Carburetor cleaning

[mcsherry1328]

Wanted to check with the experts on best way to clean old dirty carburetors. I have cleaned them in a solvent tank, that didn't do much. I have a small tank bucket with carb cleaning solution I thought I would try that next. Wondering what the restorers do to make them look as new ?

[toolmandoug]

I used soda blasting (baking soda) and it made my carbs look like new. If you have a blast cabinet and use abrasive media, make sure it’s ALL vacuumed out. Wash with soap and water and dry immediately.

[mshields]

Gumout is the best carburetor cleaner for those in a hurry. If you need to dislodge gunk and don't have time to take apart your carburetor to let it soak for a day, use an aerosol cleaner

[spacey1]

On my recently purchased R69S barn find, the LH carb slide was stuck solid with some white stuff. Obviously water had been sitting in this carb for some considerable time. I thought about water and the stuff that's in it.

• Calcium
• Lime
• Rust

In our hardware stores in Australia, there is a cleaning product called CLR (Calcium, Lime, Rust Remover...)

So here's my solution to seriously stuck slides.

• Dismantle as much of the carb as possible.
• IMPORTANT: Remove all brass items.
• Boil the Billy filled with water. Simmer slowly...
• Add CLR at ~25%. I had to start somewhere...
• Suspend the carb on a wire submerged in the bubbling solution, jiggling occasionally.
• GENTLY tap the slide and the slide body after each 5 minute session.
• Mine wasn't closed properly so there was a little wriggle room tapping down from the top.
• GENTLY lever on the thick part on the bottom of the slide.
• Repeat and be patient.
• Note 'GENTLY' !!!
• 25 minutes and mine was free...

The photo shows the results of the process. The brass cable adjuster still in the top of the carb. I couldn't get into the slide to pull the needle holder pin out. So I didn't submerge the top.

This process doesn't make the carbs shine like new, but certainly cleans them.

After cleaning both carbs, I got this engine running easily. It was very responsive, but sadly, noisey. But that's another whole story...

A friend had a similar carb issue. This worked on his carbs too.

Hope this helpful...

[mcsherry1328]

Great post, thanks for sharing. Always good to hear different cleaning techniques. These original Bing carburetors are becoming more expensive and rare so nice to learn ways to safely service them.

[toolmandoug]

I tried my soda blast method on my carbs off a 93 RT and it did not work. Had to resort to acid and a brush. I was surprised that the soda worked so well on one set of carbs, but not the other. Just when you think you have everything figured out….