The BEST method for cleaning carburetors - soda blast and ultrasonic 

Before look: 4:07 Starts blasting: 11:14 After blasting: 14:25 Ultrasonic cleaning: 17:18 After cleaning: 18:00 Definitely a great video. Some time is spent at the beginning talking about how cold the garage is, and reading "fan mail". There is also time spent before blasting talking about different kinds of media, and how he got his blast cabinet, etc. For those of you wanting to skip those parts, this list may be useful.

Bro. My friend sent your video to me... we look a lot alike.. and if that’s not crazy enough, our name is both Matt 😁

So dang nice!!! I can’t believe soda blasting is so easy and so effective, I just picked up the same cabinet and have been wanting to soda blast. Thank you so much for the info and video 💯

I just got done doing the same thing you are doing. For the small parts I used only the ultrasonic cleaner since I didn’t think soda blasting was necessary. Great video!

That was pretty good. I was impressed with the blaster. My buddy built his and used barley. That was great. He did a lot of 50s car engine parts that could not be replaced. Very cool my friend. Lotta kids.

You rock man, 100%. Just bought my first bike and you're videos are doing wonders for successfully paving my way, you have no idea. Not only is it apparent that you know your stuff, you also know how to communicate it effectively and succinctly. Will be buying the engine rebuild vid when the time comes (even though that other dude posted his for free ;). The bike I'm "upcycling" is a '77 Honda CB550F2

Thank you for this video, it was very informative.

Outstanding video, thanks. Getting ready to rebuild the carb on my ‘71 Kawi Bison, just need to order some soda from HF and purge the aluminum oxide media from my blast cabinet.

I have the same sonic tank, wow they work great.

Great video and very informative for carb cleaning!!!!

Thanks for the tip! Would love to see the modifications you made to the blast cabinet!

Excellent video. Always wondered how easy it was to clean carbs....now I know. Thanks.

Hey Dennis carb here another great video dude ...for small parts I use a 1.5 gallon rock tumbler with my special cleaner ....1 ounce mineral spirits to 1 ounce kerosene 1 ...1/4 cup baking soda it works great I leave them in there for about 3 hrs I have 3 speed settings and day settings but I hooked up a hr timer at the plug socket and it shuts off at around 3 hrs .just blow them off ..I also have a zinc electro plate and dichromate tank i dip my small outer parts just for that extra protection against the elements And again awesome video Denniscarb

It's a good idea to have a water/air separator on your compressor for blasting like this. I've dealt with some real PITA cabinets because after a long job of blasting the condensation just gums up the gun/tube. Soda blasting + ultrasonic cleaning is pretty much the best finish you're going to get without going new or getting into vapour blasting.

Never mind, I turned on cc to find out. Great vid on soda blasting.

I started working on carbs early 50s on the farm in minnesota. What did I have to use. an old kettle. disassemble carb. put it in kettle. what ever was available. pine sole, dish soap, lemon concentrate. put that and water in and let it slowly boil on the stove all day. use old tooth brush etc to clean up, reboil etc. rinse with water and dry. always worked. use what you got, just don't ruin the thing in the process. Modern gas has lots of cleaners in it so if you just drive there should be little carb cleaning needed. like the soda blaster idea.

Year's ago I use to use a chemical carb cleaner, that was caustic, this is so much safer and cleaner, thank you for Sharing I need to get one of those media boxes and ultra sonic cleansers and try it.

So well done. I am working on a Stihl MS 250 that has a fuel problem.

Great video, I just had a blast cabinet given to me, I have been looking for a good way to clean up parts, thank you

This is how I do all my small carbs, & I use fine strand copper wire and a torch tip cleaner as well. I also just use Beeryman carb cleaning solution in my ultra sonic. Thumbs up to a DIY video .

well done!!! you are the best..

I use Pine Sol IN my ultrasonic cleaner. The results are fantastic.

Great video man! Subbed!

Just use Pine-Sol/water in the ultrasonic cleaner. Works great. I've done tons of carbs using this affordable method.

Vessel J.I.S. Screwdrivers are the best thing ever for Japanese bikes!! 👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻

Great vid. Really knows his stuff and taught me a lot. Thanks.

Nice. Great job.

forgot to say great job well done.

that's good for those who don´t want to know the details of the circuits, they try to fix all at once,but int he end,they might still be the same,sometimes; carbs are meant to run well ,dirty,from gas; i determine EXACTLY what the problem is,BEFORE dismantling,and fix that; if the carb sat with gas in it ,for 1O years,then i would do a total cleaning. nice video,one more like.

Pretty decent camera work and good audio as well as info.

I've been told that soaking the carb in Pine-sol works, so I tried that. My '03 XR250 is running again for the first time in about 10 years.

Thank you for the tutorial!

I'm not a professional here, and I don't impress easily. With this video...I am impressed!!! Thanks, Matthew for a VERY good video!!! Don W., OH

Matt,thank you so much for the info!very cool buddy thanks for taking the time and sharing.

Love the information in the video. I need to get me a blast cabinet now.

Great video very well executed I deal with a lot of lawnmower carburettors so am going to try this method

Hi have a different question I have the same cabnet what are you using for your vacuum set up ? Thanks

Good stuff man!!! I need to get me one of those cabinets!

Nice work....

Great video! GURU APPROVES

Thanks for sharing!

Great vid man. I look forward to a video about your blast cabinet modifications. Subbed.

I tried a some CLR and water in my ultrasonic cleaner to clean 2 carbs this last week. Holy Crap that worked awesome. Try it.

nice job, Matt, I suppose it's kind of hard on your air compressor, a friend of mine has a grease monkey ultrasonic cleaner and I use that for my tough jobs. he uses it on engine components for his race car. does a killer job on carbon deposits. nice unit but expensive,I use a setup like yours for the carbs on my lawnmower, boat and other small engine repairs

Well done man! Thanks.

very helpful and nicely done . thank you.

Your blaster flows really well I think I have mine too full. I run it at 130 PSI and it just doesn't pick up well. works great when it does though.

Nice cleaning...would you do the same for a 125cc engine? not sure if it fits in the ultrasonic tank when its disassembled

i use soda from HFT and do the same. if its really heavy use the light walnut shell. a mechanic friend told me they use that to blast and shake in a tumbler for heavy build up without damaging soft metals. baking soda is also environmentally friendly and water soluble like you said and if needed a little 1.99 vinegar will take the heavy stuff out

Enjoyed your video, Sir.

Time to buy one of these and materials. I've got carbs from a 1966 442 that need cleaning. Great instruction too in the modification video.

I use baking soda in a gravity fed gun style blaster. It works great.

You might try putting your parts in a good zip lock bag with the cleaner and a tank full of water, so you won't have to clean your ultrasonic tank. I put the parts in the bag and suspend the bag in the tank by the lid with the zip lock part sticking out so that no dirty cleaning solution gets in my tank. Saves me time from cleaning and I use less cleaning solution that way. Nice job on the soda blasting. I am going to change up my blaster the same as you have done.

Increadable work

Yesterday I opened up my H5C-34 carburetors on my bike and they were plugged from leaf cutter bees. Cleaned them up and out. Bam it runs better.

Hi guys, outstanding, well organized set up shop, very well explicit, very nice presentation, well done man, keep up the good work.

+1 for using the correct JIS screwdrivers!

Great video, thank you so much. How do you dispose of the used sodium bicarb?

Soda blasting doesn't like greasy, oily parts. The soda, like most medias, tends to ball up on the grease/oil spot until it finally wears it away. I would first drop the parts into that 1 gallon can of carb cleaner next to your ultrasonic. That stuff works great. Then rinse, dry, and soda blast to give a nice finish. Your carbs turned out nice.

Been using a ultrasonic cleaner and yellow ONLY yellow original pinesol. Any other color only works half as well. I mix it with water about 80 parts pinesol to 20 parts water. Works wonders never fails. Takes off old grease, paint, varnish ect. I'll try the soda this winter to see if I like it.

Rad stuff! those vessel screwwgies are awesome. keep it up!

Hi, interesting video. good job, Im totally new in this topic. could you tell me please what is the purpose of the ultrasonic process? dont you have any video where you explain about the ultrasonic process? :)

Mathew...l got a good tip for ya....so you'll save your gloves from sand or soda ripping through them l use a long needle nose pliers to hold my little parts therefore saving my glove from from getting a hole ripped in it...works every time ....

I use glasspearl dust to blast fine parts....Gives a very smooth suface. you could even use it on rusted chrome but then you have to polish afterwards....

i love this dude i never like or subscribe to stuff but i will for this channel. Thanks man i really appreciate the vid!

When it comes to old hard gaskets that are difficult to remove, I find that a gel type liquid paint remover applied to the hard gasket and allowed to sit for an hour will come right off ! The problem I've had with blasting gaskets off is that the surface is being protected by the old piece of gasket and even with soda it will leave an uneven surface that you don't want in a gasket area.

nice, they look really nice

Very impressive, ideas flowing.

Been doing this for years. My 76 GL carbs looked like new when I did them six years ago.

Very good video. Thank you.

Nice video! It was a blast!

I use a commercial dust extractor which generates minus 20hg which increases media performance and keep visibility during media blasting.

good afternoon, please which initial adjustment of the carburettor air bolts, on yamaha 60 fed thanks

Ah you just answered my question I asked on another video. Your channel is awesome!

I got a really dirty carburetor from a friend, he had it on his Malaguti scooter...so it was a Dell'Orto PHVA 17.5mm, it was all dirty covered with sand little rocks and filth, it was oily aswell....so i took a brush and a degreaser and cleaned it on the outside...it was clean but still not what i wanted....sincd i had to clean the jets and inside the carburetor i took it apart and put every metalic piece in a bowl, i put 500ml of white vinnegar and 2 cooking spoons of salt...i let that soak and "eat" the dirtyness....next day i took it out and wash it with water and deagreaser and brush once again, i took a rag and dry it out....it looked like it had a oxidation mark or something...so i took a brass brush and scrubber the whole carburetor with it...i was really pleased so i blew it with compressed air and put it all together, now its waiting on a shelft to get mounted one day when i will buy a scooter.

Knock that soda out of small passages with a WaterPik filled with hot water. Been doing it for many many years. You can even put 3 or 4 heaping tablespoons of baking soda in your WaterPik with "cold' water and clean tiny parts and blocked passages. (This saved my brother-in-law from having to buy a new barrel for his 50cal. Desert Eagle after the dealer and manufacturer told him there was no way to clean a plugged gas passage.) The previous owner sold it to him super cheap because it was so expensive to repair. Less than a dollars worth of Arm & Hammer and 15 minutes, clean as a bright new penny. Just don't forget to run a tank full of HOT water through the WaterPik when finished. Otherwise it will harden up in the pump.

I may have subscribed anyway after watching this video, but the fact that you are drinking a New Glarus Moon Man, is what officially convinced me 😀

I use two SS kitchen sink basket strainers face to face with a small bolt on one side for the hinge and a safety pin on the other to hold small carb parts in my ultrasonic cleaner . Dollar store cheap

Ugh my garage is the same cold way unless i run the heater which i try not to. The cold transfers right through your boots up through your body. Great video man

For those that do not have a soda blaster, I use Extreme simple green. It is formulated for use on aircraft and is safe to use on aluminum. I do use it in an ultrasonic cleaner, and it works great!

12:30 I also use my finger to cover the end of the pressure nozzle to clear a possibly partially blocked feed line. I do it intermittently out of habit just to keep things moving.

Great vid. Yea soda blasting works the BEST. I've done it before on extremely dirty carbs. I would NOT use hot water in the ultrasonic cleaner though. I would be worried about warping the float bowl mating surfaces. I did the same thing with one carb and it was already warped, but I'm sure it did not help at all. Maybe I'm crazy, but on parts that never get that hot like carbs I wouldn't risk it.

I love power tune its cheap fast & effective

I discovered this in a wrecking yard job as a kid.

Your a good dude

they look good !! nice

Great vid Matthew. You missed the major pain of carb cleaning, the jets. You talked about small parts at the end but didn't specifically offer advice for re jets. No matter how clean the body & bowl, if the jets are choked up the bike won't run and the jet's holes are the most delicate. Can you please advise how you cleaned the jets; blast & bath or did you just use chemicals? Also a tip for your vids, pleas clean your window between the camera and subject, we couldn't see the blast jet progressing on your target so we might as well just see the before and after. Looking forward to your cabinet mods video too. Its the same as mine and while I'm currently using glass or plastic media, I want to set it up for soda and wet/vapor blasting if possible. Can you also include your cyclonic vacuum setup? Mine's a simple wet/dry vac pulling through a water sump. You've now got another subscriber, cheers.

there's a product called Bars Tech carb and throttle body cleaner its the best i've come across so far, its what we use here in the caribbean Trinidad and Tobago

nicely done!!

Good vid

yamaha carb dip . straight no dilution, heat to 140° let set hour or so rinse in hot water , sodablaste to your liking. Works fast an easy on the worst of carbs. give it a try. 25 years an counting.

Excellent

Interesting to see you using soda in a recovery blast cabinet, going to give that a go. I only been using with a total loss blaster. My worries were the soda would cake and block the gun if there was any humidity? I am a big fan of soda blasting. Presently remove any unused soda and keep in moisture proof tub. The convenience of having it in a cabinet is very appealing!. Great video mate.

Would you be interested in doing a video of a full cleaning and rebuild, obviously sped up, but so we can see the process

I had using lacquer for cleaning my carb i did work good but it smell very strong am looking to get a soda blaster but i dont use enough to justify the purchase

Good idea's

I use muriatic acid mixed with water and a brush carburetor looks like new inside and out even if carburetor is oxidized really bad.

You could use a water pick to get the soda residue out.

I have carbs from my dads first bike that I was trying to restore.. 1974 Honda CB350F that you are more than welcome to clean for me lol

Thanks for sharing. Personally I'd clean them in the tank first and let the soda do the cosmetic cleaning. Since the tank often discolor the bodies some.