[timuralp]

Hey guys,

I took the carbs off the 1980 KZ750 that I have and took them apart. I noticed that there is a bunch of gunk on the rack and two of the caps have a little bit of rust discoloration on them. I've been trying to find the best way to clean it and polish it, but couldn't find too much. What do you usually use for this? What should I get to coat it to stop rust in the future?

Thank you.

 

[Polar_Bus]

Hey guys,

I took the carbs off the 1980 KZ750 that I have and took them apart. I noticed that there is a bunch of gunk on the rack and two of the caps have a little bit of rust discoloration on them. I've been trying to find the best way to clean it and polish it, but couldn't find too much. What do you usually use for this? What should I get to coat it to stop rust in the future?

Thank you.

I always encourage people to take your carbs to a dealer to have them "dipped" in an industrial strength cleaner. My local dealer uses a carb specific chem in an adgitation tank from Safety-Kleen, and the stuff is absolutely amazing ! They dip your carbs for about 4 hours, and the come out looking like brand new ! My dealer charges $20 for a dip, worth every penny !!!

 

[MFolks]

Re:carb cleaner (found on the internet)

I boiled mine in lemon juice a couple weeks ago. 15 minutes of boiling in lemon juice cleaned them as thoroughly as a set my buddy had ultrasonically cleaned. Infinitely better than any aerosol carb cleaner is going to do, and way more environmentally friendly than a carb dip. If you use straight lemon juice boil for about 15 minutes. If you cut the lemon juice with water increase boiling time proportionally. 50/50 water/lemon juice boil 30 minutes. You don't need to pull any of the rubber bits out of the carbs because the lemon juice won't hurt the rubber, nor will the short time boiling cause any heat related issues.
________________________________________________________________


Lemon Juice Carb Cleaning(Found on the internet)

If it was me, I'd pull the top covers off, pull the slides out, drop off the bottom bowls, remove pilots/mains. Then with the rest of the carbs still assembled boil them in some lemon juice. You'll need a big roaster pan, a little over a gallon of lemon juice (cooking supply stores), and an understanding wife/girlfriend cause the sh*ts gonna stink a little.

Boil them for about 15 minutes, then rinse them really well and blow them dry with compressed air (make sure all passages are clean). You'll be amazed at how clean they come in that short of a time.

I just did a set yesterday after hearing about it from a buddy who's used lemon juice on a couple dozen racks of carbs. After a couple of minutes at slow boil the lemon juice starts to foam up a little (careful not to boil over) and you can see all the sh*t just dissolving.

After boiling them for 15 minutes (might have to roll them around once to make sure you get the entire carbs) rinse them really well and blow them dry with compressed air. The carb bodies will be kinda chalky looking at this point. I used a toothbrush and PB blaster to put a little luster back into them and then put my internals back in.

I had pulled the bowls off, removed the floats, float needles and seats, jets, and air/pilot screws as well as the top covers and slides just to make sure no crap got itself wedged inside those passages.
After putting the carbs back together and bolting them up not only do they look great but the bikes running MUCH better with all the jet passages finally cleaned out.

 

[timuralp]

Ok, that makes sense. Thank you for that post. After using it what should I use to restore the chrome finish on the top covers?

Thank you.

 

[StarGate]

Lots of elbow grease unless you have access to a polisher. :biggrin: Are they chromed or just polished aluminum?

 

[timuralp]

Actually, I think it's polished aluminum. Scratch the chrome comment. I guess the brush and PB way would work somewhat well? Should I bother with any other coating?

 

[t conroy]

Actually, I think it's polished aluminum. Scratch the chrome comment. I guess the brush and PB way would work somewhat well? Should I bother with any other coating?

get some mother mag and aluminum polish.It will make them look like a mirror!!Look at these on my 83 suk 650L

 

[timuralp]

That looks great! Gonna look for it tonight. Thank a lot for the help.

 

[StarGate]

I polished all 4 caps and the 2 outside bowls on mine but they're dirty in this pic. If you get a polishing wheel that you can chuck up in a drill and put the drill in a vise it cuts down on elbow grease.

 

[Polar_Bus]

I polished all 4 caps and the 2 outside bowls on mine but they're dirty in this pic. If you get a polishing wheel that you can chuck up in a drill and put the drill in a vise it cuts down on elbow grease.

It's amazing at how identical your KZ's carb/engine layout looks compared to my GS1100E !! I almost thought this was a pic of an 8V GS, until I looked closely at the valve cover !

 

[StarGate]

I think they use the same carbs so I can imagine how similar the whole engine/carb setup would look. Post up some pics some time. :smile:

 

[t conroy]

That looks great! Gonna look for it tonight. Thank a lot for the help.

you can get mothers at wally world.Keep rubbing till you get the finish you want.

 

[Polar_Bus]

I think they use the same carbs so I can imagine how similar the whole engine/carb setup would look. Post up some pics some time. :smile:

Here's my GS1100E :

The GSResources - Photo of the Month

 

[StarGate]

Here's my GS1100E :

The GSResources - Photo of the Month

Sharp looking bike. The paint looks almost the same as mine from that I can tell in the pic.

 

[t conroy]

nice GS!!! I used to be on the GS resources all the time when I had my 83 GS 650L.Man I loved that bike.With the vetter package and that big fairing I had it was like riding in a car!Total protection from the wind.Unfortunately the summertime riding was HOT! A friend of mine made the BOM this January with his.I used gumout carb cleaner on my carb bodies and then hand polished with mother mag and aluminum polish.I really do miss that bike.

 

[timuralp]

Hey guys,

Thank you for the tips.

Admittedly this is pretty late, but the winter is finally over here in Michigan and I was motivated enough to put the carbs back on. Mother's Mag polish and lemon juice were great. The carbs look nice and I got a chance to fire up the bike today - cleaning them made a huge difference in how well the bike idles. They also look a lot shinier now.

 

[kawpaul]

I polished all 4 caps and the 2 outside bowls on mine but they're dirty in this pic. If you get a polishing wheel that you can chuck up in a drill and put the drill in a vise it cuts down on elbow grease.

Do you get the elbow grease in the 55 gallon drum or a smaller version? :tongue:

My wife and I used to clean new houses for a living before the construction business tanked. She was cleaning a bathroom and her neice was helping and she asked my wife how she cleaned something. My wife told her to use elbow grease. The girl goes out to the van and after a few minutes returns and says ...''what does elbow grease look like, I could not find it?''

We all had a good laugh and still bring it up every so often but since the girl is a twin we are not sure which one it was. But neither will admit it was them but always blame the other one.

 

[QKENUF4U]

gotta try the lemon juice trick sometime.....
i use CRC carb cleaner when im spraying stuff and B12 CHEMTOOl inthe gallon can when i dip stuff....

 

[MFolks]

Lemon juice is a lot easier on the hands and the environment too. And probably cheaper than the solvents we've used over the years.

 

[t conroy]

Plus your bike will have that fresh lemony smell when you crank open the throttle!!You are right though.Boiling them in water will break down the crud even a good dip wont get!