Suggestions of cleaning these carbs

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flyin900
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Suggestions of cleaning these carbs

#1

Post by flyin900 »

I am looking at probably the worst set of gummed up carbs I have ever seen. My initial thought is these are too far gone with varnished up bowls and interiors and jets. The floats are frozen in position and just a huge amount of dried varnish and crud on the interior of the bodies.
I have a partial set from another build mostly in pieces that are in much better condition, yet I will probably need some pieces from these to make one complete set.
I am open to all suggestions on getting these at least cleaned enough to get them apart and free up some parts as needed. I sprayed one bowl with carb cleaner and so far it hasn't moved anything after about ten minutes, so I will soak it overnight to see how effective it will be in getting the crud out.
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Current Bikes:

1966 CL77 - Honda 305cc - Dual purpose - "Gentleman's Scrambler" was a period moniker.
1967 CL175K0 - Low production number with #802 engine serial- winter 2019/2020 full restoration.
1972 CB350F - Baby Four with low mileage - Cosmetic refresh to the next level 2021/2022.
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1983 CB1100F - Canadian model - DOHC Supersport in pristine low kilometre condition from new.
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mcgovern61
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Re: Suggestions of cleaning these carbs

#2

Post by mcgovern61 »

I used an ultrasonic cleaner set to high heat with distilled water and 2 oz of Dawn dish washing detergent.
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Sugs
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Re: Suggestions of cleaning these carbs

#3

Post by Sugs »

Here is how I like to clean carbs as I don't have an ultrasonic cleaner and the pieces are cheap.

1) Plastic tub large enough to completely submerge carb rack.
2) Small plastic submersible pump with suction feet that is strong enough to get the chosen cleaning solution moving really well. You can get these cheap at Harbor Freight. Lay the pump down so the water streams horizontally and stick it to one side of the plastic tub.
3) Submersible fish tank heater with suction feet that has enough watts to heat the water to at least 80 F. Warm solution just cleans better than cold. Stick it to one side of the plastic tub.
4) 50/50 solution of *Pine Sol* and water, enough to completely cover the carb rack. Turn everything on and let run overnight. After that keep checking the carbs, turn them if need be, until all the crud is gone. You may need to occasionally scrub with an old tooth brush to get the heavy gunk off, or not and you may be surprised at how clean they are.

*Note - Some guys don't like Pine Sol because it can change the color of metal, usually just makes it a little darker. This doesn't bother me. If you don't want this maybe try a different solution. Having said this I've never tried a set of carbs as bad as yours, your results may vary. Also, Pine Sol has a really strong "pine tree" smell. If you don't want your garage to smell like that for a couple weeks, do this outside.
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JSBail
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Re: Suggestions of cleaning these carbs

#4

Post by JSBail »

Before I got my ultrasonic cleaner I had a rack of carbs off a cb550 that were the worst I've seen. I soaked each carb overnight in a gallon can of Berryman's Chem-dip which cleaned the majority of the varnish but the slides were still froze and so were the floats so I then tossed them in a pan of boiling water for a few mins which got them hot enough to soften up the remaining varnish that was freezing up the slides so I could remove them and loosened up the floats too, not quite enough to safely remove the pin but enough for me to shoot it with carb cleaner which loosened the floats up enough so I could finally get that pin out. Patience, patience, patience is the key, I learned the hard way on the very first set of carbs I cleaned when I broke a float pin to take my sweet time removing a stubborn float. Once all was apart then everything went back into the Chem-dip for another overnight soak, rinsed off, all passages got another shot of spray carb cleaner then blown out with compressed air. Once all was said and done the carbs looked and worked like new. Now that I do have an ultrasonic cleaner I still soak carbs overnight in the Berryman's to get the majority of the crud out then back it up with my ultrasonic cleaner using a 50/50 solution of water and Simple Green Pro HD cleaner (the purple stuff). It all may seem like overkill but when it comes to severely varnished carbs I like to make sure I have them as clean as I can get them.
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flyin900
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Re: Suggestions of cleaning these carbs

#5

Post by flyin900 »

I have an ultrasonic cleaner and I was thinking about boiling them on the BBQ in a aluminum pan with some "Awesome" cleaner. I like the dip idea first though, unfortunately I am in Canada and I have never seen Berryman Chem dip up here. I will check the local parts stores to see what they have to offer.
Current Bikes:

1966 CL77 - Honda 305cc - Dual purpose - "Gentleman's Scrambler" was a period moniker.
1967 CL175K0 - Low production number with #802 engine serial- winter 2019/2020 full restoration.
1972 CB350F - Baby Four with low mileage - Cosmetic refresh to the next level 2021/2022.
1978 CB550K - Very original bike with only 7499 Km. from new - light cleanup and refresh done.
1983 CB1100F - Canadian model - DOHC Supersport in pristine low kilometre condition from new.
1984 GL1200 - Standard model in showroom condition - two owner bike from new.
1984 CX650E - Restored summer 2017 - a rare Eurosport model - excellent one owner bike.
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Re: Suggestions of cleaning these carbs

#6

Post by JSBail »

flyin900 wrote:I have an ultrasonic cleaner and I was thinking about boiling them on the BBQ in a aluminum pan with some "Awesome" cleaner. I like the dip idea first though, unfortunately I am in Canada and I have never seen Berryman Chem dip up here. I will check the local parts stores to see what they have to offer.
Don't know if it's available in Canada but Gunk makes a gallon can of it too and it seems to work just as well. I tend to use the Berryman's simply because it's usually the first one I spot. If you choose the simple green HD pro cleaner (purple) in your ultrasonic cleaner be forewarned that even though simple green says it's safe to use with aluminum, it will darken/discolor the aluminum if the carbs set in it too long. And good idea to use your BBQ to boil them instead of your kitchen stove. I boiled mine using our kitchen stove and even though the pan was straight water, there was still some residual Chem dip and varnish on the carbs which when combined with the boiling water stunk the hole house up ..... and my wife was home at the time too. Ooops. :shock:
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Re: Suggestions of cleaning these carbs

#7

Post by 05c50 »

There's many ways to clean them that will work very well. Just like a favorite oil, everyone seems to have their favorite method. I'll just add that the carbs look like they have been setting for a long time and probably are contaminated with NON ethanol gasoline, and that's a good thing! A good solvent will dissolve the varnish, but the remnants of dried ethanol are almost impossible to remove completely.

......Paul
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raiddrten
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Re: Suggestions of cleaning these carbs

#8

Post by raiddrten »

I would read this first http://www.randakksblog.com/old-school- ... g-methods/ Pay attention to the parts about the accelerator valves and felts and such.

Ok, so having read that, there is no reason that you can't soak the really grundgy bowls to get at the stuff. Yahama still makes their water-based carb cleaner and it really works well, but no way would i immerse a whole set of carbs in it. I would think, [but please correct me if you think that i am wrong] that a resourceful person could turn the rack upside down and use the stuff to get at a stuck slide. Just use poly bags to do the partial dipping in and it does not take very much carb clean in the bargain. The stuff dilutes at a one part carb dip to three parts water The water,based stuff is said to be friendly to rubber parts, but it leaves behind greasy snot boogers that need to be cleaned up. there are also cancer warnings on the bottle. Before I knew better, I dipped a rack of CB 550 carbs in it--never again!

Yahama did make some stuff that diluted with gasoline, but i do not know if it is still available.

Try some on the bowls [at least] and tell us what you think. I had some really tarry brown/black ones and it just melted away.

i
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flyin900
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Re: Suggestions for the cleaning these carbs

#9

Post by flyin900 »

Well I spent quite some time boiling the dirty set with water and Krud Kutter after lots of chemical soaking and carb cleaner liberally sprayed into the bodies over a week.
The end result is they are apart and I was able to use them for parts, since they didn't clean properly and the main jet towers on three carbs had various deteriorated pock marks in the aluminum. The bowls still are not clean completely and the jets and fuel valves are unusable for the majority of these parts.
I was fortunate to have a second set of carbs included in a previous bike purchase that was completely disassembled that just needed some small parts plus one carb body from the dirty set. Enclosed are some pictures of the second set mostly reassembled now and awaiting the new fuel valves I just ordered for all four.
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Current Bikes:

1966 CL77 - Honda 305cc - Dual purpose - "Gentleman's Scrambler" was a period moniker.
1967 CL175K0 - Low production number with #802 engine serial- winter 2019/2020 full restoration.
1972 CB350F - Baby Four with low mileage - Cosmetic refresh to the next level 2021/2022.
1978 CB550K - Very original bike with only 7499 Km. from new - light cleanup and refresh done.
1983 CB1100F - Canadian model - DOHC Supersport in pristine low kilometre condition from new.
1984 GL1200 - Standard model in showroom condition - two owner bike from new.
1984 CX650E - Restored summer 2017 - a rare Eurosport model - excellent one owner bike.
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