[Tatanka]

OK, not so much!

Pulled Bobo's carbs this evening ('83 1100SE) and they are none too clean, outside at least!

With the intake elbows turned up, there are the large O-rings that must be replaced, for sure. They are dead flat after almost 30 years of compression and heat.

The next photos will be with the top caps and throttle valves and bottoms (carb bowls) removed. Hopefully I will not have to eat crow with rrainey by having the WORST carbs ever seen! Tools that are NOT needed when re-building carbs: A hammer, a screwgun, and a torch. Takes an EASY touch, like this song suggests!

 

[Tatanka]

Caps, springs and throttle valves ("sliders") removed from top of carbs. Dirty, shellacked, but not horrible.

Bowls removed from bottom of carbs. Heavy shellac, crust on floats, and completely blocked main jets(and most likely everything else.) Better buy another big can of GumOut! Next step is to remove floats, jets, needle valves.

 

[Tatanka]

As long as I'm just talking to myself; so what are useful tools for carb rebuilding?
-GumOut or similar solvent with a nozzle tube. If as bad as these carbs of mine, Gunk Foamy Engine Brite to pre-soak the crud for at least a full day, re-spraying every 6 hours or so.
-A stiff bristle toothbrush. Don't want to use anything metal when working on insides of carbs (OK, yes, you do need to use a straight/Phillips screwdriver here and there, but not for cleaning, just disassembly.) Brass jets and seats are soft and easily messed up. When re-assembled, I'll use a brass brush to buff up the outside of a carb set a bit. Makes them purdier!
-A set of 6 cheap vinyl guitar strings, cut in 6" lengths. They're 6 different sizes and good for poking through Goo (technical term) in jets, seats, and channels in the carbs, and won't scratch the brass. Once there is an opening, then the GumOut can blow though and dissolve what's left.
-A smart phone, so you can search for a fine restaurant and book a reservation for dinner with your beloved/significant other, cause with the money you just saved cleaning up your own carbs, you can afford the best dinner in town!

 

[knelson1969]

I suggest soaking the disassembled parts in a good quality carb cleaner like you would find at Napa . Nothing works better to get all of the sediment out of the small passageways.
If you don't want to spend the cash you could use liquid plumber drain cleaner. Rinse with plenty of water and blow out with compressed air. Either way keep a close eye on it as both cleaners are very aggressive. Good luck.

 

[knelson1969]

If you decide to go with liquid plumber cut it with 50 percent boiling hot water the heat will open up the pours of the metal and release more crud.

 

[Tatanka]

I appreciate the suggestion, but I believe I'll steer clear of Liquid Plumber. Lye scares me.

I'll see what my options are at NAPA. In the past I just used plenty of GumOut (in a very well ventilated area) until all passages and jets had blow through. Once back together a stiff dose of Seafoam in the fuel and regular running seemed to clean out the rest OK. And these are about the worst carbs I've had to work on. But not as bad as the ones rrainey posted a photo of!

 

[knelson1969]

The carb cleaner in the tub works great but the downside is the expense and you have a tub of chemicals to get rid of when your done. One of my coworkers bought a 5 gallon bucket of the stuff used it 3 or 4 times then forgot about it until the bottom rotted out of the bucket. He said emergency services was scouring the neighborhood trying to find the source of the toxic smelling cloud. when I used to rebuild carbs for cars and trucks and I didn't want to deal with the chemicals I would go to a friends shop to have them soak the parts for me. I have never tried the gum out method but if it works for you it sounds much simpler.

 

[budoka]

I see the work is progressing quite well for you. You have more patience than I do for sure

 

[Tatanka]

Truth is that I have very little patience!

I'm going to try an experiment. The jets and needle valves are really bad, so I'm going to soak them in a 50:50 mix of fresh gas and Seafoam, in little capped bottles so I can swirl them to move things along. We'll see.

Tatanka runs like a scalded dog, so it's not like I'm on a schedule to get Bobo back together. When the carbs are done, they're done. The good news is that I haven't seen anything bad other than the level of Goo on some critical parts. Kinda need your Main jets.