I'm needing to soak a set of Weber carbs off my 6, but don't want to risk damaging the original outer finish. Some carbs just have the raw alum. look and I don't want to turn mine that way. These have been sitting a while and really need to be soaked in order to remove a lot of old crud.

I've placed a puddle of Berryman's on an out of the way place to see what it does, but not sure if this is a good test.

I personally do not like Berrymans. It turned all my brass parts snotty and green last time I used it.

Try soda blasting or dipping in Pine Sol.

Zach

Pinesol won't touch the alunumum finish, but will strip the cadmium plating of of the steel bits if left in long enough.

If it's the original chem dip, it will totally eat aluminum. I remember our "machinist" at a auto parts store i worked at left a customers head in that for two days by mistake. Needless to say the shop bought a new head.

I've used it before on other carbs., lawnmowers and an old chevy truck carb. and it does a nice job if you don't go overboard. The shop I used to work in we'd always leave carbs in overnight and they would come out sparkling. But I've never dunked a Weber with the light golden finish.

This car has been sitting a while and it does run, but the carbs just a lot of TLC from gas storage. I think I put some stabil in the gas when I last ran it. There is a lot of gookey stuff. I've got one side disassembled and it's going to take more than just a light scrubbing.

It WILL strip the finish off.

Rich

hum, that's not good. Any alternative suggestions?

Soda blast. Did you click the link I put in my previous post?
Carb cleaner in a spray bottle and compressed air for the little passages.
Test the soda on an unseen part of the carbs to see if it will strip the finish, but it should not.

Zach

A case of aerosol brake cleaner .................... and a non-metal bristle brush.

I won't mention soaking them in fresh gas. Flame away ...

Yes, I read about the pinesol and soda spray. I don't think the outside is going to be that hard to get clean. It's the little passages insde that really need the work. I am considering drilling out 3 of the lead plugs to make sure some areas get a good clean out.

I pulled out my old copy of the factory manual last night, from 1971, and it recommended soaking them in fresh gasoline.

My test experiment was left for 24 hours, and did show a slight discloration. And it might be more pronounced if dunked in a larger amount of solution, as opposed to the fairly small puddle I left in a nook.

Here's what I'm leaning toward. Soak overnight in either gasoline or diesel or kerosene, then soak in the Berryman's for a short time period, maybe 4 hours or so and then hot water rinse. The Berryman's will wash out with water whereas the other won't. Then I can blow air and follow up with canned carb spray if there are still places that need attention.

Maybe just forget the berryman's altogether after the overnight soak? My gasket kits won't be here until next week so I've still got some time to think about it.

If your really trying to get these cleaned up, go buy a 2.5 liter ultrasonic cleaner from hf. 1 hour in that with mr clean and water, you'll be good to go. All my carbs get that treatment about once a year on the dirt bikes. Never had any issues, once out of the cleaner, I rinse them in 90% alcohol.

That's a great idea, I'd do that! Just measured the carb. it won't fit in the tank. It's 10.5 long.. Dang.

go to lowes and get a box of tsp. using as hot as water as your hands in rubber gloves can stand mix in a liberal dose of tsp and wash with a tooth brush. i do motorcycle carbs this way and they come out nice and shiny with the original finish. i beleive that this is what is used in hot tanks in these parts. if you cannot get tsp they have a substitute that i have used that works as well. it is usually in the paint section. needless to say, rinse well after cleaning and blow off body and blow out jets with compressed air.

Just thought I'd update this as to the outcome. Carbs were pretty gunkey so they really needed some heavy duty cleaning. Soaked them in clean gas and it didn't really do very much, maybe loosened some of the varnish if anything.

Then went ahead and soaked them in Berryman's for 6-8 hours and no longer. I didn't buy another can but used their gallon can and just soaked half the carb for 6-8 and then flipped it over and dunked the other half for 6-8. It did not harm the finish, even where there was a small area of overlap. It did leave a little residue line where the solution stopped, but I'm ok with that and could probably get that off if I tried.

When soaking the carb tops they just sat on the bottom of the can. The carb bodies stood off the can bottom because of the linkage. I believe there might be more chance of finish removal if the carb is in direct contact with the metal of the can as there was some degradation on the carb tops where they touched the can bottom. Maybe just my imagination. Also noticed when soaking various parts in the parts basket some discoloration where the part touched the metal basket.

At any rate, I'm pleased with the results, they seem very clean and varnish free. Have one back together and are waiting on a few more parts for the second one before it get reassembled.