Jump to content

Carb & manifold cleaning + Bead Blasting = Easy


RB30X

Recommended Posts

I'm sure many of you are cringing at the thought of bead blasting carbs just as I was but after testing it on my old SU's, the results were quite good. I built myself a wooden bead blasting cabinet yesterday and thought I'd test it out. As you know, after installing bling braided fuel lines and speed flow fittings on the L24, all of a sudden the carbs and manifold got terribly dirty.;D

I've tried a few weak chemical cleaners and autosol etc but nothing really removed the stains. After I excepted that some of the throttle shafts were bent and would require dissassembly, i gave them a hit with beads.

 

Before:

Picture250636413.jpg

 

After:

Picture250636416.jpg

 

Picture250636418.jpg

 

Picture250636420.jpg

 

The blasted carb next to the others on the manifold, which I did hit with beads in a few small sections to see how they would work.

 

Picture250636417.jpg

 

One question I do have now is should I coat the new surface in a sealer? I have a small spray can of automotive paint clear, would that work or is there a better metal sealer/cear coat I should use?

 

Cheers

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've heard of people using hairspray to coat things to give a very thin protective coating. Not sure how that would go on hot areas though. What about a spray on wax coating. I know you can get heat resistant coatings like this. Go to Russco's paint supplies and have a chat to them on Duckworth st. They helped me out heaps when I was racing my Patrol. They're usually pretty helpfull. Another guy to chat to would be the owner of Bayswater rd radiators. He has a lot to do with motorsports up there and of course the guy on near ford that races a zed. I can't remember his name. He's a bit exxy sometimes though. Oh and if you're looking for replacement window and door rubber then go to C. Ede's on Mcilwrath st South Townsville. They have heaps of different rubbers there and good prices. If they don't have it in stock they can probably order it in. Just thought I'd throw those in there for you in case you didn't already know about them up there. ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you really want to clean them up, USE SODA BLASTING, mate i don't know how i lived without soda. I used it on my N42 head and boy oh boy, like new, only takes away organic compounds, fantastic. I made up a little hand blaster and works a treat, all it is is a hose with a football pumping nozzle stuck into it in the direction of flow and hay presto, soda blaster.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In the meanwhile, surfed the net and found this, seems there are some useful ideas out there

 

http://www.aircooledtech.com/tools-on-the-cheap/soda_blaster/

 

But I think WR-Us is on to something with the football pump tip, does it give you a more controlled localised area when directing the soda?

 

This set up looks like it would have way too much flow.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

home built soda blaster??? Hell yea...

Pics so i can copy your ideas thanks ;D ;D

 

anyway, depeding on what finish you want on the carbs will give you an idea what to do with them.

If you wanted them shiny, you'd need to sand them down, then polish them (an electric toothbrush is handy for getting into difficult spots)

If you want to keep the standard cast alloy look, get them as clean as you can.

Its also a good time to smooth off any casting marks, if they are obvious.

There is a real nice VHT paint, that is a high temp non gloss cast alloy finish.

Put a few coats of that over it, and they'll never dull off.

They are also easier to keep clean.

The real trick is attention to detail, if you make sure you dissasemble everything when you do it, you wont have screw heads and plugs painted over.

 

If you want to keed the raw alloy finish with no paint you'll just need to clean it off more often.

 

Whatever you do though, dont clear over the raw alloy.

It'll go yellow and flake off over time, and its a MASSIVE pain in the ass to get it all off.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

By the way, this thread has screwed around with my head as I also have triple DCOE's that need cleaning, so surfing this afternoon I came across a mob in Melbourne who can ceramic coat aluminium, going to look into it this week and will post back on the forum.

 

Cheers

 

John

Link to comment
Share on other sites

RB30x,

FWIW, about 3 years ago I had my manifold and triple webers glass bead blasted and I then coated them with Glisten PC which is one of the PPC products (the makers of POR15).  I am more than happy with the result, there is no yellowing and any petrol stains can be easily removed with a spray of carb cleaner.  I am going to use the same stuff on the polished alloy wheels of a classic motorcycle I am restoring.  See link

http://ppcco.com.au/topcoat_glistenpc.htm

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sounds like the go this coating stuff you speak of. I should've checked this thread earlier this arv. I've done the rest of the carbs and manifold and the one I did yesterday had already started oxidising on the surface where my acidic hands had touched it, so I had to do it again. I had some clear coat left in a tin so I tried that to see how the finish was. I was very happy with the result. The surface soaked up the clear and you can't really see that it has been applied. I wasn't ever going for polished bling look, just a new surface finish which I think is what I got.

 

What did it take me so long to discover bead blasting????????

 

Picture250636423.jpg

 

Picture250636425.jpg

 

Picture250636428.jpg

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...