Carb cleaning

[texczech]

I have a ultrasonic cleaner and have always wondered what is a good chemical/ solution to use to clean carbs? Sometime I have cast iron carbs from tractors also. It is a heated unit, that I put an inserted heater to speed things  up when getting started.

[Cliff Ruggles]

I use a tablespoon of Dawn dish soap and another tablespoon of purple degreaser in mine.  That's in apprx 5 gallons of water......

[old cars]

I use Evergreen A-44 if it is a rebuild carb. This will not remove the factory plating. Keep in mind any carb  that has thick baked on dirt or grease will need scraping/brushing prior to ultrasonic.
https://benefect.com/ca/products/evergreen-a-44/

For carb restorations (replating) I use SC-80. This ultrasonic cleaner will remove the chromate and zinc finish.
https://www.qcss2000.com/products/fireline-sc-80.html

To be honest I have no idea if these are any better than Cliff's recipe.
I don"t even bother with the ultrasonic sometimes when doing a restoration. I go straight to the media blaster. And restorations is mainly what I do.
I have used ultrasonic cleaners that cost $300. to $5,000 machines you could fit a whole engine block in, with the same chemicals.

[texczech]

How much of each chemical do you use to a gallon more or less? How I tell if the carburetor is chromate or zinc "plated"? If it is plated, is the plating on the outside only? Does removing this plating hurt anything or cosmetic? Would like to know more about the effects of removing this plating and how to tell if the carb has it! Thanks for the response!

[old cars]

What kind of carburetors are you doing besides tractors?

[Burd]

My mechanic bought me the gallon of carb dip, it comes with a basket inside it to,dip your parts.  It is not as potent as the stuff from years ago. 

[texczech]

"Regular" auto carburetors, not doing anything that has to look original. GM & Ford, Holleys, & the AFB style carbs ,Edelbrock I think. Some larger gasoline big trucks in a few feedlots.

[old cars]

How much of each chemical do you use to a gallon more or less? How I tell if the carburetor is chromate or zinc "plated"? If it is plated, is the plating on the outside only? Does removing this plating hurt anything or cosmetic? Would like to know more about the effects of removing this plating and how to tell if the carb has it! Thanks for the response!

Evergreen A-44 4-8 oz per gallon of water. SC-80 4-8 oz per gallon of water
The attached picture of a Quadrajet carb shows chromate on the main body/including inside and zinc plus chromate on the linkage/steel parts. These are anti rust/oxidation coatings. Older Holley carbs are similar. Carter AFB carbs were bare aluminum body with linkage/steel parts zinc plus chromate. Zinc coating is like a shiny bolt you get at hardware store, almost chrome looking.

Does removing this plating hurt anything or cosmetic? You will have to decide that, although some of the old carb cleaning/dip solutions were toxic and did remove plating.
The cleaners I mentioned are biodegradable.
Would like to know more about the effects of removing this plating and how to tell if the carb has it!
Obviously removing these platings would have an effect since they are anti corrosion coatings. Sometimes this can't be avoided. Sometimes it has already been depleted. Inspect and research.
Don't know if I have explained this very well.

[Cliff Ruggles]

Buying any type of carb "dip" these days is a complete waste of time/funds.  The EPA killed off the good products decades ago.  You are basically buying water with a few useless chemicals in it.

I like and prefer a heated ultrasonic cleaner, easy on the castings and the folks using it.  Breathing in chemicals from any type of carb cleaner or chemical dip just isn't a good idea anyhow.

Hot water with a little degreaser in it and a stiff paint brush will remove any heavy residue.  For oxidation and deep stains you will need to bead or media blast.  At that point you've removed all the protective coating so it should be replaced.....IMHO.

I am NOT doing any more restoration or plating work here, and not taking in any rebuilds at this time.  Since I'm semi-retired I'm still taking in some work here and there.  Most of it is going back thru carburetors that were just "rebuilt" or "restored".  Nice clean work and filled with low quality/incorrect parts so they never had a chance to work right from the moment they were put in service.

I tell folks all the time that those "blue" pump seals showing up in rebuild kits and pumps from the main suppliers are JUNK, but it goes on deaf ears.  The life expectancy for those seals is hours to a few months when they come in contact with ethanol.  The pumps in my kits do NOT have the same seal on them and lifetime warranty if anyone reading this wants to upgrade and sleep better at night.......FWIW......Cliff

[old cars]

Her is a suggestion I have seen for converting your parts cleaner from chemical solvent to something more safer. The heater will heat to about 100 degrees. I have not tried this myself.

[old cars]

For someone doing one carb who does not own an ultrasonic cleaner.
Take an old pot large enough for your carburetor parts, filled with water and Cliff's recipe ( or whatever your preference ). Heat it on a hot plate till it boils. Do not use any toxic or flammable chemicals. Someone told me about this so I had to try it. I was surprised how well it worked. I would say as good or better than my solvent based parts cleaner. Just wear gloves and use your brush if needed.

[77cruiser]

Do you ever use baking soda to blast a carb?

[Cliff Ruggles]

I only use ultra fine glass beads here.  Tried all sorts of other media over the years and it works the best and helps prepare the finish of the metal parts for zinc plating.  Softer media works very poorly on rusted parts because you need to get deep into any pitting or they parts will have dark/black spots on them when they come out of the plater.

There is no substitute for a little manual labor when it comes to cleaning castings.  Wear a good pair of chemical resistant gloves and get a good stiff paint brush.  I pull the basket up from time to time and remove some of the heavy grime with the paint brush, then back in the heated ultra sonic solution it goes. 

NEVER for any reason mess around with some of these "odd" chemicals folks are recommending on line, like ciitrus based cleaners, muratic acid baths, etc.  I've seen some of them strip the coating right off the castings.  Also be aware that if you do anything to pull the zinc from the original material it becomes more difficult to get a nice uniform color when they get their "bath" to color the castings.  Acid is NEVER a good idea so don't even go down that path....FWIW.

For the record I am NOT doing any restoration work or plating of any kind these days.  I also stopped taking in rebuilds other than a few Marine builds over the Winter and some fully rebuilt/restored carburetors that did not work for the end user no matter how many times they went back to the "builder".

My goal is to get completely caught up, take a break for a while, and not have any backlog......

[old cars]

And do not confuse Glass Bead with Crushed Glass. I have had different people tell me they use Glass Bead but when I look at there media it is crushed glass or some other type of course media. Crushed glass is that exactly, with jagged sharp edges. Glass bead is man formed round beads.( for lack of a better word ) And of course they come in different grits ( like sandpaper does )

[Kenth]

I have used this http://maxiblast.com/blast-media/maxi-clean/ for at least 25 years.
Does not destroy original plating on carbs, but removes soot and oxide along with the usual grime.
Sometimes i use a heated ultrasonic cleaner for degeasing and finishes off with blasting if needed.
Sometimes brakecleaner or paint thinner will do the degreasing.
Rusted steel part goes into a fosfor acid bath and brushed after for shine and leave a rustproof surface.
No blasting with glass beads, no replating needed.

FWIW