bead blast carb bodies

[RiskyBusiness]

So if I seal off the input and output of each carb what are the risks of bead blasting the carbs? I know I need to keep all the beads out of the carb... anyone done this?

[Grimace]

The media might get into the throttle shafts. That would be the only thing I see wrong with it. That and having to clearcoat the carbs afterwards, or polishing and zoop sealing them.

[RiskyBusiness]

Yep... keeping the media out seems paramount. My plan is to do this before I put all the jets and inner pieces back inside. I plan on putting the bown and the tops and then put a square piece of MDF over the front and back and then hold it in place with a nice snug clamp. I'll do one carb at a time, naturally. After I get done I will blow them out throughly to make sure nothing sneaked inside. I just want to make sure I am not overlooking something obvious here...

[DiverRay]

You may want to try walnut shells for media. They are softer than glass, and should be easier on the carb bodies.

[scoobes]

you would be better off getting them ultrasonically cleaned i had a set done came back looking like brand new.

[chevy45412001]

plastic media

i use a plastic media machine at current job. And also at the last body shop i worked at. I would'nt recomend it at all! that media explodes and turns to a very fine powder with very little use.And believe me IT WILL FIND IT'S way into places you don't want it to be....I'd try the ultra sonic to be honnest. Example i just last week thought i'd clean my spray gun with the media...mistake ,ended up buying a new gun. couldn't get all the plastic ouyt of all the passages,and turned it to junk....oh well live and learn i guess.

[Winterhawk]

Use ultrasonic only as auto type carb cleaner will damage any plastic parts. Bead blast will clog stuff up. I use Zep 7039 or something, it's blue colored in my ultrasonic. Even the ultrasonic will make the chokes stiff and needs something like LPS on them to make them work free afterwords.

[RiskyBusiness]

I am very interested in the ultrasonic method. I had not even heard of it until a few weeks ago. I'm open to new things though! Could I use something cheap like here or should I use something more expensive like this I guess it's mainly an issue of compartment size. Maybe I'll find a machine shop that has one and borrow theirs.

[Geezer]

Both of those are too small to clean a bank of carbs. The larger one looks like it's big enough to do individual carbs.

I'd like to try one and to see if it's better than carb cleaner alone.

Geezer

[xswilly]

at work they just bought an ultrasonic cleaner
at was 1200.00
when the solution was ready to be changed
i took control of it for a day and brought in my carbs
i took them apart and did 1 at a time
they came out nice and clean, but i did notice it didn't take off the oxidation on the outside.
it did take off all the dirt and gas buildup, and any thing that resembled greese or dirt, even rust buildup
these carbs were a spare set off of a bike that was outside for 4 to 5 years .
i'm currently putting them back togeather now,
but they seem real clean, i have high hopes for them
i didn't put any new parts into them
i wanted to try to do it with out rebuilding
just cleaning
we will see

[Geezer]

Good carb cleaner alone will get them that clean but I don't want to take them far enoug down to remove the seals so they don't get desolved.

I'm planning to build a Midnight Standard out of my 79 resto project, but I'm waffling on painting the carbs...

Geezer

[RiskyBusiness]

I have two carb bodies soaking right now in auto type carb clearner. I break them totally down so that there is no rubber on them to be damaged by the cleaner. I use the auto type cleaner that comes in the gallon paint bucket. It holds two bodies at once, so I will soak two for a couple of days and then two over the weekend. All the jets soaked for a week in the carb cleaner.

I would really like to get the carb bodies looking good (thus the interest in bead blasting), but I may have to just settle for good and clean.

[Winterhawk]

I'm like addicted to the bead blaster also. They sure look good afterwords. I guess if you can remove any and all beads from the parts it's cool. The choke passages in the float bowls could be the hardest.