What's the best way to clean a disassembled (Holley) carb...use a case of carb cleaner or soak the main components in some sort of chemical? Thanks.

By a 3 gallon pail of carb cleaner. It will come with a basket. Dissasemble the carb and be certain to remove all rubber and plastic parts. That means, o-rings, floats, float needle, power valves, etc. Then put all the other parts in the basket and soak it for 15 minutes (with new cleaner). It might take more if the thing is really dirty or the cleaner is old. It's a good idea to scrape off any blobs of gunk before dipping to keep your cleaner cleaner :D Holley does not recomment removing the throttle plates / shaft though, but just about everything else can be taken apart.

After soaking, rinse the parts off with water (hot is best if you've got it). Then blow dry with compressed air.

I'd install one of those power valve protector check balls once you get the carb apart. Also check the flats on the front and back of the carb where the metering blocks / plate goes. If they aren't within about 0.005" of being flat, have a machinist mill them down for you. This is one of the most common probelms with Holleys. Machine work should be less than $50.

Those gaskets can be a booger bear to get off. Be gentle so as not to mess up the smooth gasket surfaces. Get as much off as you can and let carb cleaner do the rest. Replace those gaskets with the new blue gaskets that come with most holley kits these days. They are not supposed to stick. However, I sprayed just about all my parts with silicon spray just for good measure to prevent sticking.

-dnult

dnult has a good plan. I do pretty much the same thing except i clean mine in an ultrasonic parts cleaner for a couple hours. It's amazing how much really fine dirt it will remove. My last DZ carb came out looking great.

Good stuff guys!! I don't like having large amounts of chemicals taking up space in the garage or I'd dip the parts as well. I wonder what the wife would think if I soaked parts in her ultra sonic ring cleaner?? :eek: Here's another option...

What I've done is use pot pie and pie tins for soaking small parts to soften old gaskets. I use a toothbrush size wire brush to get the tuff stuck gasket material after a brief soaking. I buy carb cleaner in the spray can with the red tube and use it to blow through all the passages in the main body and metering blocks etc. Use a small trash can to hold the part in when you spray the passages and wear eye protection!! You don't want the spray coming back at you. I follow that up with compressed air through each passage...

NAPA sells 5-gallon cans of professional grade carburetor cleaner. This is the good stuff that will burn your skin if not washed off. The can, along with the basket, will run around $80.

The price may seem steep but if you are going to rebuild several carbs it's well worth the money. Unlike the cheapy brands the good stuff softens the gaskets to the point that a waterhose nozzle will remove the remnants of the gasket. Carbuetor cleaners are water soluble, that's how you rinse the soaked parts.

For long term storage I like to use a heavy-duty 5-gallon plastic painters bucket. The steel buckets will rust and the seals used for lids are terrible. I store mine in a metal cabinet in the garage and have never had a hint of smell.

Thanks for the answers. dnults reply raises a question.

Why doesn't Holley recommend taking the throttle plates and shaft off? Unfortunately, I have already done that. It looks like there were small plastic bushings on the shaft which have, for the most part, deteriorated. I think I see replacements in the kit package.

The throttle blades are screwed and then staked to the throttle shaft and unless the shaft or bushings are damages you are going through a whole lot of trouble for little or no return on the effort it will take to put them back on properly...

I think mine had distintigrated long ago, I only found one per shaft upon disassembly. Am I correct in assuming that the bushings are the thin white plastic sleeves and there should be three per shaft?

Also, just restake the throttle plate screws with a thin screwdriver, right?

Thanks again.

My kit came with those thin plastic "seals", but I couldn't get them in so I left them out.

To steak the screws use a center punch or chisle. Screwdriver might work but you might end up chipping the blade or cracking the handle. On the other hand, many a screwdriver has been used as a chisle.

I'd try to apply support to the back of the shaft if you can, for good measure. Also, turn the idle stop screw out to the point that the blades close completely before tightening the screws. This will help them center up in the bore. But I'd open them up a tad before whacking them. You don't want to booger up the inside of the throttle bore or else the throttle blades might stick or mess up the idle passages.

-dnult

The seals are only used on the primary side throttle shaft. The secondary shaft doesn't use seals, although the shaft is milled for them. I don't know why.

Most older Holley carbs I have worked with ned these seals replaced, you can feel the slop in the shaft bores, but most guys don't do it. Once they get bad fuel will leak around the shafts, if bad enough it will stain the intake manifold. I'd use a automatic center punch to stake them and some loctite as well. Be careful to avoid damaging the shaft. If the auto center punch doesn't do it for you use a small center punch or very small chisel but I'd back up the head of the screw when staking to prevent damage to the shaft.