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Baking soda carb clean, great results

Started by mr blackstock, October 04, 2018, 05:15:40 PM

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mr blackstock

G'day,

I recently bought a very grotty bank of FJ carbs, upon receiving them I discovered they were well seized, everything in the bowl was awful.  The aluminium was filthy, lots of oxidisation internally too.  I considered that it would take me ages to soak and scrub with go knows what to clean them up, either that or use the house dishwasher....

I decided instead to try baking soda blasting, mainly because it is fairly harmless stuff, cheap, and not harmful to alloy.  I came across this youtube video showing how to make a blaster out of a bit of tube and your compressor hand piece: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KULVhW2tw4I&t=14s

Within a few minutes of blasting I got some great results.  I did soak them before hand in some degreaser, without much affect.  The thing I really like about baking soda is that it is water soluble, and you could even blast things already on the bike, a general cleanup, removing oil gunk from under the engine without removing the paint perhaps.  I will be trying that later.

Like with anything like a fine powder, it will get everywhere, the finished carbs will needs a good soak and blast with air.  The carbs here are different, all in the bank  were equally filthy.  I will be trying salt later for the harder to remove oxidisation.



Squeaky wheels always get the grease...

Yamaha FJ1100 1985

Charlie-brm

Great before and after comparisons. Having examples of DIY results is helpful. I became aware of soda blasting maybe ten years ago, so I got curious.
What I gathered is that the blasting soda in large bags is not exactly the same as a household box of kitchen baking soda, being harder and more aggressive. But good for you getting that kind of result from the domestic product at minimal investment.
If someone wants to see any images I refer to in posts, first check my gallery here. If no bueno, send me a PM. More than glad to share.
Current Model: 1990 FJ1200 3CV since 2020
Past Models: 1984 FJ1100 - 2012 to 2020
1979 XS750SF - 2005 to 2012

Tuned forks

Impressive results.  I too heard about soda blasting for car bodies.  Nice to see there is a DIY solution too.

Joe
1990 FJ1200-the reacher
1990 FZR 1000-crotch rocket

mr blackstock

I must say I learnt a valuable lesson about blasting, I got covered in baking soda, if fact I think I can still taste it. Great stuff, cooking salt not so much, too big. I tried using a homemade blasting booth, but the soda just goes into a white cloud, couldn't see what I was doing. Still, very happy with results, just gotta clean it all off.

Note to self: don't blast anything near a clothes line full of wet clothes......
Squeaky wheels always get the grease...

Yamaha FJ1100 1985