[kirkn]

Y'know, for all these years, I've been cleaning carbs on my projects by total disassembly and soaking in Gunk brand carb cleaner in the gallon cans. Yeah, it stinks and is pretty environmentally unfriendly. Lately, I've been using Simple Green, which, while less toxic all around than the Gunk, doesn't really touch the thick, hardened varnish that some of the projects get.

Over the last few years, I've read more and more about using Ultrasonic cleaners to clean carbs instead, but I never really realized how cheap they are until just now, on another forum I read that Harbor Freight has 'em for, like, 55 ~ 85 bucks.

So, what's the scoop on 'em? Can you take a badly varnished carb and plop it in, then pull 'em out done? Do you still have to disassemble fully? I seem to see that you just use water and maybe a little dishwasher soap in it, yes? And, I'm guessing you just dump out the sludge (or 'dispose' of the sludge )

Or are they more for just cleaning a dirty/greasy carb, or for restoring the nice OEM iridescence that carbs seem to come with? Do you still have to manually verify every idle jet opening and carb body passage is free?

This has really caught my imagination this evening, because I'm really getting to be a BIG fan of something non-Gunk in toxicity but still work as well as that "old school" method.

Comments?

 

[CurbTiger]

A thread about ultrasonic cleaners here: http://www.caferacer.net/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=12957

It's Harbor Freight, so you get what you pay for.....
This one? http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/d ... umber=3305
Timer for three minutes- Even a machine that costs hundreds of dollars needs to run for more than three minutes.
2.5L- Probably not enough volume for one carb.
35w- I don't think this amount of power is going to do much in short fashion.
No heater.
I've got experience with one similar to this(http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Commercial-Grad ... 4836462c6a)
and usually it's run for around 20 minutes for a good cleaning. That's with a pre-clean to degrease and remove thick crud.
XS650 carbs just fit.

NE

 

[Bird76Mojo]

I'd use one to remove any dirt/crap on the exterior only and maybe the bowls/floats. As for the insides of old carbs I have a personal preference on that. I'd rather just remove all of the jets and verify that they're clean and clear with my own eyes, rather than hoping a machine did the work for me..


GB :mrgreen:

 

[mitchellsk]

I'd also like to know results but I'd suspect the ultrasonic would need to run at least overnight to do any good.

I rebuilt my cb750 carbs with the gallon cleaner, soaking them each overnight. It worked fantastic and the carbs run great.

This pic was taken when the left two were done and the two on the right were still to be done:

If the ultrasonic works as well I'd be very interested, I've wondered myself and there's a Harbor Freight here in town.

 

[Bird76Mojo]

I've said it before but it's worth saying again. Certain "dip type" carb cleaners will totally screw up your carbs if you leave them in the dip too long. It forms a thick, gooey, grey colored film on the entire carb body. Internally and externally. It's superhard to remove from the entire carb too.. I had my bad experience with it by soaking them for about 3-4 hours I think. If I recall correctly it was Berrymans brand carb dip..


GB :mrgreen:

 

[MNellis]

It's Harbor Freight, so you get what you pay for.....
This one? http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/d ... umber=3305

You're right with that. A couple of years ago I bought an inexpensive vibratory tumbler from Harbor freight in an effort to clean all the small parts, bolts, nuts etc.

What a waste of money.

 

[kirkn]

Here's the thread where they were mentioned over on the SOHC4 forum incl the testimonial:

http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=60862.175

Here's the specific cleaner mentioned:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/C ... &pricetype

Testimonial swears it's large enough for carbs ~ 2.5 liters.

I don't mind the disassembly and manual verification. In fact, I guess I'm kind of anal about that anyway. :mrgreen: But I'd sure like to find something that's as effective as that Gunk dip but without the toxic mess. Even wearing neoprene surgeon-type gloves, my fingers stink for days afterwards...

+1 on the discoloration, though. Anything more than 3 hours does it.

Oddly enough, Simple Green does that too if you leave it too long, but only to the brass parts; not the zinc carb bodies nor the cad-plated steel hardware.

Hey, now - I'm a big fan of Harbor Freight. I have many 'big ticket' items that work just perfectly in my "occasional-use" "non-professional-don't-gotta-earn-a-living-with-em" situation. Angle grinder, battery chargers, drill press, oxy-acetylene torch kit, free-standing sandblast cabinet, vernier calipers, cylinder hone....

And hopefully soon, an Ultrasonic Cleaner.

Kirk

 

[solarae]

Don't even think about using a cheap Harbor Frieght "ultra sonic" cleaner. I tried. It did absolutely nothing. Then I researched the subject. Sure enough, even though these things say they are ultra sonic they only shake. A real ultra sonic cleaner is hundreds of dollars or more.

 

[thrilhou]

I've said it before but it's worth saying again. Certain "dip type" carb cleaners will totally screw up your carbs if you leave them in the dip too long. It forms a thick, gooey, grey colored film on the entire carb body. Internally and externally. It's superhard to remove from the entire carb too.. I had my bad experience with it by soaking them for about 3-4 hours I think. If I recall correctly it was Berrymans brand carb dip..

Yeah, I used the Berryman cleaner and had a similar thing happen. I soaked a badly varnished float bowl over night and it kinda destroyed the finish.
It also failed to remove most of the varnish...

 

[Bird76Mojo]

Yep, the Berrymans is crap. It works well if you just use it by dipping, then brushing, then dipping again, etc... As I mentioned, I found out the hard way what it'll do to carb bodies.

It's the tits on old tractor carbs though! My dad was super happy when we had to rebuild the Allis Chalmers C carb and I pulled out that gallon can and my carb brushes.. He was just going to take it apart and reassemble with new parts but I refused to do it that way. That tractor now starts with one tiny pull of the starter rod... You shoulda seen the smile on his face. After all it was his dads tractor bought new in the 40's...


GB :mrgreen:

 

[[email protected]]

interesting alternative found on sohc4.net forum !
http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=59925.0
and it goes right there:
http://www.aircooledtech.com/tools-on-the-cheap/soda_blaster/

[attachment=1:14ldouaz]6.JPG[/attachment:14ldouaz]
[attachment=0:14ldouaz]7.JPG[/attachment:14ldouaz]

 

[mitchellsk]

I did that and it didn't do anything for me except make a gigantic mess. It kinda works if the air pressure is high enough and the pickup tube just perfectly in the soda and the hose doesn't get clogged. I used my 5hp compressor, maybe a bigger compressor will work better but mine couldn't keep up enough pressure long enough.

 

[fasterspider]

A friend of mine from http://www.cb750c.com is doing ultrasonic carb cleaning for fair prices again now.
Look for SeanG and tell him fasterspider sent you.

 

[danWI]

since topic changed to soda blasting... i friend's shop has installed a soda blaster and it is simple the best thing going around! now, its doesnt clean the innards but it DOES wonders to returning carbs to their original finish look. AND you simply wash the carbs in fresh warm water to clean away the residue. I do beleive Polishbeer purchased a Harbor Frieght soda blaster at cost... I'll rign him up and see if that one is worth the soda. danWI

 

[Hairhead]

I just fired up my $59 ultrasonic from harbor freight and you can see for yourself what has taken place in 25 minutes with a cup of Simple Green and tap water and no elbow grease.I Tested it out on a spare set of carbs for my Yamahaha TX650.I"m Lovin this Machine!!!