Ultrasonic carb cleaning

My brother in law George just bought a nice sized ultrasonic cleaner from Harbor Freight. George was eager to try out the ultrasonic cleaner so the KZ carbs got a thorough cleaning. They were pretty nasty so we scrubbed them with Kaboom first. That got rid of the crusty stuff. Then a fifteen minute bath in the cleaner and they were nice and clean.





As you see, the carbs aren't fully immersed so we had to rotate them regularly so that all of the crevices were cleaned. For a cleaning agent, George uses Cascade dishwashing powder.

So, the next part of the project is to seal the tank with POR15.

I wish that he had bought the cleaner before I cleaned the ZR carbs though.

Here's the specs on the cleaner from Harbor Freight.

Harbor Freight
www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=91957
Model #91957
Price: $180.00 (was on sale for $150.00)
Tank size: 5" wide x 9" long x 4" deep.
Features: 5 to 60 minute electronic timer.

The good:
Cheap (compared to a Quest or Branson (about $300.00 to $380.00).
Works killer good.
Timer is a nice feature.
Included S/S wire grate keeps items off of bottom of tank (but decreases usable depth by 3/4".

The bad:
2 1/2 weeks delivery.
No drain on the tank (a little messy to empty.

Scozz

Sounds great. Got any pics of the finished product?

Yes, the ultrasonic cleaners are great, arent they. Its amazing what sound waves can do. I have a Health sonics cleaner and it works wonders on carbs and it is the larger size so I can do a full 4 cylinder rack at 1 cleaning cycle.
Daniel

Rob, pictures don't quite capture how clean the carbs are. My brother in law took several and this is about the best one.

I'll say this though, I felt like I was holding brand new* carburetors once they had been blown out and dried.

Dan, my brother in law was jonesin' for a larger cleaner but the prices are high. He took a chance on the Harbor Freight model. We're both wondering if it will last long enough to pay for itself.

Scozz

* Brand new except for the dirty idle adjuster and rusty carb tops (I'll be painting those shortly)

Post edited by: scozzmo, at: 2005/11/06 16:05

Scozzmo wrote:

Dan, my brother in law was jonesin' for a larger cleaner but the prices are high. He took a chance on the Harbor Freight model. We're both wondering if it will last long enough to pay for itself.

Scozz

Yeah, My cleaner cost big $.Its been back to the manufacturer once to have repairs and it needs to go back in about a month for repairs (The first repair broke again about a week out of the repair warrenty).
Does your cleaner have a heater? I seen very few and know little about them (other than mine)
I went to an auction about 1 month ago and bought a couple of big boxes of carbs. I've been cleaning them since, probably have about 55 sets of carbs cleaned and still cleaning (for Ebay). I'm getting tired of looking at carbs.
My cleaner has more than paid for its self in a years time.
Daniel

You want to remove float needles and other moveable parts if you want to reuse them. The vibration caused by these ultrasonic units can cause excessive wear on parts like this.

Heres a set of KZ 650 carbs Before

Post edited by: dgfischer, at: 2005/12/07 09:09

Here they are after. They were pre cleaned before putting in the cleaner (My cleaning solution last longer).



Post edited by: dgfischer, at: 2005/12/07 09:12

Hey Scozzmo,
Why are you going to seal the tank? Check out my article on rusty tanks in the Articles section.
KZCSI

Post edited by: kzcsi, at: 2005/12/07 14:56

KZCSI,

nice article on cleaning tanks. i think i'm going to try it on a bike i recently purchased. I just have one question, where can i purchase the chemicals mentioned in your article?

tw

KZCSI wrote:

Hey Scozzmo,
Why are you going to seal the tank? Check out my article on rusty tanks in the Articles section.
KZCSI<br><br>Post edited by: kzcsi, at: 2005/12/07 14:56

Well, as it turns out, I don't need to seal the tank. A thorough look inside showed that I really didn't have a severe rust problem. The acid flush took care of what little problem I did have.

Excellent article you've written.

Scott

You can get Muriatic acid at Home Depot in the garden section. We buy it for pool chem use. Naval Jelly should be available at Home Depot as well.

My question is: Do you not dillute the muriatic acid with water? Or go full strength? Just wanted to check. I'm planning on going at it this weekend and was going to do the lye job on it, but I already have the acid and naval jelly...

Thanks,