Cleaning a Weber 40 IDA 3C

[p400]

My experience so far in cleaning a 40 IDA 3C Weber -
i pulled the carbs off the engine and it of course was apparent that the Webers were filthy with years of use. The idle jet holder screws were all buggered up from too small a screwdriver being used, the hex fittings all had their edges slightly beat up, but after careful examination , it appears these Webers have never been rebuilt. The diaphrams in the accel pumps were still EWeber marked brand. I had owned them since 1978 and they were 68 vintage. Anyway, my intent with the Webers was to clean them, replace worn parts, and try to restore them to exact correct original finishes. No hurry, no schedule, no money to splurg on sending them to a shop for a rebuild.

I looked around the internet for advice at forums, someones personal site on Weber experiences, shops with parts, tech advice.....actually anything to give me ideas on how to approach this Weber restoration issue. One of my key issues was to either (1) not lose the original finish on the cast pieces during cleaning or (2) be prepared with the correct procedure for putting it back on. It's a concern that will not affect the cars performance, a detail that will totally go over the heads of all my buddys who "giter done", but a matter of pride of ownership with me on this particular Weber carburation issue.

My trip thru the internet forums leads me to believe that the OEM finish on the Weber cast pieces is doomed. I see discussions of bead blasting, media (i guess plastic) blasting, walnut shell blasting, sand blasting, Napa carb cleaner, Gunk carb cleaner, acid dipping, caustic dipping, hot tanked at machine shop, ultrasonic cleaning, .....maybe others. Enough drama , i will get to the point!

I stripped the Webers down to only having the main throttle shafts, butterflys, end springs and linkage. Only two major cast pieces to clean ...top cover and float bowl. i purchased a can of carb cleaner spray, got an old toothbrush, laid out newspaper on the driveway and went to work. I knew i could not use ANY METAL tools or even scratchy 3m type pads or the original finish would be destroyed. I worked about 15 minutes on each piece ( i was only working one carb), and things got cleaner and cleaner. At the end i was pretty happy, but i could see a dark patina in the deep crevices that would not come out. I set the pieces aside. They did not look like new, but just pretty good.

This Weber cleaning process of all the pieces at this point had taken a about week - i had also been testing cleaners on the brass, yellow zinc chromate, black oxide, black zinc chromate, clear zinc plated pieces off the Weber as well. I had flow tested all the passages of the float bowl section using mild solvents. I found that Gunk carb cleaner in the one gallon pail with the basket included was not as aggressive as the NAPA carb cleaner i had used in past years, BUT it does remove the yellow zinc chromate coating very quickly on any steel pieces and only does a half baked job on brass. More on the small weber pieces later. I did not use any Gunk carb cleaner on the 2 cast pieces i was concerned with, after it pulled the yellow zinc off the idle screw, i was reluctant to dip the cast pieces in.

Back to the two main weber cast pieces - i was unhappy with some gasket material that was stuck to the bottom of the one Weber 3C i was working with . Scratching with a brass brush, trying to scrap with a razor blade was gouging the finish. I purchased a spray can of Permatex gasket remover, set up newspapers in the driveway, and gingerly sprayed some on the bottom flange of the Weber. It kinda sprayed a gooky mess on the surface, but it instantly disolved any residual gasket and dirt of the bottom. i didnt know what to clean the Permatex gasket remover off with , but i grabbed some carb cleaner and a short spray and the mess was gone! The Permatex Gasket Remover had done the job i was expecting the carb cleaner to do AND THE OEM CAST finish was not harmed! I could not believe how clean the gasket remover got the carb. I set the carb body on its side, sprayed down all the nooks and crannies of the Weber on one side, used a cheap tinning brush to help slosh the gasket remover around...........this takes about 15-30 seconds to accomplish.....then i sprayed the mess away with cheap carb cleaner. THIS was the cleaning i was desiring and the original Weber finish was not affected - IT WAS PERFECT! I only used soft toothbrush and soft tinning brush, neither seemed to lose bristles. Took half a can of Permatex gasket remover to do one Weber 3C, half can of cheap carb spray. Also the Permatex gasket remover cleans the yellow zinc chromate pieces and does not destroy their gold finish!

I thought i would pass this on to the forum. Maybe it will help another Weber fanatic in the future

[azasadny]

Great advice and very timely for me as I'm getting ready to replace my CIS with Webers. Thank you!!

[shbop]

How does the carb work, now that you've cleaned it?

[BReyes]

Good to hear.

I did mine with carb cleaner (gal). Yes, I too think it is weaker than the old NAPA carb cleaner from years past.

I had seen a pair of Webers on this forum that were "Silver" colored, I little different than mine which are like a bronze (what is correct name for weber carb color) finish. I used spray can stripper, but it did not really clean it any better than the carb cleaner had. Mine look clean, just not silver. I can live with that. I'm sending the linkages to get Cadium Anodized (and decide what air cleaner to use) and it should all look like new I guess.

Regards,

[GotaT]

All the Explanation! I Wanna See Pics of that beauty!

[p400]

Not real good photos but here is a couple of 3C's being restored.

[GotaT]

WOW.. Now thats NICE!. You should be proud of those!

[911pcars]

Nice job.

I haven't seen velocity stacks that height. What did they come off of?

Sherwood