Carb dip alternative?

[Rein]

Before I resort to buying a gallon of carb cleaner online, most of the parts places no longer stock carb cleaner near me, only NAPA does, but it's $90 a gallon! Too much for something that will probably only get used once every few years.

I've heard about boiling them in lemon juice, does it actually work? Short of that? I can try to get the Yamaha dealer nearby to rush out some of that Yamaha carb cleaner that you have to dilute with some water.

[fallous]

I've used boiling lemon juice on lawnmower carbs that had plastic emulsion tubes that can't be removed and it worked tolerably well, but for GS carbs I'd opt for real dip. $90 is mighty absurd given that I can get local Gunk carb dip for $30 or so a gallon. The old school Berryman's Chem-Dip that I used to use is pretty much mail-order only, but I find that letting carbs sit in Gunk dip for 48 hours is about the same as 24 hours in Berryman's.

[1978GS1000custom]

for a whole bunch less than $90.00! you can ship them to me and i will sonic clean them in my hot tank but you will have to strip them down and send all the pieces you want cleaned and they will be 100% spotless inside and out when you get them back. i am located in ohio 44241. pm me if your interested. cliff

[PaulC]

I used the Yamaha stuff. Worked well. But I have no comparison - the first time I had ever dipped carbs. So don't know how bad they were to start.

[twiggy2cents]

dipping isnt everything if you do a good job you can use carb cleaner and compressed air.

A plastic brush also helps on orifices and open areas

[GQROD]

Auto Zone carries Berryman's and Gunk brand for $20.00 a gallon.

[Rein]

Auto Zone carries Berryman's and Gunk brand for $20.00 a gallon.

Sorry, I live in a neglected US territory west of Hawaii, no Autozone.

I'm armed with two cans of carb cleaner, a welding torch cleaner (tons of tiny rods to poke into the carbs), assorted high e guitar strings, and compressed air, I wonder if that'll do the job.

[rustybronco]

Sorry, I live in a neglected US territory west of Hawaii, no Autozone.

I'm armed with two cans of carb cleaner, a welding torch cleaner (tons of tiny rods to poke into the carbs), assorted high e guitar strings, and compressed air, I wonder if that'll do the job.

If you scratch (don't use) the torch tip cleaners, you can do a good job with what you have.

[Rein]

If you scratch the torch tip cleaners, you can do a good job with what you have.

The torch tip cleaners have rough parts on them, the smallest one gets into the pilot jet holes, and the guitar strings get into the choke circuit holes.

(EDIT) Ok, I see what you meant. I only used the smooth tips of the torch cleaners to test if they'd fit.

[Steve]

dipping isnt everything if you do a good job you can use carb cleaner and compressed air.

A plastic brush also helps on orifices and open areas

That depends on how bad they are. If they are relatively clean, sure, a quick squirt and a puff will do just fine. Some carbs have been sitting for years, and all the passages in the bodies between the jets are just clogged with junk. Only a long-term soaking (or maybe an ultrasonic cleaner) will soften that crud enough for it to be removed.

I'm armed with two cans of carb cleaner, a welding torch cleaner (tons of tiny rods to poke into the carbs), assorted high e guitar strings, and compressed air, I wonder if that'll do the job.

As mentioned above, it depends on how bad the carbs are. If you know just where to spray all the carb cleaner and they are LARGE cans, you might be OK. Be VERY carefull with the torch cleaners. They are usually made of steel, which is quite a bit harder than the brass jets you are trying to clean. One thing you don't want to do is to accidentaly enlarge the holes in the jets, you will create more problems than you are trying to solve.

You also want to be careful using the spray carb cleaner. Some of the places you need to spray will blow right back into your face.
One example is the 'choke' pickup in the float bowl. The hole that is just off-center from the drain blows right back up the hole in the outer edge and will get you righ tin the eyes, so wear safety glasses and keep parts pointed away from your face.

.

[Rein]

Good info here.

The carbs aren't that bad, they were stitting for about 1 1/2 years, The bike started up and idled just perfectly, however, it revved horribly. Most of the time, it was hesitating. If I were in neutral, bike fully warmed up, and cranked it to even 1/2 throttle, it would bog and almost die, then zoom all the way up the rpms.

Valve shims are on the way, but I thought I'd get the carbs out of the way as well.

Bike is a 1981 GS 650GT that I picked up for parts for my L, but the bike is just fine, seems like it just needs some care.

[supergrafx]

I recently broke down a VM set and boiled the bodies in lemon juice. As far as the brass parts I bought 4-5 cans of berryman's B-12 carb solution. It came in the spray can that was California VOC compliant, but I noticed the same size can without the spray nozzle WAS NOT the voc compliant, so got those ones. Soked the parts in a glass jar, twice. Came out really nice. I'm a little concerned if lemon juice might leave a layer of unseen pulp on the bodies, but from eyeview, they look nice. Almost all the brass parts came out pretty clean, but a few look still stained with what looks like green mold. I probably will not use them since I think they might muck up quicker.

[Rein]

I recently broke down a VM set and boiled the bodies in lemon juice. As far as the brass parts I bought 4-5 cans of berryman's B-12 carb solution. It came in the spray can that was California VOC compliant, but I noticed the same size can without the spray nozzle WAS NOT the voc compliant, so got those ones. Soked the parts in a glass jar, twice. Came out really nice. I'm a little concerned if lemon juice might leave a layer of unseen pulp on the bodies, but from eyeview, they look nice. Almost all the brass parts came out pretty clean, but a few look still stained with what looks like green mold. I probably will not use them since I think they might muck up quicker.

All the brass parts include the inlet valve, needle jet, main jet, pilot jet, starter assembly/choke plungers, needle valves, and the air jet, correct? I have all of those out and organized, I just to get past the caps on the air screws, and if I'm correct, that will be all of the brass parts. All of them are clear, all holes are clean, new orings have been put on. Gumout carb cleaner squirts freely through the passages of the carbs that I can find, new oring also on the fuel tubes and hoses.

Would it be a good idea to boil the body in lemon juice before slapping everything back together? I'm still wainting on an SS bolt set to finish it all off, not to mention I stripped the screws holding the inlet valve in on two of the carbs. still need to get replacements for those.

[supergrafx]

All the brass parts include the inlet valve, needle jet, main jet, pilot jet, starter assembly/choke plungers, needle valves, and the air jet, correct? I have all of those out and organized, I just to get past the caps on the air screws, and if I'm correct, that will be all of the brass parts. All of them are clear, all holes are clean, new orings have been put on. Gumout carb cleaner squirts freely through the passages of the carbs that I can find, new oring also on the fuel tubes and hoses.

Would it be a good idea to boil the body in lemon juice before slapping everything back together? I'm still wainting on an SS bolt set to finish it all off, not to mention I stripped the screws holding the inlet valve in on two of the carbs. still need to get replacements for those.

The choke plungers on the VM carbs have rubber that cannot be disconnected so I didn't dip those in the b-12. Just cleaned with some kerosine. But the rest of the brass parts I did. The b-12 warped the original o-rings on the brass parts making them easy to rip off as opposed to before the rubber hit the chemicals.

[Rein]

The choke plungers on the VM carbs have rubber that cannot be disconnected so I didn't dip those in the b-12. Just cleaned with some kerosine. But the rest of the brass parts I did. The b-12 warped the original o-rings on the brass parts making them easy to rip off as opposed to before the rubber hit the chemicals.

Already put the rings on the brass parts, and they're plenty clean and clear. I'm just worried about the carb bodies themselves.