• Hi Guest!
    If you appreciate British Car Forum and our 25 years of supporting British car enthusiasts with technical and anicdotal information, collected from our thousands of great members, please support us with a low-cost subscription. You can become a supporting member for less than the dues of most car clubs.

    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

Carb cleaning...off the wall idea

Lionheart said:
Yeah, someone I uhh...knew once...used regular dishwashing liquid in the dishwasher and it was a sud factory. (He) will never do that again.

But it gets your kitchen floor sparkly clean!
 
Be careful with the roller bearings of the throttles.
They don't like water and detergent.....
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]I used to spray Trichlorotrifluoroethane on my hand to watch it vanish... [/QUOTE]

Yeah, nasty stuff. I passed out while using it in the Navy as I cleaned nuclear instrumentation on the USS Bainbridge. Liver? Probably gone, at the time I would rather be one then have one.
 
I wouldn't use the dish washer. Recently I cleaned my Delortos. I'll catch flack for this, but I used gasoline. This must only be done outside - I put a couple of inches in a 1 foot dia. plastic tub (oil drain tub) and went to work with a small fine brass brush. Also using a similar stainless brush where necessary, though it affects the finish more. Take every jet out and use lots of air to blast every passage. Get a good Weber book and a rebuild kit. Scrub, scrub, blow...Oh yes, a pair of latex gloves are good for the hands - get several pair. A can of brake cleaner or carb cleaner, with the small red tubes for the nozzle, can be used for blowing the passages if you don't have 80PSI air.

The carb dunk tank with the basket also works well for lacquer build up - a mini hot tank. Now that's some nasty stuff!! DO NOT GET ON YOUR HANDS. It removes skin very quickly. It sounds like you have some corrosion - I'd stick with the brass brush scrubbing. Perhaps try some oven cleaner, may work well on aluminum.

Good luck!
 
Someone mentioned oven cleaner on here a long time ago. I completely forgot about it, but have never tried it either, so I can't attest it.
 
Small-engine repair shops actually soak gunged-up carbs in fresh gasoline for a while, usually overnight. Leaves a small problem as to safe disposal of same when you're done, of course but let them sit in the gas for a while, then use small brushes, even a new toothbrush is fine, to loosen and move the crud. Don't forget the nitrile rubber gloves!
 
Oven cleaner and aluminum do not like each other, especially if the cleaner has lye in it.
 
The 45 DCOE's fit in the can of dip it carb cleaner that you can get from the parts store. Wider top than normal paint can. Don't have the can here(at my storage warehouse). But believe it's about gallon size.
 
OK, I tried it...

Gotta tell you I wouldn't bother with it again. The carbs are clean-er than they were, but soot and varnish are still firmly in place. I sprayed them down with Seafoam deep-creep...they are on the road to recovery.
 
I've heard of this done before with not bad results. good starting point anyways.I've been planning to do this with my old SU's. Waiting for the wife to go away for the weekend though. I've been looking for the good old fashoined carb cleaner dip bucket (5 gallon pail) industrial stuff without success. can't find it (used it 25 years ago). It must be too nasty environmentally. Sure works better than anything else though if you can find it. Gunk is ok. cold parts cleaner is ok. ultrasonics is the ticket these days though. I'd disassemble completely, then put small parts in a metal screen bag and take to a carb shop for cleaning. They should come back spotless if ultrasonic'd. (check the shop if they have ultrasonic cleaning available)
They should be clean enough to lick! YES, with your tonge (or however it's spelt).
Rob
 
Lionheart said:
OK, I tried it...

Gotta tell you I wouldn't bother with it again. The carbs are clean-er than they were, but soot and varnish are still firmly in place. I sprayed them down with Seafoam deep-creep...they are on the road to recovery.

Two observations
1. wifey seems amazing does she have an available sister /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif
2. Please never invite me to eat over /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif

Sorry, it didn't work out that well for you, but at least the rest of us know. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/thumbsup.gif

Patrick
 
CaptDon01 said:
HEAR ME NOW, AND BELIEVE ME LATER....NEVER PUT ANY FOAMING SOAP IN THE DISWASHER!

Too funny. I got kicked out of a ski house for doing that once, a long time ago, and I had been drinking.
 
Lionheart said:
I wasn't thinking of putting Cascade in with it. I was thinking more like Krud Kutter/Simple Green or something like that. I would also run the dishwasher through empty afterward to clear out any ko-rap left by the Krud Kutter.

Oh man, don't do it...

My brother-in-law, who was 19 at the time, degreasd a BMW 2002 engine block in the dishwasher. He figured he'd be clever and use Gunk and hot water. He dumped a quart into the dishwasher and ran it through a couple of times. His buddies laughed. The block came out reasonably clean. They were impressed.

He ran the dishwasher non stop for HOURS. The kitchen/house stank like diesel fuel for WEEKS. The dishwasher was trash. My (now) in-laws were away for a long weekend and he thought he'd get away with it. Wrong. We laugh about it now, but I'd imagine he funded a new dishwasher.

You really DONT want to do this, even with detergent. Same goes for powdercoat in the oven. Garage use only.
 
Back
Top