How do carb restorers clean the outside of the carb?

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toolmanmike

toolmanmike

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Do carb restorers blast the outside of the carb to make them look like new? Carb cleaner and boil out doesn't seem to do the trick. I need to re-do mine and I would like it to look new and not like I sprayed it with carb cleaner. Toolmanmike
 
Hey toolmanmike, I just googled your question and the same question was posed on a chebby forum. From what was said on there, put the parts in a 50/50 mix of Simple Green and water with an ultrasonic cleaner for 1/2 hour. Here is the link......by the way dont stare directly at it, its from a chebby site
http://www.chevytalk.org/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/183976/

What is an ultrasonic cleaner??
 
What is an ultrasonic cleaner??[/QUOTE]
Thanks for the info. Ultrasonics are very expensive cleaners like the jewelry store use to clean your wife's wedding ring. LOL
 
4spdragtop said:
Hey toolmanmike, I just googled your question and the same question was posed on a chebby forum. From what was said on there, put the parts in a 50/50 mix of Simple Green and water with an ultrasonic cleaner for 1/2 hour. Here is the link......by the way dont stare directly at it, its from a chebby site
http://www.chevytalk.org/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/183976/

What is an ultrasonic cleaner??
Click to expand...

something that cost 10K , really????
 
toolmanmike said:
What is an ultrasonic cleaner??
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info. Ultrasonics are very expensive cleaners like the jewlry store uses to clean your wifes wedding ring. LOL[/QUOTE]

No wife!! No ring......YET!! Hey you know what mike, what about jewellery cleaner?? No idea how xpensive it is, but I bet it would work awesome. I just googled liquid jewellery cleaner and sears has it for $7.50 for 236 ml. Pretty pricey, but I bet its cheaper elsewhere.
 
Simple green works pretty good and it is not bad for the environment! I haven't tried it on a carburetor but I use it to clean my engine.
 
There are commercial chemicals available but water and mild detergent does the trick. I just contacted a friend who is an engineer at John Deere's who is up on this stuff. The ultrasonic bubbles actually peen the surface to clean it.
 
if you check out my duster restoration thread ( link below in my signature ) , I had a pretty nasty looking (inside and out ) 600 cfm eddy carb that came off a mud truck and was badly tarnished and was oxidized and corroding and the inside was filled with a few OZ. of sand lol.

I went through the carb and rebuilt it and while I was at it I cleaned it up and it came out GREAT.

pretty much what I did was soaked it over night in a tub of laquer thinner.....the next day I got out my dremmel tool and put a few variations of small wire brush bit on it and wheeled all the crud off the carb.

then I would spray it down with carb cleaner and then wipe it clean with a rag.

after I did this a few times to where it was down to clean aluminum I took out another variation of dremmel bit (rubberized light grit sanding/polishing bits ) and I went around the hole carb a few times until it all had a fairly uniform dull sheen to it.

I think got out a variation of dremmel polishing buffing bits (buffing wheels and balls and so on) and I started with the polishing compund included in the dremmel polishing kit as it is a bit more abbrasive and I went over the hole carb....I would then spray it with carb cleaner and wipe it off.

then I would do the same step but instead of the included polishing compound I switched to 3M rubbing compound used for paint and headlight lens restoration......I then sprayed with carb cleaner and wiped off again.

then as a final step I hand rubbed the carb down with mothers aluminum polish and wiped it off and was done!

came out looking like new!

since I soaked it in the laquer bath it washed away the original edelbrock logo on the carb ....but I had an edelbrock catalog that included free eddy stickers so I trimmed a sticker up and put it on the carb and it looked factory lol.

I then took a gold paint marker and repainted the adjustment screws and and some other odds and ends.

if you have any questions just ask....its a few hour process and take a bit of patience and attention to detail but the end result is I had a brand new carb that I got for free for the price of a few dollars.

rebuild kit was $60.00, jets were $12.00, mothers polish was $3.00, rubbing compound was $4.00, polishing kit was $12.00 and laquer thinner and carb cleaner can be got cheap too.....if your just looking at cleaning it up and not talking about a rebuild than you can do it for pretty cheap!....check out my thread for pics
 
i would be careful blasting the body with anything agressive as it could warp it.i think brasso or a cleaner like clr would work.
 
Pep Boys has a cleaner on there chem. wall. It comes in a 1gal. can ( I think Gunk makes it). It's for cleaning carbs, it also has a basket in the can so you can clean the small parts to. I used it on the carb for my '56.... looked brand new when I was done. It didn't hurt the finish and it has a protectant in it. It won't hurt anything unless you leave your carb in it way too long.
 
I guess it depends on the type of carb you are restoring. Holleys and Edlebrocks are plated so they likely blast them or strip them with something harsh then re-plate them. Factory

Carters I dont believe are plated. I cleaned a Thermoquad with wheel acid which worked well.
 
Solval autosol works good is cheap and available in a variety of places,its a rub on paste comes in a tube like toothpaste.Good for chrome and aluminum.
 
AdamR said:
I guess it depends on the type of carb you are restoring. Holleys and Edlebrocks are plated so they likely blast them or strip them with something harsh then re-plate them. Factory

Carters I dont believe are plated. I cleaned a Thermoquad with wheel acid which worked well.
Click to expand...
Thanks Adam,
I think early AFB's were magnesium although not for sure. The restorers don't reveal their secrets (and I don't blame them I guess). There should be an answer out there somewhere. If an ultrasonic cleaner is what they use I would buy one for my own use and sell the service for others who want to restore theirs. Mike
 
My brother had his carb restored and it came back looking sweet!
They painted it though.

I heard household non chemical things work well, like vinegar.
 
I've been using an ultrasonic cleaner for around 40 years. I am a pinstriper and clean my brushes and airbrushes in it and have used it religiously for any tool or parts from my car which fits in it, it has a 2 quart tub. To clean tools you'll need the US cleaner with a stainless steel tub, a timer and one without a heater as the water or whatever you use in it will heat itself. I personally use a cleaner called Rapid Remover which is a citric cleaner with D Lemonine, I use it full strength. A good US will set you back a good $175. and getting one at Harbor Freight will just waste your money. Here is a link to my website for anyone interested in my job http://inflite.tripod.com/
 
"Most" carb remanufacturing companies use "tumble" cleaners on the carb bodies. It is the same process as shot peening. It leaves a very clean surface with a slight texture. I'm not sure any reman companies blast carbs. It's not a good idea as blasting media can get caught up in the carb's passages. I use a 5 gallon container of berryman carb cleaner. it's not what it once was before the gubmint made um weaken it down but it'll still make you have two headed babies.
 
I think they use Macay's parts dip. I don't even know if that make that stuff anymore. The EPA may have blacklisted it.
 
dragnknights said:
I think they use Macay's parts dip. I don't even know if that make that stuff anymore. The EPA may have blacklisted it.
Click to expand...

yup. that was the same as the old berrymans. it was carbon tetrachlirode. even sounds nasty, don't it?
 
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