kingr
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| posted on 15/11/02 at 10:52 AM |
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Cleaning Carbs
I recently bought some Weber DCOE 40's, and received them yesterday, opened the box and found, not entirely suprisingly, that they weren't in their
peek of health.
I'm planning on getting a couple of service kits for them, and sorting the internals, but what my real question is, what is the best stuff to use for
cleaning up the outsides? At the moment I'm using some general purpose metal cleaner (klin I think it's called) which is ok, but a lot of effort, is
there something better out there?
I'm guessing the carbs are made of cast ali, is this correct?
Also, has anyone got any tips/things I should watch out for while I'm stripping them down/rebuilding.
And finally, what's the best book about servicing and tuning webers?
TIA
Kingr
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 15/11/02 at 11:38 AM |
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You can't beat a spray can or two of proper carb cleaner - it's amazingly good for the job. The only warning is that the stuff is really evil and
should only be used in good ventilation.
The best recommendation for stripping them down is to do one at a time (to avoid mixing parts), have a really clean bench or table, and maybe put a
piece of clean paper on top of the bench (brown paper, surplus wallpaper, or whatever).
You will probably find that a proper Weber service kit has a component 'exploded diagram' - this is really useful.
Oh, and be prepared for the flight of unexpected springs!
Have a look in the "Which Kit" booklist for a carb maintenance book - I'm sure I've seen one.
David
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kingr
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| posted on 15/11/02 at 01:01 PM |
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Carb cleaner works for the outside of them too does it? I always assumed it was for unbunging the internals, learn something new every day 
Kingr
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jollygreengiant
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| posted on 15/11/02 at 01:17 PM |
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carb cleaning
Cleanliness is next to godliness or sumin like that.
Clean, spotlessly clean work area, carb cleaner and a good clean supply of compressed air (low pressure) for blowing out the jets, fuel way & air
ways. that is basically all you require. Remembering that the size marked on the jets in numbers basically refers to the size of the hole in the jet
0.***mm. Where the *** is the number, then you can see that a fragment of your hair (unless you are folically challenged) would give you a blocked
jet. Check your fuel floats for leaks in hot water, holes will have little bubles coming out of them. and set your float level very carefully
according to the overhaul manual.
Oh and if its still printed I believe that haynes do or did a weber carbs manual and it even told you how to work out jet sizes for callibrating non
original equipment carbs or specials.
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kingr
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| posted on 19/11/02 at 09:32 AM |
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At the exeter show, there was a company selling some stuff that claimed to clean up ali, and they had a bit of pipe they'd cleaned up that seemed
quite good, so I bought a bottle. The instructions say to spray it on, aggitate it, and the rinse it off (which does stuff all), or to dip the parts
in a container of the stuff (which works a treat), it stinks like burning tires, fizzes and bubbles, and puts a thick white goo on the part, but then
you wash it and that comes off, leaving it a dull black colour, it's then a quick job to give it a brush with the autosol, and Bob's your uncle
(that's unlucky), nice clean cast aluminium.
I do have some concerns though, most importantly, it's made from sulphuric and phosphoric acid, how dangerous is this stuff, obviously, leaving it on
your skin, drinking it, getting it in your eyes, so on, is bad, but do I want to take further measures to make sure it doesn't get on my skin at all,
rather than just rinsing it off, and having a quick scrub with bicarbonate of soda? Also, it obviously takes corrosion off jolly nicely, but does it
stop there, or does it carry on eating away at the ali, ideally I'd like to be able to just dump the stipped down carb into the stuff, leave it a few
hours, and pull it out, but will this ruin the carb?
Kingr
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kingr
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| posted on 20/11/02 at 09:45 AM |
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OK guys, word of warning, if you're going to use this stuff, then take precautions, I would strongly reccomend wearing a respirator. Looking at
information on phosporic acid reveals that you can die of respiratory failure due to inhalation of this stuff. It does work, but it is also dangerous,
be warned.
Kingr
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steve m
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| posted on 21/11/02 at 05:34 AM |
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i have used the carb cleaner quite a few times, and it is really good
my other method is wait for wifey to go to work, unload dishwasher (if i can find it)
load up dishwasher with all of the dirty bits alui bits, engine bits, etc
not sure if i am damaging anything but they all come up clean, well clean enough to eat off!!!!!!!!!
and wifey is pleased that ive ventured into the kitchen and done some thing productive
moral is i get clean car parts and wifey likes me for another day
"bob dont tell jan"
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bob
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| posted on 21/11/02 at 07:33 PM |
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your secrets safe with me steve
I've not tried this yet,but if i've got time i'll have a go the weekend.
Fill bucket with water then throw in lods of persil/daz whatever followed by carb.
An old geezer told me this one,i've tested on coins and thermo housings and it does seem to work.Its probably the same cleaning aditives as stevem's
dishwasher solvents,but without having to wait for wifey to go out
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Viper
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| posted on 21/11/02 at 07:44 PM |
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Haynes do a Weber service manual...
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johnston
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| posted on 21/11/02 at 09:30 PM |
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did someone not post a website in this group that gave diagrams to all the webbers????
i no theres one out there ive seen it
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kingr
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| posted on 22/11/02 at 11:20 AM |
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I bought a book about tuning and rebuilding carbs at Exeter which seems quite good, and it's got some interesting pictures and diagrams, so once the
photos section is back up, the book might accidentally fall onto my scanner, scan several diagrams and post them on here, funny how these things
happen.
Bob - I'll give the washing suds trick a try, if it works, all the better, it'll save me buying more of this evil acid stuff, and standing around
outside in the cold looking like Darth Vader's ugly brother, wearing glove, a respirator and goggles.
Kingr
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jollygreengiant
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| posted on 23/11/02 at 12:27 AM |
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cleaning carbs
For that matter you could use coke! Have you seen what that does to a 2p coin?!.
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kingr
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| posted on 23/11/02 at 01:21 AM |
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Yeah, and look what it did to Daniella Westbrook's nose!!
Kingr
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Sparky
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| posted on 23/11/02 at 11:24 AM |
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If you're just after a method of removing oil and petrol residue, regular carb cleaner is just cellulose thinners in an aerosol.
You can buy five litres of cellulose standard thinner for the same price as a 500ml can of carb cleaner. Get yourself a pump-up garden sprayer and
bob's yer uncle.
I suggest a ventilated area and no smoking however!! 
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kingr
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| posted on 23/11/02 at 12:16 PM |
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OK, tried the soap suds method, left the carb in it over night, and it did ........... absolutely nothing, certainly not that I can notice.
Sparky - It's more than just oil and dirt, the ali has oxidised so it looks rough and discoloured.
Kingr
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bob
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| posted on 23/11/02 at 09:21 PM |
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thanks for that,its saved me the trouble
I'll stick to the carb cleaning spray since the brake cleaning spray was pretty good.
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Simon
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| posted on 26/11/02 at 12:15 PM |
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My engine rather filthy, and carbs oily in places, oxidized elsewhere.
Tried wire brush in electric drill.
BUT BE GENTLE:-)
Brings it up quite nicely.
As engine/carbs all ally, should look quite bright.
ATB
Simon
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