carb cleaning trick

[shredex]

I was talking to a buddy that restores cars and has a friend that drag races.
he told me a little trick that I guess works very well.
its what they do between every race to let it run like new.
I havent tried it yet, so I dont know.

first of all, there is something about compression in your carbs, and water is one of the very few things that cant be compressed.
he told me if I wanted to clean my carbs, then while the engine is running "Mist" water into the carbs...he said to only mist a tiny bit into it.
He said the water sprays all inside the carbs and gits the dried fuel out from the top and other places other stuff cant get to because of compression.
once sprayed into the carbs, black smoke should come from your exhaust (the dried crappy gunk in your carbs) and then no more smoke...and thats when your carbs are suppose to be clean.

its just something I was told today by a few of the guys that work a few shops down that build old muscle cars and the one dude specializes in building carburators.




I havent tried it yet....but I will.
i wont let it run long at all though because i cant have the airbox really on that much when I do it. and I have to do it into each of the 4 carbs.

or I can just remove the tank fairing, and then remove just the air filter, then spray it into that and then it would get all the carbs at once and I wouldnt have to remove the airbox. maybe if I just spray it into it, put the filter back on, then run the bike, maybe it will do the same.

[ShogunTX]

Well, the bike will run at idle without the airfilters to clean it; it just won't give you the performance response if you ride it without the airfilters. You're talking restricted vs unrestricted airflow. So, you should be able to remove the pods and spray without the engine bogging down. You may want to open the choke just in case you need a little extra fuel in the mixture.

[slayermd]

That seems a bit iffy to me.

I think Ill stick to taking them off the bike and cleaning them.

But I'm still curious on if it works.

[ShogunTX]

Make sure you use pure water not that hard water crap the city provides.

[reelrazor]

I was talking to a buddy that restores cars and has a friend that drag races.
he told me a little trick that I guess works very well.
its what they do between every race to let it run like new.
I havent tried it yet, so I dont know.

first of all, there is something about compression in your carbs, and water is one of the very few things that cant be compressed.

All liquids are effectively incompressible.

liq·uid (lkwd) KEY
NOUN:
The state of matter in which a substance exhibits a characteristic readiness to flow, little or no tendency to disperse, and relatively high incompressibility.
Matter or a specific body of matter in this state.

he told me if I wanted to clean my carbs, then while the engine is running "Mist" water into the carbs...he said to only mist a tiny bit into it.
He said the water sprays all inside the carbs and gits the dried fuel out from the top and other places other stuff cant get to because of compression.

It'll clean everything, but it won't help if your carb has plugged passages (it's gotta get in those passages first). Spraying it down the throat will clean the venturi, slide, and throttle plate. Liquid gasoline is incompressible too, until it becomes a vapor (which IS the carb's primary job). If it can't get thru, the water can't either. If you could get enough through the air bleed jets you could conceivably help clean the emulsion tubes and idle passages some.

Theres' a decent article http://www.goodgrease.com/water-injecti ... -forgotten

once sprayed into the carbs, black smoke should come from your exhaust (the dried crappy gunk in your carbs) and then no more smoke...and thats when your carbs are suppose to be clean.

its just something I was told today by a few of the guys that work a few shops down that build old muscle cars and the one dude specializes in building carburators.




I havent tried it yet....but I will.
i wont let it run long at all though because i cant have the airbox really on that much when I do it. and I have to do it into each of the 4 carbs.

or I can just remove the tank fairing, and then remove just the air filter, then spray it into that and then it would get all the carbs at once and I wouldnt have to remove the airbox. maybe if I just spray it into it, put the filter back on, then run the bike, maybe it will do the same.

The black smoke will be a) poor combustion from too much water and b) carbon being liberated from the engine (which is a good thing).

Water injection is old stuff, like the article up there talks about. It was standard in aircraft applications in WWII. They used it to boost high load performance (improved air density and more aggressive timing). It effectively boosts octane levels (prevents detonation). It is also hard on critical low lubrication items like valve seats and guides and also contributes to losing the oil film between piston and cylinder. Water injection was great with true leaded fuel (lead being a valve guide/valve seat/piston lubricant). Lots of drag race engines use water injection to prevent detonation and boost air density (it also improves vane supercharger seal-increasing effective boost)-but drag engines get wear items changed out really really often.

It can (and will) help you to get rid of carbon deposits. (you can always tell which cyclinder a blown head gasket leaks water/coolant into because that piston and combustion chamber will be bright and shiny). I wouldn't do it often.

I wouldn't count on it to rectify a carb issue due to clogged passages/jets.

[M in KC]

This tactic will work, old two-strokers have used it for years to de-carbonize thier pistons. Like RR sez it won't cure blocked carb passages and is more like a top-end steam cleaning exercise than anything else.