• Required reading for all forum users!!!

    Welcome!
    Register to access the full functionality of the GSResources forum. Until you register and activate your account you will not have full forum access, nor will you be able to post or reply to messages.

    A note to new registrants...
    All new forum registrations must be activated via email before you have full access to the forum.

    A Special Note about Email accounts!
    DO NOT SIGN UP USING hotmail, outlook, gmx, sbcglobal, att, bellsouth or email.com. They delete our forum signup emails.

    A note to old forum members...
    I receive numerous requests from people who can no longer log in because their accounts were deleted. As mentioned in the forum FAQ, user accounts are deleted if you haven't logged in for the past 6 months. If you can't log in, then create a new forum account. If you don't get an error message, then check your email account for an activation message. If you get a message stating that the email address is already in use, then your account still exists so follow the instructions in the forum FAQ for resetting your password.

    Have you forgotten your password or have a new email address? Then read the forum FAQ for details on how to reset it.

    Any email requests for "can't log in anymore" problems or "lost my password" problems will be deleted. Read the forum FAQ and follow the instructions there - that's what we have one for...

  • Returning Visitors

    If you are a returning visitor who never received your confirmation email, then odds are your email provider is blockinig emails from our server. The only thing that can be done to get around this is you will have to try creating another forum account using an email address from another domain.

    If you are a returning visitor to the forum and can't log in using your old forum name and password but used to be able to then chances are your account is deleted. Purges of the databases are done regularly. You will have to create a new forum account and you should be all set.

Carb Cleaning question

  • Thread starter Thread starter craywm
  • Start date Start date
Stay away from acid. It won't remove oxidation; it will oxidize the aluminum more.

IMHO, I would not attempt to use those carburetor bodies.
>The outsides only need to be clean for appearance's sake.
>The insides of the bowls only need to be clean enough so that crud won't get dissolve into gasoline, or break loose and plug up orifices.
>Some surfaces need to be clean to seal properly, or so that parts can move against each other smoothly. The crud you have can probably be removed by careful buffing and scraping, to meet those requirement.
>But the internal orifices are probably in the same condition. Those are involved in metering gas and air. They must be really clean to meter properly. I doubt that it could be done, either through chemistry or through mechanical means.

How do the rest of the parts look? How are the outsides?
 
I am inclined to agree with themess. You can use a Dremel with a wire wheel or an angled wire cup brush to polish most of the crud off of what you can see, but what about the inside of all those little passages? True, most of the metering comes from the replaceable brass jets, but there are still some places that rely on press-fit clearances which might be compromised by the corrosion.

.
 
actually the inside passages look great! all the jets and screws were still in and only around the jets were corrodded. i put a precision screw driver into many of the passages and they came out fine! there was only varnish on them and that has to be cleaned by now by the berrymans carb dip. ive been blowing them out as well. they seem fine. i was going to get a wire brush drill bit and slowely brush away the oxidation from the inner orphices in the float chamber. BTW the bowl of the carb had NO oxidation on it. weird huh? and suggestions on cleaning and polishing the float chamber?
 
the outside looks totally normal and all the jets and needles and screws are in great condition. i am only using the bodies though. i have replacement inner parts for these carbs.
 
Yeah ill try it out. see if i have any problems. i have tons of replacement jets if needed!
 
Find a blasting shop that has soda, dry ice, sand, whatever, to knock off all the big visible stuff, then find a bike shop, auto shop, bike dealer, whatever, that has an ultrasonic tub. I guarantee you will have NO issues after that. I have done several carbs that looked like they were literally dug out of a dried up swamp and used the method/s above. They came out real nice and worked the first try. Those ultrasonic cleaners get anything that might be in the pilot tube, air inlet passages, etc. They work!

Just my experience. Hope it helps.

P.S.
The pic in my avatar is one set of those "swamp" carbs.
 
Can i use electrolysis like some people do with rusted out tanks? or is aluminum oxcide unable to be removed in this manor?
 
craywm said:
actually the inside passages look great! ... they seem fine. ...
Click to expand...
All I can say is "good luck". :o

Many of the passages in question are in places where they can NOT be seen, neither can you poke anything through them, due to the complex turns that are the result of multiple machining processes. One such passage is the one that feeds the idle mixture to the adjustment screw and the other two ports through which it flows. That passage runs through the middle of the carb virtually its entire length.

This picture was edited some time ago to highlight the rubber plug that covers the pilot fuel jet, but serves to show the passage I am talking about. Above the rubber plug and the pilot fuel jet is the passage that goes up, then turns forward, then down, then forward again, angling slightly upward past the transition ports, toward the idle mixture adjustment screw.
CarbRubberplug.jpg


Please tell me how you inspected that passage. There is no way to poke anything through there. Your only hope is to spray carb cleaner and compressed air through there, but unless you have a flow meter attached, you don't know if the passage is slightly blocked or not.



I do not know if electrolysis is possible on aluminum. All stories I have seen about it have been with iron oxide, not aluminum oxide.
I don't know if there might be a different sacrificial anode that would do the job, but the concept is intriguing.

.
 
You can't find a better set of carbs to start with? :confused:

For the smallest orifices, try various sizes of fishing line to clean them. ;)

Daniel
 
craywm said:
Can i use electrolysis like some people do with rusted out tanks? or is aluminum oxcide unable to be removed in this manor?
Click to expand...

Aluminum oxide is quite stable, and you won't remove it electrolytically.

FWIW Rust is iron oxide. Rust is soft, so it falls off easily, exposing bare metal that can rust (oxidize), and the process repeats. Aluminum oxidizes much easier than iron, but aluminum oxide is tough (which is why it is used on sand paper). Aluminum oxide is also more-or-less impervious to water and air, so it protects the underlying metal from the oxidants. Stainless steel works a bit like aluminum does, by having a tough, impermeable film on top of the metal.
 
I have 4 carbs with NO oxide on them. I was switching out 2 of my carb bodies because i broke them kind of. One i fixed but since i had the oportunity, i wanted to replace it. the other had the tip of the fuel mixture screw broken off in the carb. then i identified the wrong hole to poke through to get it out and i broke the head of a sewing needle off in the idle hole in the carb throat. I was also short on some parts so i ordered these carbs for 40 bucks. got all the parts i need now.. just have to fix them! I dont have to replace the carb body that i fixed so i really only need to replace 1 carb body. which means that if the bike doesnt start.. that should pretty much narrow the trouble shooting to that carb.

Dont ultrasonic cleaning machines basically use electrolysis though? i think im getting my facts mixed up.. i have been blowing air into the carbs and every passage is "clear" that doesnt mean that it doesnt have aluminum oxide in it. My guess is i will have to clean it up nice, pollish the inside, try to get those passages as clean as possible and spray some wd40 through the carb, then clean it all out, and assemble it and see if it works.

Any suggestions on this?
Thanks for all your feedback! its been helping soo much!
 
ultrasonic cleaning is great for cleaning all the gunk out the carbs but it wont get that amount of corrosion off the state of those carbs.
 
Ultrasonic cleaning and electrolysis are completely different.

"Ultra" means extreme, and "sonic" refers to sound. Ultrasonic cleaning uses water or some other solvent. The machine makes the solvent vibrate at high frequency, roughly above the frequency of human hearing. It is a little bit like high pressure washing, except that it is for small items, and it is less likely to damage things.

Electrolysis is what happens to a battery that is discharged and recharged. It is also the most common way to apply metal coatings, such as chrome plating. Explaining it requires a lot of chemistry.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top