Greenies

Well I broke the tip off of a mixture screw the other day so I figured I'd try and see if they had a crap set of carbs at the local yard. They did indeed, they were sitting outside but the idle mixture screws I needed are unscathed, as well as the air jets. The diaphragms are all actually in good condition, no rips or holes, pistons and all of inside of carbs need a good polishing but for what I paid I'm happy with all the extra parts I'll have....after I break em apart and clean the ever loving hell out of them that is . Here's some fun pics

 

The green is symptomatic of a fairly common bacterial colony. A good cleaning will cure the problem and it won't reoccur unless you let the carbs sit for a long while in a moist environment.

 

Dafuq?

 

It's true. There are strains of Bacteria that grow in petroleum products. This is common enough in diesel fuel that there are commercial treatments for keeping stored fuel bacteria free. Heck, there are even naturally occurring strains of bacteria that poop out fuels (though the engineered strains are more numerous and efficient).

 

Seems crazy, but I guess it really isn't. It's just carbon-based life feeding on carbon-based molecules, and yeast makes alcohol.

 

Its amazing really, the laws of most life on earth don't apply once you get down to that size. Extremophile bacteria can be found in pretty much any environment that's been around long enough for natural selection to run it's course. From the deepest depths of the ocean at superheated vents all the way to the permafreeze of the arctic, to the inside of our carburetors which I never wouldve guessed before haha. Biology rules!