Carb Cleaner Dip

[Guest]

I am now conviced to strip and clean my carbs using BassCliff's advice (bike is a 1980 GSX 1100). I have ordered all the Orings but am having trouble locating the dip used. I'm down here in Australia and can't find anyone who has heard of Gunk Carb Cleaning dip or anything like it. I went onto the Gunk website looking for a material safety data sheet but couldn't find one for the chlorinated type cleaner (only chlorine free). I found another cleaner that has methylene chloride and petroleum spirit (I was thinking maybe I could make some up myself). Is there anybody here in Oz that can tell me where to get an equivalent soaker cleaner? Or is there anyone anywhere who can tell me the ingredients Gunk use so that I can try and make something similar? All other suggestions greatly appreciated.

[Big T]

There's no actual equivalent in OZ, as we Americans get more freedom to kill ourselves with dangerous chemicals

Yamaha sells a good product down under

[almarconi]

Can you get simple green? If not, fill a pot with soap and hot water. You can let the carb bodies soak in the pot until all the gunk comes off. Dry with compressed air.

[Planetsmasher]

I used 50/50 kerosene and acetone. Seemed to do it. There was a teaspoon
of gritty siht in the bottom of the container after 24hrs. so something came off.

[leedutcher]

fyi on simple green. make sure u rinse it well. simple green and alumium dont play well if sat for to long. on the xs11.com forums a couple member have destroyed there carbs. works great other than that...

[tkent02]

Can you get a cheap Chinese ultrasonic cleaner down there?

[MiketheBike]

On ultrasonic cleaners, I can get chinese gemstone cleaners for 5 bux. Anything that cleans metals is 200 bux+. Anything with a pH of 8.5+ will dissolve aluminium. pH 9.5+ dissolves brass. Anything less than 5.5 - there won't be anything left in the container when you come to check in the morning. If I can work out what the gunk people use, I can order it from lab supplies and put it together.

[Crankthat]

When I cleaned my carbs I used plain kerosene.
I soaked them for a week first and scrubbed all the outside gunk off and then filtered kero through a couple of paper towels in a large funnel then after disassemble soaked parts for over a week turning and shaking every day to fill any air bubbles
The smaller passages I shot through with brake cleaner.(be sure to use safety goggles)
The Tight passages and the jets needed more attention then what is needed with regular carb cleaner, Be careful when removing jets that you use a screwdriver that fills the slots well to keep from marking them. (it is well worth it to grind down a screwdriver so it fits perfect, and smooth out the edges of what you grind, if you mark/score the brass it will cause problems in both performance and gas mileage)

For the jets, hold up to light and look through both ends to insure nothing is blocking, you may have to use a small piece of wire to gently break up any blockage.(you do not want to mark the brass with wire)
I gently rubbed my diaphragm/slide needles to remove some built up gunk.
Took extra time to scrub everything I could reach with a toothbrush and a green scrubber.
Then did it again.

Might be important to note.
3xxx check that everything is clean.
My bike had only been sitting for a couple of years when bought and cleaned.
The outsides will not be all nice and shiny when done.
I regularly run a gas additive through them as a precautionary measure.

Have regularly seen posts on here of people having problems after a carb rebuild.
I think some of the problems encountered are from.

Not having replaced o-rings with new.
Hooking fresh carbs to a fuel tank that still has gunk in it be it rust or a tank liner that is peeling.
On reassembly they have contaminated with foreign debris by not being careful enough.
As stated earlier Yamaha makes a carb cleaner that they sell down under. It seems that you can only purchase through a Yahama dealer, but I may be wrong, make sure they are selling carb cleaner and not air filter cleaner, call them first if you have a long travel to get there.

On a side note, can you eat the big land crabs I have seen pictures of down there?
They look yummy!

[MiketheBike]

Thanks everybody. I'll look for some yamaha cleaner. As for the crabs, you can eat them if you can get one. I've never been much for crabs. Seems like an awful lot of work to pry out a small amount of food. Now prawns (shrimp) is a different matter.