Cleaning Carb, no air compressor?

[bhughes]

Does everyone on here that cleans their carb have an air compressor, or do they sell cans of air or something to use to spray in the carb after you clean it? I don't have an air compressor.

I've never done this before and I'm going to do it this weekend. Also, is it make a difference on spraying the carb or soaking it?

 

[14ftgrumman]

Re: Cleaning Carb, no air compressor?

Blast it good with Berryman's B12 ChemTool. Best carb spray I've ever sold or used. (Sold car parts for 30 years).I've seen it at WalMart, among other laces. Set it soak in a while and blast again. Keep blasting it until you thonk you've blasted it enough, then do it one more time. Get several cans of the compressed air that you use to clean computer nooks and crannies.
Make sure you blast this thru every hole and opening in the carb.
Find some Nitrile gloves, that carb cleaner will take the hide off you.

 

[Chris1956]

Re: Cleaning Carb, no air compressor?

Wear safety glasses as well. You will occasionally get blasted in the eyes. If you have plastic parts on the carbs, be careful with that stuff. You can use some WD-40 to rinse off the ChemTool, so the plastic doesn't get soft. Do not soak plastic carbs in a strong carb solvent.

 

[bhughes]

Re: Cleaning Carb, no air compressor?

It's a 1974 25 hp johnson. Will it be pretty easy to determine what needs to come off the carburetor (ie plastic parts) and what can stay to be cleaned? Do I need to wear gloves as well?

 

[petryshyn]

Re: Cleaning Carb, no air compressor?

The amount of money that it costs for canned air, and the amount of money you are saving by doing it yourself will easily pay for a cheap $60 compressor that can be used elsewhere as well. IMO....

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Cleaning Carb, no air compressor?

74 25 carb you can dunk all of it. except the little plastic gromets, for the linkage. gloves? i don't, but keep my hands washed.

 

[bailey]

Re: Cleaning Carb, no air compressor?

If you're really stuck and you own a "shop vac" type vaccum cleaner just switch the vaccum hose (take it out of the hole that it is normally in and put the hose in the hole were your exhasted air comes out). Tape up the end of the hose leaving only a small hole opening that way you can build up the air , thereby increasing the pressure.

 

[bhughes]

Re: Cleaning Carb, no air compressor?

Hey, not a bad idea. I don't have a shop vac though. I think I might go ahead and get an air compressor from walmart if they have one for $60 or less. I used to live in a condo with very little storage, but now we've got a garage so I need to build up my tool collection.

 

[samo_ott]

Re: Cleaning Carb, no air compressor?

As much as I should I don't usually blow out my carbs... You can usually see every hole and can tell if they're clean or not... But folks will not agree with me probably. What I find handy is the tip cleaning tool one uses for acetylene torches. They are great cleaners for the tiny holes. Much better than strands of wire.

Definitely wear goggles. The carb spray will always blast back at you at some point.

 

[Boss Hawg]

Re: Cleaning Carb, no air compressor?

Does everyone on here that cleans their carb have an air compressor, or do they sell cans of air or something to use to spray in the carb after you clean it? I don't have an air compressor.

I've never done this before and I'm going to do it this weekend. Also, is it make a difference on spraying the carb or soaking it?

One of the best small investments i ever made was a $99 2hp air compressor from Harbor Freight

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: Cleaning Carb, no air compressor?

I have an ancient huge compressor that was given to me many years ago. It is overkill for what I need but it sure does the job !!!

 

[psteurer]

Re: Cleaning Carb, no air compressor?

Here's another idea. Buy a MityVac 7000 for about $30. With this tool, you not only can apply a stream of air but also a vacuum. When using the vacuum, you can actually suck pieces of crude out of the carburetor when something is stuck. Another use for the Mityvac is for pressurizing and vacuum testing lower units. That is what I originally bought mine for but then started using it on carburetors.