Cleaning up those carbs

[exquized1]

that have been sitting forever.

VINEGAR

Next time one of you guys buy an old XS (or any other bike) and you pop the bowls off to find a whole bunch of white crap inside of it, save yourself some money. Dont go buy a gallon of carb cleaner to let them sit in for a few days, and then have to spend a lot of hours scrubbing with a wire brush. Also, you wont have to buy new ones just cause all your "holes" are blocked up.

Take the carbs apart and let em soak in vinegar for a couple hours. I just stumbled on this a couple days ago.

Got a 79 KZ750 twin and the carbs were horrid. Me being bull headed and all that, someone told me I couldnt gt em good enough and the "wanna effin bet" light came on in my head. I got a $20 gallaon can of chem-dip from autozone and let em soak for a day each. Then spent way to much time with a wire brush.

Maybe this is a good time for a couple pics..
This is what was seen when i popped the float bowls off.


After sitting in the shem dip for a day and about 4 hours of scrubbing..


and to make me feel really stupid, this about 10 minutes of sitting in vinegar... I still havent completely dipped em yet, but will be doing so in the next couple hours.


The one that needs some more work yet is pitted, but at least now they will sync up correctly.

Anywho, just thought I would share.

Mute (using Matts account.)

[malber]

With vinegar being a water based acidic solvent, I would be concerned about corrosion.

[ZXDavid]

Looks like a good idea to me. Ive used vinegar to clean that green crud off wiring connecters with good results but I havent tried carbs yet but I will. Ive been using a GM induction cleaner in a small crock pot on high setting with good results. Ive also heard but not tried using antifreeze in a crockpot. Its supposed to clean well also but dont leave it in too long they say.

[prometheus578]

"Interesting... very interesting."

Nice job, Exquized.
Balsamic vinegar might add a subtle nutty flavor, to say nothing of the red tinge it might impart to otherwise dreary looking carbs.
We all know that vinegar reacts with aluminium and other cheap metals. Carb dips do nothing to remove oxidation and old gas varnish/staining from carbs. Why hasn't someone here made this connection before?

[exquized1]

prometheus, funny you should mentuion a red tinge... started out using a little bit of apple cider vinager and if you dont clean it off right away, the steel bits bolted onto the carbs do get a red orange coating to em.. lol.

I was worried about corrosion, but to take care of that I rinsed em off in the kithen sink then compressed air to dry em. Musta worked cause they still look the same.

Theres enough of the same crap on the outside AL covers of the motor that I will be dipping a shop rag in it and seeing if it will work as well just wiping it off..

[livelifenowff]

thats a good idea man, I am hopefully going to be doing carb kits memorial day weekend. Anybody recommend a specific carb kit as long as its complete? or should i just go for price.

[cajun31]

Great idea

I am definitely going to have to try this the next time I clean a set of carbs. Is if OK to let the carbs completely soak in the vinegar or does it harm the seals?

[livelifenowff]

Im on the same page as cajun... I need a carb rebuild/clean because my bike dies if i use downshifting to slow too much. I have to pay for Insurance, registration, sales tax, and a helmet this week so i am too broke for the carb kits. Is there a way to get the vinegar/ wrinse water to get flowing through the carb to get the inevitable varnish out...

Kyle