Almost Half Way To Shiny Carbs

[bdholsin]

Since my bike is down right now for a bad rotor I decided it was a good opportunity to yank the carbs off and get that ugly paint off. I HATE the black as it is chipping away. Using the common home made baking soda blaster I took about an hour to accomplish this.

Still have some cleanup to do but I'll get them shiny before the end of the week.

 

[gggGary]

Are you going to paint the RH one black?
Looks great! If you are having a good time, I could send you a pair of mine....

 

[bdholsin]

Depending on how this goes I may just do that for you Gary.

My biggest problem with my setup is feeding the supply tube. The baking powder doesn't feed very well and I have to constantly shake the canister. I'm thinking a little electric motor with an upfeed auger bit would alleviate that problem...of course I'll also have to go BIGGER with my media hopper.

 

[Purplezinger]

Since my bike is down right now for a bad rotor I decided it was a good opportunity to yank the carbs off and get that ugly paint off. I HATE the black as it is chipping away. Using the common home made baking soda blaster I took about an hour to accomplish this.

Still have some cleanup to do but I'll get them shiny before the end of the week.

Soaking in PineSol (believe it or not) removes the black paint that come on Heritage model carbs.

 

[bdholsin]

Purplezinger, do you know if the black paint will dissolve with the pinesol or will some scrubbing be required?

 

[angus67]

house hold baking soda is too fine. use the amex agri grade. I have the hf small soda blaster and tried baking soda, and it plugged. switched to the stuff hf has, works great.

 

[sreimer]

I was at harbor freight the other day and saw that they now sell a pressurized soda blaster. Might be worth giving a try. I'm just using a small spotblaster for most of my stuff now which I need to keep shaking

 

[Purplezinger]

Purplezinger, do you know if the black paint will dissolve with the pinesol or will some scrubbing be required?

I have a small ultrasonic cleaner. I ran each carb for about an hour. The PineSol was heated to about 130/140 degrees F, the Heritage paint came off in chunks. Some came off in the bath, some came off as I rinsed them and a tooth brush finished the job. I've cleaned carbs with this ultrasonic before but this was the first time with PineSol, damn what a difference.

 

[highspeedhamish]

Guy at my friends motorcycle shop said Simple Green can also rip stuff off parts using an ultra sonic cleaner.. but perhaps its secret ingredient is Pine Sol? lol.

 

[marp68]

Good job!

 

[bdholsin]

I'm just experimenting with the home made baking soda blaster. Since I used parts I've had laying around, I can't complain about the performance for the price. I don't have access to an ultrasonic cleaner either. Bummer for me.

Thanks for the suggestions, guys.

 

[gggGary]

Drag out an old drip coffee maker, put pinesol in the pot, toss in your parts, turn it on. With the cheap harbor fright ultrasonic cleaner I think it's more the heat than the "ultrasonic"

 

[weekendrider]

BD the cleaning is looking good. You may have better luck if the baking soda is super dry and run through a fine screen(your grandmothers old flour sifter?). We are working with the same system (most likely) and any small pieces clog the tubing at the end of the air supply. One of the costs of cheap. imo.

 

[5twins]

I use the agricultural baking soda from the feed store, about $15 for a 50 lb. bag. Seems to work well. I have a small plastic blasting cabinet set-up, basically a converted 3 or 4 gallon plastic jug, big enough to hold one carb.

 

[weekendrider]

5twins does the cabinet pressure up any? Or said another way does it have air to help push.

 

[5twins]

It's a small portable blasting cabinet made out of a plastic jug I got years ago from JC Whitney. The gun is outside and sticks through a hole w/rubber grommet on the side of the jug. The media just lays in the bottom of the jug and is sucked into a pick-up tube and hose on the gun (inside the cabinet). Sort of like the home-made soda blaster but the media is retained so you re-use it. Now I've heard that the soda shatters in use and can't be re-used much but if I can get 3 or 4 carbs done instead of just one, that's fine. Better than one time use and soda all over the yard, lol. I'll take some pics.

 

[bdholsin]

So I've been working on these carbs on and off for a couple days. It seems that my duties as a homemaker are getting in the way of my bike fun.

I completed blasting one carb and just for kicks and grins I pulled out the dremel and put a steel wheel on it and started removing paint. The steel wheel puts a much brighter finish on the aluminum but it isn't quite even. I'm also having issues getting into some of the really tight nooks and corners. So I'm left with either trying Pinesol or blasting the areas I can't reach with the dremel.

What do you guys think about the A to B comparison below? The first pic (left one) is the dremel finished carb. The second pic (right one) is the baking soda blasted carb.

 

[gggGary]

While I can't get in everywhere the abrasive nylon brush wheels work rather well. Silver case paint?

 

[angus67]

looks nice in fotos, but i bet it looks strange in person? if you can find the moneys to get the 10# HF soda blaster, get it. I read somewhere back east that they are hvae stopped making the 10 pounders, and if you have the warantee for the 10 pounder, but are needing a replacement, HF is obligated to give you the next size up.

 

[bdholsin]

Angus, they do look a little strange right now but that's only because they don't match yet. I'm still mulling over what I want to do. I have plenty of time as I'm still waiting for my rotor puller from Mike's (bad rotor on the bike). Since I can't ride I'll do some cosmetic work. I was hoping to make the carbs visually "pop". Later today I'm going to blast the spots I couldn't reach with the dremel. After that I'm going to send them through the dishwasher (since my wife is at work I can do it covertly).