Reconstituting Old Rubber Parts for your carbs.

Yes you are reading this correctly. "Reconstituting Old Rubber Parts" for your carburetors.
Some of the guys around laugh at me that I like to Blow Up things with my Chemicals. :blush: OK maybe sometimes things don't go quite as planed. (fortunately I haven't destroyed anything yet on any of my bikes) About a week ago there was a very nice post here about new rubber diaphragms for carburetor slides.
kzrider.com/index.php?option=com_kunena&...ew&catid=3&id=375201

In the time of this thread, I have discovered that I had a bunch of unusable slides because the rubber shrunk with age. At this point the diaphragms would not fit in the prescribed groves because of severe shrinkage. As demonstrated by this picture. The shrinkage is a good 5+%, rendering the slides JUNK.

Along with the shrinkage, the rubber got stiff, and was in danger of cracking. You can see in these pictures that the slide gos half way down into the pocket and is prevented from going farther by the stiff rubber.

Since I had these "Junk" slides I figured that i had nothing to loose by experimenting. I decided to start mixing some of the chemicals and synthetic moisturizers to see if I can bring these back to life. After extensive submerged soaking and depredation tests. I came up with a solvent blend with moisturizers that completely reconstituted the rubber to like new condition with complete pliability and original size all reconstructed. (And- NO Peanut Oil is not in the blend) :ohmy: :woohoo: I have now been experimenting all week with this blend and have found Zero degradation of the rubber. I installed a set of "reconstituted" slides into my carbs and found a big difference. Now because the rubber is completely soft and pliable, There is no extra and uneven resistance created by the diaphragms and the response of the carburetors is much smoother.

The old diaphragms drop right into the locating grove and the slides drop right down into the venturi because the rubber no longer provides any resistance.

Another chemical formulation for rubber restoration:

Successfully Resurrecting Old Rubber Parts
(Found on the internet)

This subject has been broached before but I am happy to report success in revitalizing old rubber.

I have been using a mixture of 30% wintergreen oil (methyl salicylate) and 70% xylene to restore old rubber parts and it works beautifully. This is the same ingredients and proportions for the commercial product Rubber Renue according to the MSDS sheets.

Wintergreen oil is analgesic and liniment for aching muscles and found in most drugstores, pharmacies, health food stores and co-ops.

I gently heated rock hard honda CB carb boots with a heat gun for 30 seconds and dropped them into mason jars with my solution for 12 hours at room temperature. They come soft, pliable and looking good. They have been out of solution for 48 hours now and are still soft and pliable. I soaked smaller rubber parts such as side panel grommets and there extremely soft and may need to soak for less time

These things are literally like new.

Obviously this process will not help rubber that already has holes in it due to cracking, but it can bring to life any rubber that is still solid.

I will now also try this process on plastic used in the airbox boots, but I am confident that the results will be equally good.

If any one is interested you can PM me.

And they will smell great too. bj

Not in my case, since I am using chemical compounds which are used in the actual manufacture of rubber. Theres no Vick's Mentholated rub here. Mine will just smell like rubber and wont evaporated with extended use and heat and Gasoline.

MFolks wrote:

Another chemical formulation for rubber restoration:

Successfully Resurrecting Old Rubber Parts
(Found on the internet)

This subject has been broached before but I am happy to report success in revitalizing old rubber.

I have been using a mixture of 30% wintergreen oil (methyl salicylate) and 70% xylene to restore old rubber parts and it works beautifully. This is the same ingredients and proportions for the commercial product Rubber Renue according to the MSDS sheets.

Yeah, thats the stuff we used on old tape deck drive belts and idler wheels. As I recall, it was a temporary perk up and did not last very long.

bountyhunter wrote:

MFolks wrote:

Another chemical formulation for rubber restoration:

Successfully Resurrecting Old Rubber Parts
(Found on the internet)

This subject has been broached before but I am happy to report success in revitalizing old rubber.

I have been using a mixture of 30% wintergreen oil (methyl salicylate) and 70% xylene to restore old rubber parts and it works beautifully. This is the same ingredients and proportions for the commercial product Rubber Renue according to the MSDS sheets.

Yeah, thats the stuff we used on old tape deck drive belts and idler wheels. As I recall, it was a temporary perk up and did not last very long.

Xylene will definitely swell rubber, but once it drys back out you are worse off than you were. I found some polymers which last almost as long as the original latex polymers that are in the original product.

otakar wrote:

bountyhunter wrote:

MFolks wrote:

Another chemical formulation for rubber restoration:

Successfully Resurrecting Old Rubber Parts
(Found on the internet)

This subject has been broached before but I am happy to report success in revitalizing old rubber.

I have been using a mixture of 30% wintergreen oil (methyl salicylate) and 70% xylene to restore old rubber parts and it works beautifully. This is the same ingredients and proportions for the commercial product Rubber Renue according to the MSDS sheets.

Yeah, thats the stuff we used on old tape deck drive belts and idler wheels. As I recall, it was a temporary perk up and did not last very long.

Xylene will definitely swell rubber, but once it drys back out you are worse off than you were. I found some polymers which last almost as long as the original latex polymers that are in the original product.

Interesting. That would be the rubber fountain of youth if it can penetrate deeply and get through all the oxidized rubber.

As long as it has no cracks or tares. It can be hard and dry.