Carb cleaning

[CaseyCub]

Does anybody have any ideas for getting the rust and crap out of all the little orifices and needle seats of a carburetor? A small wire brush and pick just isn't small enough, and the needles aren't seating right because of it. This is off a Case VAO, if that makes a difference.

 

[J Hamilton]

I use tip cleaners for a acetylene torch to clean the small orifices and passages. A good hot soak in good carburetor cleaning acid would be best, if you can find any of the "good" cleaners anymore

 

[vhmtach40]

E A D G acoustic guitar strings are good for ofrices

 

[560Dennis]

High number drills with pin vise ,rotating slow by hand , start out with a #60 is .04 find it works for idle ciricuit on zenith
That way small drill is just rotating on obstacles not seat , I use a magnifying lense to look at seat of jet to lap smooth ., you can get new jest for zenith .
I make special wide screw driver for the removal of jets , that way I dont buggier the slots . You might need a 1/4-32 tap for the needle valve clean out.
Just a few things I do on the Farmall carburetor , occasionally others like Briggs and Kohler Fordson Holley

 

[jd man wis]

I seen on here but don't know if it works that some guys said to get a gallon of E85 gas and put the carb in there for a few days and it cleans them up.

 

[fixt]

I used a solution of sodium hydroxide (Drano crystals) to soak a badly corroded Carter 938SD. If you use this don't leave it in for a very long time. I soaked over a period of about 3 hours at a time, rinsing it out after each soak and checking it after. For the seat you can use a q-tip chucked in a drill with fine abrasive toothpaste similar to baking soda. Not too much.
It took me about 3 days to get it clear. It worked out quite well with the carb recovered and still in use today. But you gotta be careful with that stuff, it will eat you up if you get it on you.

 

[lastcowboy32]

(quoted from post at 21:24:25 03/10/21) Does anybody have any ideas for getting the rust and crap out of all the little orifices and needle seats of a carburetor? A small wire brush and pick just isn't small enough, and the needles aren't seating right because of it. This is off a Case VAO, if that makes a difference.

So... I was just thinking about this again recently. The last time I did a carb, it was the carburetor on my 2N. I didn't have any issues with the seats being rusty, but that thing does have some small orifices; which I ran through with guitar strings.

I made one mistake at the beginning of the project. I tried to clean it in gasoline, which didn't work so well. I actually came here to the forums (in the Ford 9N, 2N, 8N group) and was told... duh... gas goes through there all the time, you need a solvent different than gas. So, I dutifully went to NAPA and bought a 1 gallon carb cleaner "kit"... which looks like a metal one gallon paint can. It's filled with carburetor cleaner solvent, and has a little wire basket to put the parts in for soaking.

So, I learned about carburetor cleaner and guitar strings back then.

In the mean time, I've learned, through other projects and threads here in the forum that I've initiated for those projects, that "Milkstone Remover" that I have in my barn's milkhouse for cleaning milking equipment (it's phosphoric acid) is an excellent rust remover. You can buy it at Tractor Supply as Dairlyland brand "Sterosol".

I've soaked rusty parts in milkstone remover and had them come perfectly clean. The caveat there is... if the rust has severely pitted the metal... you WILL lose whatever metal has been converted to rust. For instance, small, riveted brake parts, like the parking brake actuator on our daughter's 2008 car... the ring of metal formed by riveting? Gone... it was all rust... and hence the acid "removed" it all. The actuator came perfectly clean, but fell apart.

Same thing for snap rings and stuff like that. If they are completely rusty? Gone.

So, if you use phosphoric acid, be ready to have judgement passed very, very quickly, as to whether your parts are rusted beyond "cleaning" or not.

The latest wrinkle in this whole thought process is, ultrasonic bath cleaners. They are now available on Amazon for reasonable prices.

I recently bought one for my "home office"... since I'm an electronics designer by trade, and I sometimes have to clean solder flux off of small circuitboards that I've soldered on. Ultrasonic baths have been used forever to clean small parts in the electronics industry. Also the jewelry industry.

Now that I have this little cleaner... I wonder how well it would do, filled with a charge of carburetor cleaner... with carburetor parts put in the little basket and "cleaned" for a while.

Anyway... good luck... that's a brain dump of what I've learned about carburetor and small parts cleaning in the last few years.

 

[teddy52food]

If it is cast iron , I boil them for a while in lye water then let them set
overnight & boil again before rinsing. I use tip cleaners in the holes & blow out
with air. Don't use on aluminum.

 

[CaseyCub]

All good ideas! I actually went to O'Reilly's today on the way home to ask about something more powerful, since I
didn't get a chance to read the responses here, and the guy there sold me that gallon of that carb cleaner! If it
doesn't do the trick, I will run to TSC (which would be my first time ever in one of those, having worked for the local
competitor) and try that Sterosol. It's really only the float bowl part that's giving me fits, having sat in the
elements for several years. The ?venturi? (think I have that right) butterflies, and the needles themselves cleaned up
easily. I don't think I need to go as far as an ultrasonic cleaner, none of the really small parts are in bad shape.
I'll let everyone know what happens!

 

[CaseyCub]

I don't think it's too badly corroded, just gummed up in places I can't reach. The q-tip/toothpaste is a good idea!
I'll definitely try it!