how do I make my carbs show quality

[Guest]

Some bikes have the perfect carbs absolutely spotless no tarnish. How do I get my carbs to look show quality. I have used carb cleaner but the aluminium bodies tend to still have some tarnish on them and sometimes I can't even sand of the tarnish. HOW do people make the carbs look like showroom quality?

[jwhelan65]

Contact Renobruce he is a member here, I had him do mine. He did a fantastic job!

[tejasmud]

Painting them really makes them look awesome. Bruce does some awesome work. Search and look up "Painted Carbs."

But,

These are a set of VM29s I've been working on. Aluminum finish, no paint.

Started out sanding and polishing the tops and bowls, dipped, masked, soda blasted, and applied a thin coat of mothers polish to the bodies.

Turned out like this. Body 1 and 3 have the Mothers polish, 2 and 4 were just soda blasted and still white looking.



Then, bead blasted the steel parts, and electroplated them with the tin/zinc kit from Eastwood.



Really need to protect the steel parts if you strip the original zinc plate. Ed has some real nice work with the yellow chromate finish after plating, which looks awesome.

But here is a pic of various stages in plating. Left to right.... 1st 3 were after plating, and the 4th starter plunger lever was polished with Autosol, which is the end result.




Here is a pic of some of the inside parts, and plated parts laid out.




It takes time and patients.

These are the VM29s that I purchased from Chuck, they just needed some TLC.







Eric

[Agemax]

im in the middle of cleaning mine in a ultrasonic cleaner. amazing how much crap comes off a supposedly "clean" carb!

[Russ' GS1000E]

Holy Smoke !

I sit in awe of the look of those carbs.

Thought mine looked good with polished lids & bowls.

[chuck hahn]

Hey those carbs look familiar!!! Last i saw them they were " A BIT DIRTIER" !!! Those are some solid carbs though and i am sure they will serve you well. I got a suggestion for you. Any PILOT truck stop sells a product called Buschs Aluminum Polish. One of those stingy cloth wheels on a bench grinder and a good slopping of the polish will make them sparkle like diamonds. Ever wonder how those truckers make the chrome and aluminum blind you on a sunny day?? Well now ya know. On the bodies use the polish and the cloth wheels for your dremmel..get LOTS of dremmel wheels cause they dont last long..

[Nessism]

Bead blasted the bodies and replated the hardware with a kit from Caswell's.

[rustybronco]

Hey those carbs look familiar!!! Last i saw them they were " A BIT DIRTIER" !!!

I new I should have kept my mouth shut and offered you $50 for them.

NICE work on the carbs!!!!!

[Detroit Diesel Man]

Love carbs that are cleaned up and "detailed"..its always(for me at least) the small things like that, that will always show through..

[Larry D]

Nice. I need to freshen up my carbs as well. I purchased a set of 32mm for the extra 750 engine I'm going to be working on over the summer. I got them for $30 shipped...... They are really rough and are going to need some cleaning.

Ed, I'm surprised to still see the phillips heads screws on the lids and bowls.......

[chuck hahn]

You got enough free stuff Dale..GEEZ dont need to be greedy!! LOL

[Nessism]

Nice. I need to freshen up my carbs as well. I purchased a set of 32mm for the extra 750 engine I'm going to be working on over the summer. I got them for $30 shipped...... They are really rough and are going to need some cleaning.

Ed, I'm surprised to still see the phillips heads screws on the lids and bowls.......

I prefer the stock look Larry. Z1 sells bags of screws for reasonable prices. Believe it or not but I'm contemplating changing the engine cover screws back to phillps too.

[chuck hahn]

I agree Ed on the stock look..only thing i like the allen heads for is the fact that you can usually get them out much easier than when you tear up the phillips heads..and sometimes even the impact driver doesnt work on a messed up phillips.. i had to recently dremel a slot in the clutch release cover bolt because of a rounded over phillips.. but i do agree on the stock look 100%

[Larry D]

I prefer the stock look Larry. Z1 sells bags of screws for reasonable prices. Believe it or not but I'm contemplating changing the engine cover screws back to phillps too.

I'm a stock kinda guy too, although more mechanical than asthetic. I'll change things if it's going to make my life easier somewhere down the road. Allen heads are much more practical...IMHO. Your carbs look great though.

[Nessism]

Hex key screws are definetly more functional on something like the engine covers, but for fasteners requiring less torque, a phillips screwdriver is always handy.