to finish the look. Geez! That concoction makes the acid pit in House on Haunted Hill (the Vincent Price version!) look like a kiddie pool!
Well I learned some more. I did a small experiment. The one on the left was dipped for 5 min. in 1/3 Alodine and 2/3 water as suggested in the Alodine bulletin above and Alchemy. The photo is a little dark. Neither is quite that dark in person. I sprayed both with satin clear for consistency. I think I'd like that for the earlier carbs that most of us are concerned about. I personally like the browner shade for the Rochester carbs that I've been playing with lately. Like everything else it comes down to personal taste but playing with the solution and soaking time can give a range of colors. I didn't like the darker color on my Rochester's at first. They had almost a fuzzy look. The satin clear on top worked for me.
Thanks for sharing the experiment!! I think the one on the left is what I'm after! Sweet! What are you using for clear satin finish? Just a high heat satin clear coat?? Is it the stuff that Eastwood carries that supposedly won't yellow??
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