Cleaning carbs the old fashioned way.

Well, I just thought I'd post a little update. After some time, I have finally finished cleaning my carbs. I took everyone's advice, and took my time making sure everything was spotless on the inside, and then also attacked the outside, and must say that I am happy so far! Mostly, I am happy that everything went back together after being apart for over a month!

I took a different approch to cleaning however. I started with carb spray, but those bottles started to add up quickly. I then looked into carb dip, but at $50 a gallon at Napa, I decided to keep looking. After some hesitation, I decided to try soaking the bits in white vinegar. I was skeptical at first, but now I am a believer! It took some trial and error, but I found it took 4 to 8 hours of soak time to loosen all the crud. While the parts soaked, I went over the rusty parts occasionally with an old toothbrush to brush away the rust. After all the rust had been removed, I washed the parts in a warm soapy solution, blew out the carb body with carb spray, and then lightly oiled all the parts before reassembly. Unfortunately, I had sanded and repainted a few parts, such as the carb hats and rails, before I discovered the vinegar trick.

I also used a non-typical tool for cleanig out my enrichment circuit. I discovered after teardown, only one float bowl was not plugged, so I began to search around for something to try and clean them out. Eventually I found a very thin spring that was a perfect fit into the port of the clean bowl. Let the parts soak in vinegar for a while, poke around a bit, scrub a bit, and then blast all the junk out with carb spray! It amazed me how much stuff came out of the carbs that seemed relatively clean upon first inspection.

I have included a before and after pic of my work. I am happy with the results so far, in the first picture you can see the crud, the white crust on the rails, and the rust on the enrichment circuit rod. Now I just can't wait to fire it up and see how she runs! I still have a little while to go though, I need to order some valve shims from Chacal, and tinker with the float heights. I'm slowly getting there, and I think you guys for having such a great FAQ section, a lot of my questions have been answered just by using the search function!


Before:



After:

 

nice!!!

 

Wow, those look beautiful! Nice work!

I'm just preparing to do this task, myself, for the first time ever. I did the valves last weekend and have the carbs pulled. I hope mine look at least half as good as yours when I'm though. Thanks for the white vinegar tip, I have that on hand.

And here here on this sites awesome FAQ. I'm new to the whole motorcycle thing, yet I'm completely confident that I can tear this rack totally apart and have it actually looking and working better when I'm done with it. That is due mainly to all the info I've learned in the FAQ and this site in general.

Enough about me. Your carbs look great.

 

Yeah, the vinegar sure works !! It's got an amazing capacity for disolving metal oxides. Years ago I worked with a guy who was rebuilding old outboard motors and he swore it was the only thing to free up a siezed piston in a rusted bore. I didn't believe it till I had to do one myself and just put a tablespoon in each bore and left it overnight. Next day a light tap with a hammer and it came free. Nice looking carb job, what did you do with the chrome hats?

 

All I have to say is DAMN!!!!! That one fine set of carbs you got there.
I guess it just goes to show, that you don't have to break the bank to get a good cleaner. You just have to raid the fridge!!! :lol:
Nice work pederacer.
Mac

 

He probably just painted them....

 

they look beautiful!
I hope you replaced the throttle seals and fuel oring while you broke the rack

 

full strength or diluted ?

 

Simply amazing! Kind of makes me want to find a large vat, fill it with vinegar, and dip the whole bike in it

 

GREAT work - they look amazing...

 

Thanks for all the kind comments guys!

iandmac, the chrome hats were a little too far gone for the steel wool to polish out the rust, so I scuffed them up as best as I could and painted them. I doubt the paint will stick for long since it is on top of chrome, but it looks better for now.

Ass.Fault, don't worry, I wasn't going to go that far and not replace a few bits! The carbs got new throttle seals, pilot and fuel tube gaskets, stainless butterfly screws, a new main jet for the number 3 carb, new float valve and seats all around, stainless bowl drain screws, and bowl gaskets. All in all, a small price to pay for a little peace-of-mind.

Polock, I used straight white vinegar, available at any local grocery. I ended up using two gallon, enough to fill 4 containers that were each large enough to hold the carb bodies and the innards. I then used the left overs to soak and clean a few miscellaneous parts like the rear brake arm, clutch lever, license plate mount, etc.

Now that I have found out how well this works, I am tempted to buy a few more gallons of vinegar to pour inside my tank! I'm thinking I can soak it for a while, pour out half the vinegar, and then shake well with some nuts/bolts inside to knock the rust off. The people at the local grogery store might start thinking I'm nuts, buying gallons of vinegar at a time!

 

pick up a head of lettuce and some olive oil maybe some green onions
no problem

 

that really makes me want to cean my carbs, the entire engine up


looks awesome

 

There, that should be the rally cry, the "sound bite" for everyone who ever attempts to clean their carbs.

Ped, you know I have nice, shiny, brand-spanking-new carb hats available for those carb...........just sayin'!

 

Len, you sure do make it hard for a fella to hold on to his paycheck :wink:

I sure do think this bike is becoming an addiction, and I haven't even put 2 miles on it since I've have it! Ijust hope all this work will be worth it when spring comes.

 

chacal's repro carb hats are BETTER than the originals, honest.

 

WOW!!! I am about to start this task. I hope I can do half the job that you have done.

 

Chacal,

What does a set of those carb hats go for for an 82' Maxim 650? Thanks.

 

Wesly , I got a set from Len and they look great. Can't remember what I paid since I got a bunch of other stuff to. But this I do know you could not get yours replated for what he sells them for. They just are the finishing touch to a nice carb rebuild.

 

that puts my carb cleaning to shame
really

i blew through every single little hole with carb cleaner
but i don't know yet if it will even help

your carb job looks top notch
i'm going to remember this string for next winter

i just realized how poor the shape of my brakes are
i want to stop well before i go well


the black painted rack holder doesn't look bad
i painted the two inner hats because they were beyond polishing
but the outer two chrome hats polished out ok

 

I'm probably going to get a set of hats off of chacal. Thanks guy.