Cleaning Carb Casing & Inlet Manifold

[cjhillman]

Before anyone says Carb Cleaner Whats the best thing (that I could have laying around) to clean the casing up of my Weber 32/36? I think If i get wire wool on it It will end up damaging the finish. I have WD40, Petrol and Brake fluid that I could use oh, and an old tooth brush.

I would also like to clean the inlet manifold to try and brighten the engine bay up. Any ideas for that? Maybe i'll have to go a buy some gunk or something to get the first off.

Thanks
Chris

[duggers]

Picture would help with sage advice form many sources i'll bet.....

[steveg]

Are you planning on removing things or just doing what you car with it in the car ? I've cleaned alloy up a bit using Cif and a brush in the past, might work on bit's of the manifold where you can get to it but wouldn't be such a good idea on the carb itself. It's a bit abrasive but washes off quite easily.

If you are doing it on the car some petrol on a brush might soften any brown stuff on the carb but carb cleaner probably works best. You could put rags round everything to catch all the stuff that comes off but it might be worth doing this first and then degreasing the rest of the engine.

You can put plastic bags over electrics and if you spend time getting into all the corners with brushes etc you can wash most of the crud off without using a lot of water.

If the alloy is a bit white and crispy, oil or WD40 will make it less obvious if you can't get in to clean it up easily.

[truckdoctor]

Jun 12, 2020 19:01:57 GMT cjhillman said:

Before anyone says Carb Cleaner Whats the best thing (that I could have laying around) to clean the casing up of my Weber 32/36? I think If i get wire wool on it It will end up damaging the finish. I have WD40, Petrol and Brake fluid that I could use oh, and an old tooth brush.

I would also like to clean the inlet manifold to try and brighten the engine bay up. Any ideas for that? Maybe i'll have to go a buy some gunk or something to get the first off.

Thanks
Chris

I have used moist washing powder left overnight wrapped up in a plastic bag. Works quite well.

[cjhillman]

Thanks all! I should have mentioned the carb is off the car for a rebuild and thats why I wanted to clean it up. I should go and get some carb cleaner, I was hoping to get away without it. I was going to paint the inlet with some VHT (and do the manifold if theres any left) but I think I'm just making more jobs for myself there.

[melle]

I use Brillo pads to get the gunk off, then put carbs in the ultrasonic tank to remove any scale. Manifolds I soak a couple weeks in water with washing powder (stir every now and then to supply oxygen and replace when dirty) before attacking them with Brillos. Gunk works pretty well, but stinks badly.