Topic: inexpensive carburetor cleaning tools.

[Frankencake]

I have melded my guitar playing and bike wrenching.  I was trying to find a tip cleaner set that had the right cleaner for the smallest of orifices and couldn't.  I was looking for a small, hardened wire.  Guitar strings are just that.  They come in many sizes and they are the perfect tool for de-crudding those small holes.  The larger sizes come wound with a few different kinds of metal.  Nickel, bronze or silver.  They have a rasping effect that works well.  Happy wrenching!

[EdB]

i never though of that. lol 

[SteveD CB500F]

TT has been extolling the virtues of guitar strings for a while now.

I'm not sure how many forum members have access to them though! (not me that's for sure...)

[Gordon]

I'm not sure how many forum members have access to them though! (not me that's for sure...)

Sure you do!  Just walk into a store that sells musical instruments and ask for a cheap set of guitar strings.  Over here you can get a pack for 5 bucks. 

[754]

Using the wound ones could damage your jets. anything harder than brass can.

 In fact most recommend very soft wire for cleaning carbs, ie copper or aluminum, maybe even monofilament, just for those reasons.

[Frankencake]

Using the wound ones could damage your jets. anything harder than brass can
 In fact most recommend very soft wire for cleaning carbs, ie copper or aluminum, maybe even monofilament, just for those reasons.

I would imagine that using a sawing action would do damage to your jets.  Even mono-filament can cut metal.  I've seen it.  My rule is stop way before I see particles of metal flying off.  It's not too hard to imagine someone who will damage jets in this way but they shouldn't be working on motorcycles and they should learn from their mistakes.  Darwin awards don't just apply to unintentional suicide.

[Steve F]

Using the wound ones could damage your jets. anything harder than brass can
 In fact most recommend very soft wire for cleaning carbs, ie copper or aluminum, maybe even monofilament, just for those reasons.

I would imagine that using a sawing action would do damage to your jets.  Even mono-filament can cut metal.  I've seen it.  My rule is stop way before I see particles of metal flying off.  It's not too hard to imagine someone who will damage jets in this way but they shouldn't be working on motorcycles and they should learn from their mistakes.  Darwin awards don't just apply to unintentional suicide.

My Dad used welding torch tip cleaners on his lawn tractor engine's carb, and could never figure out why the plug kept fouling out after that.  Turned out he actually enlarged the orifice about a whole size!    Try the chemical cleaner and compressed air route first before using the wires.  You CAN actually use wires, I have, but you have to be really REALLY careful not to damage the jets or seating surfaces.

[Frankencake]

"""""My Dad used welding torch tip cleaners on his lawn tractor engine's carb, and could never figure out why the plug kept fouling out after that.  Turned out he actually enlarged the orifice about a whole size!    Try the chemical cleaner and compressed air route first before using the wires.  You CAN actually use wires, I have, but you have to be really REALLY careful not to damage the jets or seating surfaces.""""


There is something to be said for finesse when working with small parts.  Although it is bigger than a bread box, a motorcycle, tractor, or anything else has it's delicate parts.  Finesse, gentlemen and ladies.  My favorite warning label was on a Harley part I once saw.  It said:  "use of good common sense is required when installing or using this product" 
  Just a question:  Does this forum have a high population lawyers and insurance adjusters?  I'm just wondering.

[BobbyR]

use only the hi E string which is the smallest and use it sparingly. It is most useful on the emulsion tube holes where the white crap from the MBTE forms. A strand of copper wire from a lamp cord for everything else, it is softer than the metal . What you are doing is losening up the crap so you can flush it away. 

[eldar]

I do not even worry about it. I mean unless you are either roto-rootering the damn jet or using too big of wire, nothing will happen. They are not THAT soft. I have gone to town pretty good with my honda carb cleaning tool and never even left a scratch.

[BobbyR]

That is because K8 carbs are tough 

[Frankencake]

The common mistake folks make is using drill bits when cleaning jets.  While it is possible to use them and not destroy your jets, folks commonly use them as drills and, when not careful, metal will come off and you will then have bored out your jets.  Using guitar strings, since they do not have a cutting edge, gives you a better chance of not removing metal from the walls of the jets.  Although jets are precision made, they are not going to dissolve if you wave a harder metal at them.  There is some room for error.  Using good judgement is imperative while doing this job.  Carefully and calmly.  Stop if you can't get it.  I like to heat up a jet a "bit" with a torch but not to the point of glowing red.  250F degrees is about enough.  You only want to soften the goo that fills the holes and then push it out with a fine wire.  Brake cleaner (the flammable type) is my chemical of choice.  It is bad for you and effects your nervous system but it does soften the goo a bit.  Good stuff.  In cases of extreme gooey-ness, I have used paint stripper and "dipped" the bottom of the rack of carbs.  It requires a large enough trough and a good air supply.  A welded, stainless steel mud pan works well.  Make sure that you have removed all of the rubber from the parts that will get wet from the stripper as it will be ruined.  This includes o-rings and CV diaphragms.  If your bowls are pretty much chock full of frozen gasoline, chip out as much as you can.  Heat will soften it a bit but good old fashioned elbow grease is the best.  I have soaked carbs for a week or longer in the really bad cases.  Covering the assembly of carbs and stripper will slow down the rate at which you have to replenish the stripper since it does evaporate.  Disposal is your problem.  Just don't put it in a river.
My pipe dream for a dipping system is one that circulates or agitates the solvent around the crud.  I haven't experimented yet but I think it would work faster.  Perhaps a bubbler from a fish tank with some impervious tubing down in the bottom would do the trick.--ss

[754]

There is no room for error on carbs.

[eldar]

78ss, have you tried an ultra sonic cleaner? Might be something to look into.

[Frankencake]

78ss, have you tried an ultra sonic cleaner? Might be something to look into.

I have duct taped a marital aid to a rack of carbs and then sent them through the dishwasher.  The were clean and happy.

[Gordon]

I have duct taped a marital aid to a rack of carbs and then sent them through the dishwasher.  The were clean and happy.

You strapped a 6-pack of PBR to your carbs to help clean them? 

I'll have to give that a try sometime...

[fastbroshi]

  Damn that label you saw, THAT's funny.  McDonald's should put a version on their coffee cups:  "Use common sense if your driving.  If this spills in your lap, you're gonna burn your d!ck off!!"

[Frankencake]

People have become too complacent and dull.  They need all of those warning labels to save them from themselves.  Common sense is not that common anymore.  A warning on a cup of coffee?  What is this society coming to?  What are the odds of human survival if we need to be warned that a hot beverage might be ...hot?  I read somewhere that life is the leading cause of death in this country and others.  What will we do?  I vote for warning tattoos on babies! 

[eldar]

Hell I just vote for tattoos! Any kind!

[754]

I already know, the ballpark idle settings. (from 1 - 4 )

1/2 turn out
1 turn out
7/8 turn out
SCREWED all the way in and its still too rich (that one took a lot of cleaning with the giutar string

[Steve F]

My favorite warning label was on a Harley part I once saw.  It said:  "use of good common sense is required when installing or using this product" 

The problem with such a statement is anyone reading that could be a drooling, knuckle-dragging idiot, and still think he has the ability to present "good common sense."  What a dumb statement, intended only to get them off the hook legally.
The problem with common sense is it's not too common!

[eldar]

Thats the problem. Common sense is subjective. For example, I have never lived in a large city, I would seem pretty dumb trying to drive in one and would lack "common sense" yet those same people would not have an easy time here and thus would lack "common sense". PLUS, Everyone's idea of common sense is skewed anyways by their own experiences. Too a lot of us, changing oil is common sense but many never get taught how to change it. that does not mean they lack it, just have never seen how to do it.

take the classic Book smart" person. many like to say they lack common sense but in some ways, the book smarties could claim the same thing about others.

Maybe, just maybe, you DO have common sense but accidentally do something stupid.

[fastbroshi]

   Wow, we're really getting off topic here, but okay I'll roll with it.  Try and stay w/ me.  I went over to this guy's house to look at a CBR, and the talk inevitably turns to women.  From what he's telling me, his gf is a regular genius when it comes to math.  She does stuff on paper that some people can only do on a calculator.  The guy and his girl were going for a ride on his other ride, a CBR 1000RR.  He leans back and puts her hand on the throttle and she just gasses it.  He's like whoa, this girl has no fear, cool!!  Turns out she didn't make the connection between turning that throttle and the bike going vroom.   
  Genius she may be, but she's never driven a car, and can't figure out the dynamics of racquetball.  No good at sports.  Stereotypical woman, to the nth degree.  The last part anyway.  So we get to talking about how brains are wired and such.  Common sense came up, like how you can see someone who's "booksmart" and not know anything about sports, or some total second coming of MJ not know a thing about math.  The two seem totally unrrelated at times.  It's like with some people they only have a certain capacity of involvement and understanding, and if you proportion 80% to doing math heroically, they're only going to have 20% leftover for knowing how to navigate w/ a map or ride a motorcycle, and going a bit further, NOT burning their d!ck off.

[754]

Speaking of Math, I used to have a neighbor...

Who was a math prof..

 & apparently, when a student was having trouble..

Would, facing them,  scribble out the calculation (upside down to him) so the student could read it....

 And, he would do this about as fast as you could comprehend or read it..

..................................................................................

but , I digress:


 This post was about cleaning carbs, and the fact that running things though a hole(in a jet), that are HARDER than said hole(meaning jet), may not be all that good for them.....

[Frankencake]

Speaking of Math, I used to have a neighbor...

 the fact that running things though a hole, that are HARDER than said hole, may not be all that good for them.....

"Harder than the hole"  Since by definition, a hole is a space occupied with nothing but air, I find it difficult to run something softer that said "hole". 
Common sense is the ability to survive in most if not all situations.  I am a country boy.  I go to the big city often for work and have no problems.  I've been in the scariest of ghettos and the swankiest of downtowns and lived to tell about it.  It is a sharpened survival instinct that is applied to the brass of my jets that keeps me from wallowing out said hole.  For the very same reason, I won't use a dremel to clean a jet.  I won't use a chainsaw to get rid of my ice dams but I will use an axe.  It's just common sense.----ss out   

[eldar]

Ahh but now go to hong kong and see how well you do! It is all relative.

[Frankencake]

Ahh but now go to hong kong and see how well you do! It is all relative.

Common sense tells me not to go to Hong Kong or Baghdad or a few other places. 

[eldar]

But is that common sense or fear? Sometimes fear can be disguised

[Frankencake]

Fear is a natural thing that keeps one from doing stupid things.  For instance, mammals are born with an instinctual fear of falling.  Therefore, they don't fall in most occasions.  I am afraid of road rash and bashing my brain pan to pieces, therefore, I use ATTGATT.  Small fish are afraid of bigger fish.  Fear is used for many things to motivate one to "not" do something.  It is part of a survival instinct.  Panic is not.

[eldar]

Exactly but how often is fear actually called common sense?  My whole point is that common sense is relative. What some see as common sense is only common to them. For example, when walking behind a horse, where do you walk? Right behind them, a foot or 2 or out of leg range?

[754]

But all those things are learned , often at a cost, the hard way.

 Take Silicone for example..
4 out of 5  users on bike, find out the true meaning of SPARINGLY, only after people point out that it should not be bulging outside the cover it was used on, or when they come on here, asking why their cam is hooped.

 Same with carbs.
 Some dont realize that they are delicate, so they get someting into a jet, and give er.... and think more is better than just a little bit..

 They learn the hard way, AFTER the fact....human nature..

[eldar]

EXACTLY most of what people consider common sense is things they have learned which may not be that common.

BTW, you can walk either right behind the horse or out of leg reach. In the middle is where you get pounded.

[Frankencake]

EXACTLY most of what people consider common sense is things they have learned which may not be that common.

BTW, you can walk either right behind the horse or out of leg reach. In the middle is where you get pounded.

Common sense would tell me to get on the horse, instead of walking. That's what they're for.
In the matter of learned vs. inherent I will concede to a learned aspect.  I have learned many things the hard way, as we all have, but I think, relating to some more than others, that there is a predisposition to possessing certain abilities to deduct the outcome of ones actions.  If you use a sawzall to clean your toilet your are going to make a splash.  Some people don't get things like that.  They lack common sense, whereas, a person using a toilet brush knows the difference.
Regarding fear, I believe that it is another component of common sense.  It is called common sense to think about your moves when walking behind a horse but the reason you even have to think about such things is that you watched your Uncle Bart take a pair of horseshoes to the midsection and he was pissing blood for a few days before he underwent emergency surgery for a ruptured spleen among other things.
I don't use excessive force with my guitar strings because I'm afraid to have to buy new carbs.
The inherent fear of certain things is why we come up with these little rules called common sense.
Some folks don't have that fear and then they do dumb things, like wallow out their jet with a roto-zip.  I guess the bottom line is to not be afraid to work on your bike as long as you maintain a fear of messing it up.  Does that make sense? 

[eldar]

It is all still relative. Some people have never even seen a sawzall yet they know exactly what plants and such you can eat and such.

Do you stick a paperclip in an outlet? Of course not but people would not know that unless they have either been told not to or have done it yet.  ( I think some hair styles require this)

But regardless, what is common depends on what you know.

Btw, what if your toilet was an outhouse? A sawzall MIGHT be useful!