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Boiling carb bodies

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I've rebuilt carbs on different bikes quite a few times and always used the 'good' Berryman's, which I no longer have. I'm getting ready to do it again and have seen lots of sites that recommend boiling the carb bodies. My carbs are reasonably clean so I'm wondering if this might be a good way to go in order to clear out any clogs in the system. Has anyone performed this task with just, plain water...and had good success? I don't need guesses because I've already guessed. If you've done it and think it's either a bad or a good idea, I'd appreciate hearing from you. Thanks!:)
 
Heat might help to soften some of the 'gunk', but you still need some sort of solvent and surfactant to remove it and clean the residuals.

Yes, that's just a guess, but that is my thinking. Try it, see how it works, post the results (good or bad).

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Even though it's reported to work well, I've got a little warning signal in the back of my head. Maybe a short bath in MEK or acetone would be a better idea. Oh, and a bay leaf would be a nice touch.
 
Do you not have Berryman's, GUNK (brand) or Yamaha carb dip available there? Those are all known to work well.

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The CV carbs have throttle shaft seals trapped inside the body. Berryman's doesn't seem to mess with them too much so I'd keep to known chemicals like Steve alludes.
 
I've boiled the bodies but not for cleaning as much as for rinsing and removing trapped moisture. Once I clean them I've boiled them for a minute or two to heat up the bodies and rinse the cleaning solvent residue. When taken out of the boil bath they dry within seconds. Never damaged anything. Now I always use the Berrymans good stuff first, sonic clean second, poke and sprits with carb cleaner last. Don't boil anymore. I wouldn't trust the boiling as an only process for cleaning. It wont loosen and dissolve the tough stuff.
 
Nessism said:
The CV carbs have throttle shaft seals trapped inside the body. Berryman's doesn't seem to mess with them too much so I'd keep to known chemicals like Steve alludes.
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Yeah, that's my concern as well. When I cleaned my first set of carbs (about 25 years ago), Berryman's worked absolutely great. The next time I bought it, it smelled much different and didn't work nearly as well.

The short boiling cycle seems like it would be safe, no matter what but I also agree that something more would be needed before reassembly.
 
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I swear by ultrasonic cleaning. No harmfull chemicals and unlike carb dip where the part just sits there, ultrasonic cleaning solution is always moving, scouring those tiny passages clean better than any other method.
 
I read somewhere on here that someone had used boiling water after dipping in preparation for painting the bodies. Would this be thesame thing? Didn't say how long they boiled them.
 
I think it was Tkent who had a post on boiling carbs about a year ago

I tried it with Simple Green HD (the purple stuff) and had good results boiling for an hour

I used a camp stove outside
 
thanks, I wanted to do something to them before painting. I will be using vht paint to beautify them a bit. Seems like the most intricate part will be masking them and plugging holes that won't be painted.

Any good tips or advice would be welcomed.
 
I have an old oval crock pot, and I have used it a lot with Berryman's chemdip in it. That rig cleans like crazy. I only use the warm and low settings, a lot of solvents in it will boil it off if you get it too hot. The heat accelerates the cleaning quite a bit. It sounds strange, but when I was out of town at a friends shop he showed me something that I probably wouldnt have believed if he just told me. Pinesol mixed 50 50 with water cleans carbs great when heated to 180 to 200F. It is cheap easily available and there is no problem disposing of it. I am still a berrymans nut, love the stuff. I have been using it for 30 years. I have also used lacquer thinner it is a lot like the spray can carb cleaner products. DONT heat it, it is super flammable. Most of the spray can products have other things to cut down on the petroleum (most expensive) ingredients. Alcohol and other ingredients are used to stretch the petroleum solvent.
 
metalfab said:
. Pinesol mixed 50 50 with water cleans carbs great when heated to 180 to 200F. It is cheap easily available and there is no problem disposing of it.
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That sounds like a great alternative. Going to try that, with the crock pot, during the wife's next business trip.
 
There is quite a lot of information in the internet about using Pinsol and it must work pretty well. I looked at a label a couple of weeks ago and saw something interesting. It comes in 2 'flavors'; original and lemon. One of the labels said it wasn't good for extended use on aluminum but the other label didn't mention it. In any case, I'll bet it would take a long time to do any damage.

What I decided to do this time around was disassemble them, wash them in soapy water, rinse them, give them a short bath in MEK (about an hour), and thoroughly rinse them. After that, I pressure-flushed all the passageways with a 50cc syringe and large IV line, which seemed to work really well. Then, I dried them with a shop-vac blower and took them to a tire shop and blew them out with compressed air. I would have no qualms about using one of them for a beer mug......if they would hold enough beer.
 
rockford said:
There is quite a lot of information in the internet about using Pinsol and it must work pretty well. I looked at a label a couple of weeks ago and saw something interesting. It comes in 2 'flavors'; original and lemon. One of the labels said it wasn't good for extended use on aluminum but the other label didn't mention it. In any case, I'll bet it would take a long time to do any damage.

What I decided to do this time around was disassemble them, wash them in soapy water, rinse them, give them a short bath in MEK (about an hour), and thoroughly rinse them. After that, I pressure-flushed all the passageways with a 50cc syringe and large IV line, which seemed to work really well. Then, I dried them with a shop-vac blower and took them to a tire shop and blew them out with compressed air. I would have no qualms about using one of them for a beer mug......if they would hold enough beer.
Click to expand...

One last mention for you guys soaking carbs in MEK, Acetone, and (insert name of harsh chemical here), The CV carbs have rubber throttle shaft seals inside the carb body that are susceptible to chemical damage. Keep chemical soaking contact down to the minimum possible to clean the carbs.

Regarding boiling carbs in lemon juice or PineSol, I did this one time (using diluted lemon juice) and the carb bodies turned dark. Buyer beware.
 
Agreed with the darkening of the carbs. The PineSol will cause darkening. Use only degreasing solutions that are ALL METAL SAFE. It's one of the reasons I use Simple Green HD Pro. Never darkens the aluminum even if left standing for over night in a sonic cleaner.
 
Nessism said:
One last mention for you guys soaking carbs in MEK, Acetone, and (insert name of harsh chemical here), The CV carbs have rubber throttle shaft seals inside the carb body that are susceptible to chemical damage. Keep chemical soaking contact down to the minimum possible to clean the carbs.
Click to expand...

I agree with that! That's why I kept the bath in MEK rather short. I'd never worked with MEK before but it doesn't seem nearly as nasty as the old Berryman's stuff.
 
Lemon soaking=dark, Pine-o-sol (Aus stuff)= Dark, Oven Cleaner=Dark. glass bead blasting the outside with fresh beads from a distance similar to painting is quiet impressive, just dont have that "gloss" new cast carbs have. Trial and error before i attack 2 sets of 33 Smoothbore Mikunis. Carbs taped up and only did outside and bowl.......

 
I've also done the bead blasting thing to brighten up a set of dingy looking carbs. Soda blasting is safer for that application so that's what I'm doing now. Add some new plating and your carbs will look like new afterwards...

 
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