Has anyone used any product for restoring the gold/bronze finish on their carburator? Of course the best way is to replate it, but for us with no money what have you used succesfully?

Thanks

 

Here's a pic of a Holley 4150 I sprayed with Eastwoods Carb Renew. I had to use more coats than recommended to cover the uneven color of the base metal. Seemed to hold up well.

 

Eastwood's carburetor colouring spray is a bit darker than the Holley chromate treatment and is simply a paint. I was a bit disappointed with the outcome. On my latest carb I just left the modified areas as-is and with the reflection from the surrounding chromate treated areas, there's not much difference. Besides, the carb is covered up anyway and the colour can't be seen inless you remove the air cleaner. In my estimation, the Eastwood paint isn't worth the money. Besides, it'll come off if doused in liquid gasoline.

 

I agree. Eastwood looks painted. I did mine. Darker in color. I don;t know about the durablility as mine is not running at the moment so no fuel exposure.

 

Holley Carburetor in Bowling Green has a restoration service. Google them up and see what's available.

 

Not on the cheap ... but you could plate them yourself.
The Caswell 1.5 gallon plating kit is $150. http://caswellplating.com/kits/zinc.htm
I'm guessing a plater will charge $100 or more to do the job.

Their plating pen is usually for small items ... might work out OK on a carb.
I see they do not recommend the pen plating systems for aluminum.
Too bad, as they are $33 for the kit on Ebay.

 

Thanks all. You know what, these darmn archives are full of good info. I did several searches and came across a very short snippet that Lars posted about using PPG alodine conversion coating so I tried it out. I wrote up what I did, and it did a nice job.

I uesd Dawn soap part since it does a good job of removing and finding oily spots better than most soaps do.

The carb needs to be taken apart, cleaned in carb cleaner and be totally grease free.

I then washed it in PPG aluminum prep DX533 (phosphoric acid based) and scrubbed with a nylon brush so not to scratch the aluminum to remove the corrosion. I had lots of white pitted spots on mine. If it wasn't for all the white spots I wouldn't have bothered because the color wasn't too bad on the rest of the carb. I then washed it in Dawn dishwashing detergent and rinsed thoroughly. After this washing, the part must support an unbroken film of water. Areas that the water film will not cover indicates grease. The part must be washed again for the alodine conversion to work. I used Acetone in stubborn areas.

Then soak and move the parts about every 30 seconds or so in PPG DX503, brown aluminum alodine converter (Chromic Acid) for about 3 - 5 minutes to color it and then rinse with water. Note, the DX503 is kind of nasty so use it outside and do not get it on your skin. Wear latex gloves even after it is dry because your skin will pick up the Chromic acid in it and your tongue will taste funny All in all I think it looks like a very nice stock carb that is a year or two old now.

 

Glad to see my tip on the PPG Alodine worked out well for you - good job, Scott!
Lars

 

Thanks for the other tips too Lars, this old Q-Jet is looking sharp. I set the new Napa float level with a micrometer depth gage to the .420" you mentioned and the power valve to .020" with a feeler gage and a magnifying glass because I can't see snot up close anymore, and I'm not getting bifocals

I thought of a question after I set up the power piston. I ended up getting two of the last four #78 jets in the GM system instead of the stock #77s since we have a good exhaust, ported heads and a GM "151" cam installed in this 10:1 motor. Should I change the power valve setting for the larger jets?

Scott

 

If you have indication that you're running rich at cruise, go ahead and lower it. You can pop the silver plug out of the top of the carb so you have external access to the APT adjuster - you can turn it with a pair of long, skinny needle nosed pliers or by slightly flattening an 1/8" tube to fit over the adjuster. You can then play with and dial in your cruise mixture for best mileage or performance while keeping your WOT mixture unchanged.

 

and then have a beer! Great and thanks again Lars!

Scott

 

Any idea where that write up is? I wanted to do the Q-jet you rebuilt for me Lars.... and since I still haven't installed it yet it would be much easier at this point.

 

Ttt