BEST CLEANER FOR WEBER BODY CASTINGS?

PostPost by: 1964 S1 » Fri Nov 30, 2012 4:46 am

In The high pitched Monty Python voice

" ...walnut shells and baking soda ! ? ? ?

sauteed en champagne flambee ? "

Eric

ps; my vote is liquid, read LIQUID carb cleaner of your choice. What is your objective?
1964 S1
Coveted Fifth Gear
Coveted Fifth Gear
 
Posts: 1472
Joined: 15 Sep 2003

PostPost by: twincamman » Fri Nov 30, 2012 5:13 am

Zis may be good wis ze truffles and a bottle of ze plonk ..no ?...
dont close your eyes --you will miss the crash

Editor: On June 12, 2020, Edward Law, AKA TwinCamMan, passed away; his obituary can be read at https://www.friscolanti.com/obituary/edward-law. He will be missed.
User avatar
twincamman
Coveted Fifth Gear
Coveted Fifth Gear
 
Posts: 3175
Joined: 02 Oct 2003

PostPost by: gearbox » Fri Nov 30, 2012 5:36 am

Using any kind of abrasives is a bad idea, nor any chemicals that contain acid that will attack the alloy body of the carb. Most carbs have very small passages throughout the body and getting all the abrasives out is hit or miss. The best solution is to get an Ultrasonic cleaner. Harbour Freight has a good one for $75, less if you have a coupon. I use Mineral Spirits in the machine which heats up the liquid and is just big enough for a carb body and parts. You may have to rotate the part to fully submerge all sides. Leave it in over night, and no matter how varnished or sooted up the carb is, it comes out like new the next day. If the body is corroded, it will remove the loose corrosion, but that carb is toast anyway. Otherwise, it is the safest and most efficient system for carb cleaning. All of the professional carb guys use a machine like this, albeit larger and a lot more expensive. The high frequency vibration, coupled with the hot Spirits will dissolve all of the grime and hardened varnish in every interal part of the carb. I also use it for cleaning distributors, and other small parts. And if you are one of those guys who has to justify it to the spouse, it also does a great job on jewerly lol. Here is the link http://www.harborfreight.com/25-liter-u ... 95563.html
gearbox
Third Gear
Third Gear
 
Posts: 396
Joined: 12 Mar 2012

PostPost by: garyeanderson » Fri Nov 30, 2012 7:12 am

Tonyw wrote:Hi Gary,

Good to see you back by the way. I thought that caustic attacked alluminium making it go black?

Tonyw


The product that I referenced will take off skin, it will take off paint, it will soften carbon deposits, I am not an expert but I have used it and it does a lot and can be used with good results if care is taken and you learn how to use it. The carbs on the sows ear engine were dipped for a couple of hours and rinsed well with HOT scalding water, there was still some crud still in the float bowls that was scraped out with some picks and a flat blade screwdriver, the exterior still has some scale and probably should have been dipped again but I was at Carl's and they were dipped over lunch and at about 3pm I pulled them and rinsed and then used compressed air to blow out the rest of the hot water . These Webers may not be perfect, they are a "good enough" for the desired job and will suit the rest of the Elan. With a bit more work they would look a lot better but I guess I am someone that looks at the benefits of perfect looking Webers on something that may look out of step with the rest of the car. Oh almost forgot the question, the dip is for carbs, maybe caustic is the wrong word but it does what I said in the fist line and it does not turn the carbs or aluminum black.

Gary

webers semi clean.JPG and
User avatar
garyeanderson
Coveted Fifth Gear
Coveted Fifth Gear
 
Posts: 3391
Joined: 12 Sep 2003

PostPost by: StressCraxx » Sun Dec 02, 2012 11:00 pm

The ultrasonic cleaners are pretty good for outside surfaces. The sound agitates the chemical and cleans pretty well. We use them at work. They use a butyl ethanol detergent. I don't think the UT cleaners are very effective deep down in the passages like caustic parts dip was.

The old "parts dip" and "carb dip" is sodium hydroxide, "caustic soda" is another term. The chemical companies that sold it put a layer of oil on top so the stench would not be so overwhelming when you opened it. Its really dangerous stuff for the average person. It can cause serious chemical burns, particularly to mucous membrane. So you never want to get splashed in the mouth, nose or eyes with it. The chemical burns are hideous and take years to heal. Do an MSDS search on sodium hydroxide and you will understand. You should wear nitrile gloves, rubber apron, rubber boots, goggles/faceshield. I have seen good work boots ruined in minutes with that stuff. Its hazardous waste when you are done too. We can no longer buy it here in Kalifornia. The replacement products are pretty worthless.

I get the objections to abrasive blasting. Thats why I brought up trying it on an old zinc part, with varying air pressure. The glass bead/powder that the Porsche/Weber guy uses is extremely fine and he uses lower air pressure so it doesn't harm the metal.

Walnut shells are very soft. We used walnut shells once a week to clean the compressor section of a gas turbine running at full power. At the 3 year inspection there was no damage to the blades. When you are done, wash everything thoroughly.

All said and done, use caution and do the research. Your results may vary.
There is no cure for Lotus, only treatment.
User avatar
StressCraxx
Coveted Fifth Gear
Coveted Fifth Gear
 
Posts: 1414
Joined: 26 Sep 2003

PostPost by: reb53 » Mon Dec 03, 2012 5:04 am

gearbox wrote: I use Mineral Spirits in the machine which heats up the liquid and is just big enough for a carb body and parts. Leave it in over night,


By "leaving it in overnight" I assume you mean just soaking, not with the ultrasonic running ?

Probably pay to be a bit cautious with a flammable liquid in an ultrasonic because they do heat up any liquid in them.
So, don't leave unattended, and keep a good fire extinguisher handy..... :(

Ralph.
reb53
Fourth Gear
Fourth Gear
 
Posts: 940
Joined: 09 Apr 2005

PostPost by: alexblack13 » Mon Dec 03, 2012 9:54 am

Ultra sonics.... My (big one) is electrically heated and will take the (water based) agent up to about 70 degrees. I give stuff no more than 30 Min's and they come out like new. Used by myself for many purposes including Tooling (cutter blocks etc) for industrial woodworking machinery. No skin off and no fumes! .... But.. nice clean parts etc.. Tests on carbs (small ones albeit) have been very positive so far. No chance of damage I like mucho...

Have fun men....

Alex.... 8)
Alex Black.
Now Sprintless!!
User avatar
alexblack13
Coveted Fifth Gear
Coveted Fifth Gear
 
Posts: 2306
Joined: 17 Oct 2007

PostPost by: higgyuk » Mon Dec 03, 2012 11:16 am

TurbineHeli wrote:There are several comments on this subject in the archives from years ago.
My question is whether cleaning the Weber bodies with a blast media of crushed walnut shells would yield good results? Has anyone here ever tried this?

Thanks,

AMA

not tried any nuts! but have tried GUNK degreases but leaves an oily finish on outside stops it going moldy (outside)only,also have stipped and soaked IDA`s in desolve to get insides cleaned up worked well. hope this helps
higgyuk
First Gear
First Gear
 
Posts: 25
Joined: 29 Nov 2012

PostPost by: delle » Sun Dec 09, 2012 9:07 pm

I would try dry ice-blastig to clean the carbs (or anything else in side the engine compartment):

http://www.dryiceinfo.com/cleaning.htm

Delle
User avatar
delle
First Gear
First Gear
 
Posts: 33
Joined: 06 Nov 2012

PostPost by: higgyuk » Sat Jan 19, 2013 12:44 pm

Tonyw wrote:Twincaman,

Dunk? is this a product? I cannot find through Google, I though most of the carb cleaners that work were banned due them being toxic. I have on far to many occaisions to remember cleaned my carbs inside and out using fine glass beads, it is a tricky process to get all of the beads out and you really do need to be able run a tap down all of the threads to get them properly cleaned out. When you think about it carbs are alluminium and as long as you do not use a coarse abrasive like garnet there really is no reason not to use an abrasive.

Tonyw

GUNK
higgyuk
First Gear
First Gear
 
Posts: 25
Joined: 29 Nov 2012

PostPost by: Jaybee » Sat Apr 19, 2014 8:32 am

I've used baking soda and a home made setup look on YouTube it works fine and is totally soluble . John."..
Jaybee
First Gear
First Gear
 
Posts: 31
Joined: 26 Mar 2013

PostPost by: alan » Sat Apr 19, 2014 1:51 pm

what about coca cola :mrgreen:
Alan.B
alan
Third Gear
Third Gear
 
Posts: 310
Joined: 29 Jan 2007

PostPost by: prezoom » Thu May 22, 2014 2:14 am

After lunch with a bunch of old car guys, we visited one of their garages. The subject of cleaning cabs came up, and young whippersnapper of the group, opined that soaking a carb in Pine sol for a couple of days would leave it looking like new. He did advise that the steel parts would turn a little brown. I have a pair of old Webers and I think I will take the float bowl covers, strip them and give it a try. Anybody heard of this?

Rob Walker
16-4889
Rob Walker
26-4889
50-0315N
1964 Sabra GT
1964 Elva Mk4T Coupe (awaiting restoration)
1965 Ford Falcon Ranchero, 302,AOD,9",rack and pinion,disc,etc,etc,etc
1954 Nash Healey LeMans Coupe

Owning a Lotus will get you off the couch
prezoom
Coveted Fifth Gear
Coveted Fifth Gear
 
Posts: 1332
Joined: 16 Mar 2009

PostPost by: AlfaLofa » Sun Aug 31, 2014 12:25 pm

I intend to use an ultrasonic cleaner to give a pair of webers the once over.

How far should I go in removing the brassware from the internals of the carbs?

If I remove the parts within the circled area in the attached photo will I ever be able to fit them back in again?

The 2 remaining brass screw heads are easy to remove - but the brassware hidden beneath the screws might give me a problem - along with all the other bits which are still visible.
Attachments
002V2.jpg and
Steve
'64 S1 Elan (Owned since '73)
'69 Alfa Romeo 1750 Spider Veloce (Owned since '77)
'70 Morris Minor 1000 (Owned since '85)
User avatar
AlfaLofa
Fourth Gear
Fourth Gear
 
Posts: 513
Joined: 19 Aug 2006

PostPost by: reb53 » Mon Sep 01, 2014 3:19 am

The ultrasonic won't harm brass on its own, it will depend on what cleaner you have in it.
Unless the cleaner has some bad effect on brass, ( easy enough to test ), why would you go to the trouble of removing all the brass?
Why not hang just a small part of the carb in the ultrasonic and see if the ultrasonic has any effect ?
reb53
Fourth Gear
Fourth Gear
 
Posts: 940
Joined: 09 Apr 2005
PreviousNext

Total Online:

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 13 guests