Carbs all gummed up

[Tbell]

I have the carbs off the 81 and they are frozen from fuel that was left in for 10 or so years. Everything is frozen nothing will move not even the slides. What might be the best procedure for freeing up the parts before disassembly without damaging the seals and diaphragms???

[Mr.Bill]

Have heard good things about using a dip/soak of Pine Sol. There is a good write up on this in a thread that linked to another site.

found the linked site : http://www.cb750c.com/modules.php?na...ewtopic&t=9866

[thewiz]

What NOT to ...

do is to immerse them in a caustic carb dip such as McKay or Berryman, etc. I would take the rack of carbs to an m/c shop with a large ultra sonic dip and have them cleaned that way ... that will losen everything up so that you will have a better chance of taking out the parts without breaking something in the process.

[Tbell]

Pine-sol! Might give that a try. Thanks!

[DGXSER]

I also recommend having a few cans of PB Blaster or Liquid Wrench on hand. Followed by a few cans of carb cleaner. The key is to keep the rubber peices like the diaphrams and the butterfly shaft seals from the carb cleaner. Everything else will tolerate it pretty well.

[CaptonZap]

Report from the hinterlands:
I just went through the same exercise. Mine had been setting for twelve years. Strangely enough, it seemed that the gas had run out of the tank without turning gummy or sour. The tank and petcocks were clean as new.
The carbs still had some liquid in them, as I found to my regret. ( that smell doesn't come off very easily ).
The slides were down, naturally, so the varnish formed around the needles. The needles are tapered, so once they start up, the clearance increases, and after a quarter inch of travel, they come right out. The trick is to soften the varnish that holds them.
Here is one way. Set the rack of carbs on the bench, bottom down, and prop the butterflies open. Take a straw, or anything that you can use to deposit some liquid paint remover, (not the gel kind), into the hole that the needle goes into. You have to do it from the engine side, bedause that is where the cutout is in the needle tube sticking up into the throat.
Let them set an hour or two, adding remover every now and then. There are some little holes down in the tube, and if they are not plugged, the remover runs out.
Now, turn the rack over, take the float bowls off, and take a round pointed wooden toothpick, and start working it down into the main jet with some remover soaking the hole. As soon as you get a small reservior cleaned out, puddle the remover in there and let it soak another hour or two, replenishing the remover as it evaporates.
After that has soaked, take a small wooden dowel, tooth brush handle, anything that is not metal, and stick it in from the air cleaner side , under the slide edge, and pry the slide up. Unless the slide has gum in the bore, which is unlikely if the carbs dried out in an up right position, the slide will pull the needle out of the jet tube, and you are home free.
Once they start moving, they come right out.
Then you can clean the needles with lacquer thinner, take the jets out, press the jet tubes out, (into the carb throat), and clean the whole mess.
There is a small orifice in the bottom of the hole that the choke tube sets in, and connects with the hole down towards the bottom of the bowl. It is where the choke pulls gas up when the choke is on. I used a .015 inch piece of piano wire with a square end to clean it out. Do not use a tapered needle to clean it with, the taper just wedges the gunk and packs it solid. A soak with the remover might make it easier. You should be able to blow air through it once you are done.
Good luck, CZ

[klrconcours]

Done 3 sets in the same condition in the last two years. All done with lots of PB blaster soaking in various positions, tooth bruching, removing jets, air screws etc., carb cleaner and COPIOUS high pressure air in every hole. Badda bing badda boom.