I decided that my Edelbrock Carburetor needed cleaned after 150K and a lot of bad gas ran through it so I ordered a kit and a 3- quart can of Gunk Carburetor cleaner. I disassembled the carburetor and put the parts in the cleaner and left them in for 30-minutes instead of the recommended 20. I pulled the parts out of the cleaner and washed them down with water and they are as dirty as they were when I put them in. I remember 50 years ago when I cleaned carburetor parts in my automotive shop, they came out looking brand new. Did I do something wrong or is this Gunk stuff not worth a crap anymore. I think brake cleaner would have done a better job.

 

Can’t speak to the current chemistry, I find the smell of the original so offensive I’ve not used it in years. On the other hand, when researching the purchase of an ultrasonic cleaner, there were quite a few videos of the Harbor Freight unit being used to clean carbs. Might be worth looking into. Watch out for some of the solutions made for ultrasonic cleaning, some damage aluminum.

Michael

 

Hey Gary, been awhile buddy. How you doing ? The formula was changed because og EPA regs and what you have now is a some what neutered product but it won't give you blah blah blah. People are using simple green now to some success .. How's your rig running these days ?

 

Well the key ingredient MEK was removed. It's now just glorified mineral spirits now. Diesel fuel or gasoline works better. A heated ultra sonic works great if you can find one large enough.

 

Yes the gunk cleaner in the blue and orange paint cans didn’t do the trick for me either.

the only soaks I know that work are Beryman’s in the 5 gallon (not the commonly available 1 gallon pail) and CRC Tyme-1.

You can google the MSDS for any carb cleaner and whichever has the most warnings usually works the best.

I even made my own with mineral spirits, acetone, brush cleaner, and MEK paint stripper.

honestly the simple green really works and won’t mutate your DNA.

Pines-Sol too, but it turns carbs black/ dissolves the cadmium finish.

My 10L ultrasonic cost less than $200 and has been faithfully performing.

 

It dows not work like it used to thats for sure. The ultrasonic works good really too good. I used purple power and water 50/50 mix and in 20 mins it began to remove the finish off the carb


Finish burned off

 

Purple power is lye-based and should never be used on non ferrous metal especially aluminium. The metal will break down and it's the internal corrosion that hurts the performance. Use a aluminum safe cleaner, I suggest Simple Green HD 3. It's the exact same as the Simple Green Aviation cleaner just bottled for the consumer market.

 

The simple green industrial grade is what I used with great results... got it at ACE Hardware, though I am sure it's available at a number of places. Non diluted and when done just dumped it in my parts washer.

The green stuff:

The purple stuff may turn your carb black or eat away at the finish... it's way to aggressive.

I have also heard good things about Pine-Sol (original scent), but haven't tried it. Just plain ol simple green works wonders.

 

I used a heated pinesol and distilled water bath once and it stripped everything off, including the zinc dichromate finish. I advise wearing gloves if you go this route as it will dry out your hands real bad. I wish I'd thought of the ultrasonic, since I already have one, lol.

 

Yup for that reason I don’t use Pine-Sol anymore except for junk or lawnmower carbs.

it turns the smooth shiny finish to dark and pitted—probably starts disintegrating the carb body.

That Simple green used by flecker looks amazing.

 

I recently rebuilt an edelbrock using berrymans 1 gallon can. The top and bottom main body’s of the carb won’t fit in there and instead if pouring it out in a tupperware I just dipped a toothbrush in the can and scrubbed the main body parts that way. They came out very clean, but surface imperfections obviously stayed. Discoloring and surface oxidation.

I left all my small parts in there for a day and a half and it cleaned them well. Grease and chemicals were either gone or so loose they came off with wiping. I put like three big cans of spray carb cleaner all over everything and inside the main body parts to get the berrymans off. I’m happy with it, I think an ultra sonic cleaner would be needed to really affect the finish on the main body parts.

Even then I think the finish on most carbs is kinda akin to galvanizing and it does oxidize and wear off so in most instances a cleaner isn’t going to able to get the factory look back and if it does it’s not gonna hold up as could as the first time. I wonder if it’s possible to have a carb sprayed with a fine thin heat resistant coating like cerakote. I don’t know the resistance to gas though.

My stuff didn’t come out nearly as clean as the guys stuff on Powernation did. But they used something out of a 5 gallon bucket that fit the whole carb in it, and I think the episode aired before 1999, so maybe that’s why.

 

Not only does it not remove the old finish, the real deal Berryman’s actually re-deposits a light chromate finish.

I bought a couple carbs from National Rebuilds in Florida and they appear to have all the chromate removed and clear coated with epoxy!

 

Thanks for all the help guys. I think I will try the Simple Green. It’s cheap enough that I will get a gallon and put the base of the Edelbrock in a bucket and pour the Simple Green in to cover the complete base. I am not concerned about making the outside pretty. I want to clean out all of the passages inside of the carburetor. I picked up some crap gas in Deer Lodge Montana and it gummed up the carburetor so bad that I barely made it to Dillon for the night. The next morning, I put the spare carburetor on, filled up with fresh gas, cleaned all the fuel filters and headed home. Anybody know how long I could soak that Edelbrock in the Simple Green without damaging it?

 

Been a long time since I have been on here things have changed. I am not sure how to navigate on here anymore. I am doing okay, getting older and fatter. The trucks been running great, I took a 3500 mile trip through seven of the western states pulling my fifth wheel and no problems. The thing doesn't pull like a diesel but it's close to it. Get a lot of thumbs up when people pass and I almost always draw a crowd with a lot of questions when I stop for gas. I have put about 65,000 miles on it since I restored it. I have been doing a lot of traveling and writing since my wife died. I have two book published and the first one is doing quite well. The other one is at the publishing house and should be in print in the next few weeks. Hope you're doing well.

 

Been a long time since I have been on here things have changed. I am not sure how to navigate on here anymore. I am doing okay, getting older and fatter. The trucks been running great, I took a 3500 mile trip through seven of the western states pulling my fifth wheel and no problems. The thing doesn't pull like a diesel but it's close to it. Get a lot of thumbs up when people pass and I almost always draw a crowd with a lot of questions when I stop for gas. I have put about 65,000 miles on it since I restored it. I have been doing a lot of traveling and writing since my wife died. I have two book published and the first one is doing quite well. The other one is at the publishing house and should be in print in the next few weeks. Hope you're doing well.