What do you use in your parts washer?

[Bear1]

Ok, I finally retired and my first project is to build a Dual Purpose/Scrambler. I have a lot of parts collected over a lot of years and the first step is to get my "Shop" in order. This first question is. what do you use in your parts washer. When i was active many years ago I used Simple Green with a heater. It worked pretty good and I didn't have to worry about getting rid of any solvents. I am looking for any suggestions as I am starting with a clean sheet. I started cleaning my 79 bottom end with kerosene and rinsed with BikeBrite. It is cleaned up good enough for me to start taking it apart but it was a bi*ch rolling it around on my garden cart to clean it up. Thanks for anything you have to offer.

 

[ThatXS650Guy]

Kerosene

 

[Mailman]

Yup! Kerosene for the really nasty degreasing. A 50/50 mix of simple green and water in a sonic cleaner for carburetors and small hardware. Common household degreasing sprays such as 409 and a green scrubbing pad to get the hard to remove deposits from the case and fins. And assorted Dremel brushes for final detail cleaning.
Nothing but elbow grease brother!

 

[bosco659]

Yup! Kerosene for the really nasty degreasing. A 50/50 mix of simple green and water in a sonic cleaner for carburetors and small hardware. Common household degreasing sprays such as 409 and a green scrubbing pad to get the hard to remove deposits from the case and fins. And assorted Dremel brushes for final detail cleaning.
Nothing but elbow grease brother!
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Did you polish the carbs or does the simple green solution “brighten” up the alloy surface?

 

[Bear1]

Thank you both. I kinda figured that was the answer I was going to get; I was just curious if there was some super cleaner out there. it always comes down to good old fashioned elbow grease. Nice job and great pictures by the way. I'm about 60% of that so far. I actually used pump diesel because I could get it for $5.50 and kerosene is sold as heater fluid around here and goes for over $15 a gal. Are your pictures pre or post assembly? My stuff has been sitting around for a long time so I am going to disassemble, inspect and reassemble with all new seals and gaskets. I'm using MikesXS Big fin kit and will just be smoothing out the ports. I haven't decided whether to use my Shell Cam or one of my standard cams yet. I'm not going for hi performance as much as reliability. I'm building the bike to use out in New Mexico where there are a lot of secondary and fire roads to ride.

 

[RustiePyles]

I use Crown PSC100 occasionally topped up with kero.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...LmU_s7gIzAsm3uOZY7_TgCqWzgmZVQIhoCmfQQAvD_BwE

 

[Mailman]

Are your pictures pre or post assembly?

A mix of both.

Did you polish the carbs or does the simple green solution “brighten” up the alloy surface?

They come out of the simple green , clean , but rather dull looking. I then hit them with some small brass wire wheels in my Dremel. They shine right up.