No dip for you!

[tkent02]

All this talk about how to clean old carbs has sprked a question in my mind.. I have a set of VM 26 off my 78 GS750. The bike was running when i took them off. I had a set rebuilt and decided to put the "FRESH" carbs on it. Anyways i just took the carbs off and shoved them up on the shelf. Question is this..should i take off the bowls and maybe blow them out with some compressed air or something to keep them from getting sticky inside? Maybe spay with carb cleaner and compressed air??? They have been off the bike now for maybe two months now.

Two months, probably just pull the bowls and look. Dump the gas out, clean them out a little. If things look bad do the whole carb clean routine. They don't tend to get really nasty for a lot longer.

[Nessism]

I never dip carbs. never needed to dip them to make them run perfect. I just remove all removable parts(bowls, jets ,slides) and spray every passage way out thoroughly with spray b-12 chemtool untill everything looks spotless inside and out and then blow them out with compressed air. you can also put all brass parts(jets, seats, mixture screws, nozzles) in a baby food jar full of b-12 and soak them over night , shaking the jar every once in a while. Never soak any rubber parts(fuel needles, o rings, slide diaphragms, bowl gaskets) in carb cleaner or they will be ruined but it is ok to spray them of with it. before I reassemble I pull one bristle from a wire bush and spin each jet on it to make sure the entire inside of the jet is clear then blow everything out with compressed air and reassemble. I think dipping is more for those who want to try and make the outside of the carbs to look spotless. b-12 will do the same thing and much more quickly but it will cost a couple bucks more as 2 cans may be needed if you want to clean both the inside and outside. even on carbs with bowls full of rotten gas I never really find much buildup inside the bodies of carbs at least inside passage ways . well, nothing that spray carb cleaner wont remove in 1 squirt. I have also heard horror stories about chem dip eating the sealing material up on the throttle shafts of some cv carbs where the throttle shaft passes through the bodies of carbs causing bad vacuum leaks.

Spray cleaner don't get'er done when the carbs are really gunked up. These carbs came off a bike that had sat for about 25 years. You going to clean these things with spray cleaner?

[chuck hahn]

NESSISM...You got it wrong.. the carbs were running fine when i took them off.. I rode the bike aqt 80 miles an hr the day before i did the switch.. I wanna know how to presereve them so that over any extended period of time in storage that they DONT gte all gummed up and look like that..

[beetle]

These carbs have been sitting (on bike) since sometime in 1995, in various locations (outside, inside, under trees etc). They were frozen solid when I pulled them off - everything is filled or coated in black gunk that simply will not scrape off without some sort of chemical intervention. Spay can carb cleaner cleaned the sticky residue off the slides and throats easily, but won't budge the gunk. I need to soak them for a few hours in something that won't hurt the seals on the valve shafts, won't turn the bodies black and actually softens and removes the gunk.

I've canned the lemon juice idea based on above posts, so boiling them in water or maybe a dip in kerosene might be the answer, since both are readily available. Maybe a dip in kerosene or alcohol followed by boiling in water?

[Octain]

Spray cleaner don't get'er done when the carbs are really gunked up. These carbs came off a bike that had sat for about 25 years. You going to clean these things with spray cleaner?

LMAO!!
Sandblaster might do it?

[beetle]

Oh yeah, Nessism, that photo pretty much shows what I'm dealing with...

[Nessism]

NESSISM...You got it wrong.. the carbs were running fine when i took them off.. I rode the bike aqt 80 miles an hr the day before i did the switch.. I wanna know how to presereve them so that over any extended period of time in storage that they DONT gte all gummed up and look like that..

Hey Chuck,

My message was not directed at you, it was for supersonic (notice the message quote in my response).

I agree with not dipping the carbs on a daily driver that is running well. I do feel the O-rings should be changed though on any bike with the original O-rings still installed, regardless of whether or not it is running well or not.

[chuck hahn]

What would you suggest would be proper procedures for putting them into a long term storage senario?

[Octain]

Can anyone say "thread drift"?

[67fire]

Use Lacquer Thinner, any paint store should have it.

He is right! When I worked at the CASE Dealer, all we used was thinner in all of the parts washers.

Eric

[Octain]

What would you suggest would be proper procedures for putting them into a long term storage senario?

Hey Chuck, this might not be my place to say but if Im not mistaken this thread is about Beatles carbs. If you want some good replies start a thread about how to store carbs.
You'll prolly get some really awesome advise.

[Nessism]

He is right! When I worked at the CASE Dealer, all we used was thinner in all of the parts washers.

Eric

Paint thinner (mineral spirits) is a great degreaser; relatively cheap, safe, non volatile – the odorless stuff is best. Lacquer thinner on the other hand is none of these things: it’s expensive, highly toxic and highly volatile. Anyone that loaded lacquer thinner into a shop parts washer should be fired and forced to find some other line of work.

[67fire]

Sorry for the misunderstanding. It was thinner (we had 5 parts washers), not lacquer thinner.
The latter, I use to clean my paint spray guns. Definitely nasty stuff!!!

Eric

[chuck hahn]

you guys start your own threads...octain might get miffed i am still looking for the button so i can getb some proper advise on how to store carbs for long term. the thred tool thingy doesnt show me where its at..where is it??

[TheCafeKid]

Did you try NAPA? I got a can of dip there this weekend.. $27.. ack!!

Yamaha dealer gave the same song and dance.. He won't stock it.

One of my coworkers swears by castrol superclean hotin a crock pot, mixed 1 cup to 1 gallon water..

You can always get the Yamaha stuff off Ebay
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Yamah...ssoriesQ5fGear

Dudes in Oz bro... They likely never heard of NAPA down there