Zenith carb cleaner

[pAAt]

I have one of my Zenith carbs in mineral spirits as of today. I bought a box of TSP and plan to boil it tomorrow for a few hours and then put it in the freezer for a spell. I will check out if brass comes out freely. I will clean ports out with a paper clip or wire suitable for that chore. My question is, is bead blasting that necessary ? I have a friend that could do it for me, but I need my extra arm and leg right now. pAAt

[Tom Wesenberg]

I use Black Beauty from Menards to clean them up and remove the rust.

[pAAt]

Tom, I've been buying a lot of chemicals lately and there not cheap ! Black Beauty is on my list now, but, should I store all this stuff in a separate shelter away from my welder and cutting torch ? I'm thinking ahead for the big boom thing

[Mitch]

Like Tom i blast them in my cabinent then clean everything out with carb cleaner using a straw and compressed air. I don't think there is a single way to go about it as we all try and achieve the same end result

[Captndan]

Call Dave Renner and ask how they do

[pAAt]

Cap, I will buy Renners for sure ! Never thought to call, thanks. pAAt

[Tom Wesenberg]

Pat, Black Beauty is just ground up coal clinkers, so store it where it won't get wet, and mice won't chew through the bag. Inside a large plastic tub is ideal. Woodbury has a mountain of coal clinkers, and that's where the factory is. You can save about 50% if you buy them by the pallet. I should have done that years ago, but I'm not using too much right now.

[Rowdy]

Normally I bake them at 450° for an hour, wrap them in a towel and put them in the freezer for 3 hours or more. This normally loosens up the crud and makes removing the jets much easier. Then soak in mineral spirits for a couple of days, then beadblast. As mentioned above get out all of the blasting media. Rod

[pAAt]

Rowdy, can I bead blast with my small sand blaster ? I have friend with a cabinet, but want to try this on my own. Thanks, Pat

[Rowdy]

That depends alot with the nozzle and if your compressor will keep up. Do not use sand....... Please. Use glass beads or Black Beauty as Tom mentioned. One advantage of a cabinet is it recycles the media until it is dust, then vacumes it away. I regret selling mine. Will be buying a new one and a bigger compressor in the near future. You just can not do a good restoration without unless you pay someone else for use of theirs. Rod

[Mitch]

Submerging it in evaporust is another viable safe option.
This will get into the passages also

[Ronald]

What I use for cleaning Zenith carb bodies is to immerse them in a container filled with 1 part molasses and 8 parts water , very inexpensive and 100% effective . Let soak for a couple of days and you will be amazed at the results . Remove and rinse with water , environmentally safe. To prevent flash rust coat with a Phosforic acid based product or paint after drying .I use this method for all my heavily rusted small parts.

[Mitch]

Good info Ronald. The VFF has many threads on Phosphoric acid treatments.
Here is a Technical thread

https://www.vintagefordforum.com/forum/model-a/technical-reference-chassis/142309-more-on-prep-for-painting-using-phosphoric-acid-such-as-ospho-with-pic

[Paul]

Thanks, next on my list to try.

[Paul]

I follow the electrolytic process on fordgarage.com to remove the rust and old paint. Works well!

[Roadster Rich]

I found a 24 hour soak in Carb Cleaner in the gallon bucket, cleaned it well and got rid of 100% of the paint. Then I dried it and put it in Evaporust for 24 hours. Although I was able to get all the jets out before I did this. It was perfect ready for paint and reassembly with new jets.