Carb Cleaning (for Appearance)

[MisterCinders]

Yes, this question pertains to appearance, not fuel/carbs.

I am working over a second rack of carbs that I've stripped and dipped, etc. Now I want to make them shine.

The bowls and tops already have a decent shine to them, and some Mother's will tighten them right up. The bodies OTOH have a dull grey patina over them. I've done some scrubbing with a brass brush and some wet sanding, so Ii know that grey surface (oxidation?) comes off, but it's very slow going, and a real PITA to get into the nooks and crevices.

Berryman's, carb spray, etc. do nothing for the grey stuff. I considered something acidic like vinegar or etch and prep, but understand that acids can make things worse for aluminum.

Are there any other products or methods for getting the bodies to clean up and shine?

 

[GateKeeper]

paint them.....silver....black.....red....etc......and just polish the tops and bottoms...

or buy these....click on link and scroll down...

http://www.mikuni.com/fs-products_guides.html

lol

.

 

[Nessism]

Glass bead blasting or soda blasting will brighten them up nicely.

 

[MisterCinders]

Glass bead blasting or soda blasting will brighten them up nicely.

Cool. I have a soda blaster set-up. and will give that a shot.

 

[londonboards]

I used what we in the UK call Vapour Blasting which is a water based media blasting. It kinda produces a silvery color that doesn't seem to dull.

Take a look here: My GS1100G Resto Blog - Carb Cleaning

From this:

to this:

 

[chuck hahn]

Here is what a fine wire wheel on the bench grinder can do..about 10 minutes per carb. Click on thumbnail for larger images.

 

[ron bayless]

dang Chuck,that's amazing.

 

[Nessism]

These carbs were bead blasted and the hardware replated at home with a Caswell's zinc kit.

 

[MisterCinders]

So I spent a long time cleaning them up, polishing the outsides, etc. It's easy to dig into the polishing stuff when the bike already has functioning carbs. Some pics with an extra carb showing the "before" status.

Not as sexy as some of the work posted in this thread, but much better than before.