Alternative Carb Cleaning - Baking Soda Blasting

[scrapper]

When I was in the Navy the cooks would clean the grill with bug juice. This was the kool-aid type drink.It was orange,grape,lemon, basic colors for each flavor. It came in a paper pouch, you only added a small amount of water to mix it for cleaning. It worked great. I think it would be better than coke. I wonder if it would be to tough on carbs?

[waterman]

i tried an idea another member posted in another thread. he said "for really gummy carb bowls, use Vanish toilet bowl cleaner", so i did. on the first bowl, i didnt realize this stuff was going to cause a chemical reaction. the bowl was hot to the touch, it turned the metal BLACK, but after all the foamy mess was rinsed out of the bowl that used to have rust that i couldnt get out, it was spotless. on the following three, i filled, counted to 20 after it began to foam, and rinsed while using an old toothbrush to scrub.

creepy enough that the insides of the bowl was black, it turned the overflow tube and drain orange. like neon orange.

I believe Vanish is mostly concentrated hydrochloric acid. It is strong enough to remove skin. The reason it got hot was the acid reacting with the metal. The orange drain tube is most likely etched copper. This stuff will eat through concrete. Generally, the carb dip is much safer but for those willing to get creative, go for it.

[waterman]

When I was in the Navy the cooks would clean the grill with bug juice. This was the kool-aid type drink.It was orange,grape,lemon, basic colors for each flavor. It came in a paper pouch, you only added a small amount of water to mix it for cleaning. It worked great. I think it would be better than coke. I wonder if it would be to tough on carbs?

I doubt this would be too strong for the carbs yet I don't think it will work any better then vinegar or lemon juice. Most likely the koolaid cleaner had citric acid, absorbic acid with some sort of granular sweetener. Both of these acids are weak, not going to eat through skin readily. When mixed into a paste with a little water, the sugar would provide enough grit to help physically remove the grill bits. This grit would most likely not work so well in the carb passages.

[Loose Seal]

So I tried the baking soda approach last night on an aluminum intake manifold and related parts for the car I'm building. I used standard baking soda at about 90psi.

Not impressed. It got mildly cleaner but nowhere near the results that are shown in the link on the first post - and my parts aren't as dirty as what he started with either. Seemed like I needed more abrasive material and/or a lot more air pressure. Back to the wire brush...

[rputney01]

If you can't get Carb dip, I would try to locate someone who has an ultrasonic cleaner. When I was at college, we would clean our nasty glassware in an ultrasonic cleaner. It wasn't extremely quick but we used ordinary powdered lab soap (alconox) and usually within a couple hours it would be done.

Most of the personal ultrasonic cleaners available are used for jewelry, hence too small for a whole carb. Many of the larger units are pretty expensive. Someday, I will own one.

I got a small ultrasonic cleaner at Harbor Freight with a 20% off coupon that cost me a little over $40 USD. I had to turn the carb body over and run it a second time to catch both sides, but the jet areas are covered by the solution both times. I dipped them anyway, but it was a pretty cost effective and quick process. About 8 minutes per side and they were very clean to my eye.

As a cover story, I used the US to clean my wife's bracelet and ring, which served to reduce the background noise normally experienced when purchasing "tools".

[Suzuki_Don]

Yeah!! That background noise can get BAD at times can't it.

[MrZig]

I did the soda blasting today. WOW what an amazing technique.

I only have one before shot, here:



And the after shots:








It really is an awesome technique. Sodium bicarb took 90% of the varnish and dirt off, and scrubbing it with some solvent took care of the rest.

These are 29 year old carbs and you'd never know it.

[supergrafx]

I went to the grocer last night and got 2 32 oz. lemon juice, "real lemon" and boiled an extra set of carbs I just got off ebay that were horrendously grotesque last night (well really only the lower bowls and carb lids) with pretty good results. It must take 3-4 times though to get the best results I think and it helped me to run the parts under water and wipe them down while the water was running over them. I should have gone over this thread last night since I boiled them each in turns of 10 minutes but fell asleep on the last batch, leaving them in for 53 minutes. Even worse, the part has been sitting in the lemon juice for the past 24 hours since I can't take the batch out since I'm at work. +1 for lemon juice