Classic/Antique Car Repair: Carb. Cleaner, Cleaning Carburetors

Question
Hello Dick,
I'm going to rebuild a fuel pump and a carb., for a '51 Packard 200.  When I went to buy the carb cleaner at the parts store it was $150.00 for a five gallon bucket. ( I do have 4 early 50's cars) and thought the large bucket was a good investment, until I got the price.  The one gal bucket was way too expensive too.  Would it be OK to use kerosene or lacquer thinner to soak the parts in?  I have done the work before but not with an alternative cleaner.  Any thoughts?
Regards, Steve.........

Answer
Holy Mackerel, Andy!!!

I knew prices were going up, but that's outrageous.

The dip and soak type cleaner is actually overkill for what you are doing, and I don't recommend using it for two reasons - one is that it is very bad stuff to get on your person or to inhale - back in my younger (read "stupider") days, I used it without any precautions - and nearly lost the skin off both my hands - I mean right down to the bare flesh underneath - and God only knows what it did to my kidneys!

The other reason is that it is so powerful that it will take the sealing coating off the zinc casting that the upper parts of the carburetor are made of, resulting in the carburetor 'sweating' fuel through the porous material - which makes for fuel fumes under the hood and other nasty consequences. It doesn't do this if you follow the instructions carefully (meaning you get the parts out of the solution very quickly and rinse them thoroughly right away), but it still takes some of the coating off, and sooner or later, after enough "rebuilds" the carburetor is a leaker.

To clean the carburetor parts without either of these hazards, use normal parts cleaner such as Safety-Kleen solvent or Naptha to soak the parts, and finish up using the spray type carb cleaner (Gunk is one good brand) - this is almost as powerful as the dip/soak type stuff, but it won't hurt you or the parts as much.  Kerosene doesn't do much for most automotive cleaning, although it is cheap and certainly does help some.  Lacquer thinner is also pretty effective, but any of them will require some assistance from the solvent in the spray cleaners.

I admire your taste in projects (I'm working on a '51 200 for myself right now) - and I wish you good luck with yours.

Dick