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Jul 21st, 2025 | | | | Joined: Jan 2019 Posts: 106 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Jan 2019 Posts: 106 | I just finished rebuilding my carburetor and thought I would pass on this tip. Guitar strings are great for cleaning the tiny passages in a carburetor I play a little and had some strings laying around, I use what’s called a 9 set round wound, cut the ball end off a couple and found they are great for cleaning the passages.
1950 4400
| | | | | Joined: Aug 2011 Posts: 214 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Aug 2011 Posts: 214 | Thanks for the tip, I will have to start playing the guitar or find someone with left over strings. Thanks | | | | | Joined: Jan 2019 Posts: 106 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Jan 2019 Posts: 106 | Go for it, It’s not very hard, after 40 years of practice,seriously though you can get a set for under 10 bucks. Get a set with the smallest first string being 9 or 10 gage
1950 4400
| | | | | Joined: May 2006 Posts: 934 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: May 2006 Posts: 934 | Good tip. Sure puts a new meaning to a well tuned carb. Not only well cleaned, but well tuned. (Ok, ok...time for me to go back to hibernating under a rock...)
Last edited by tom moore; 02/22/2022 12:08 PM.
| | | | | Joined: Jun 2008 Posts: 1,638 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Jun 2008 Posts: 1,638 |
Chuck
1950 Chevy 1/2 ton (all original)
1951 Chevy 1/2 ton (future streetrod)
1941 Chevy coupe
1938 Chevy coupe streetrod
| | | | | Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 28,674 Kettle Custodian (pot stirrer) | | Kettle Custodian (pot stirrer) Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 28,674 | Don't those wire-wound strings do a good job of reaming out precision-drilled holes to the wrong size? Use whatever solvent floats your boat to soften the deposits, but use only high pressure air to blow the passages clean. An instructor at the GM training center in Memphis used to say "Put 55 gallons of air through every passage!"
Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln
Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt!
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway
Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
| | | | | Joined: Nov 2002 Posts: 2,715 Carburetion specialist | | Carburetion specialist Joined: Nov 2002 Posts: 2,715 | I know nothing about the composition of guitar strings.
If they are "catgut" like fishing leaders, then maybe.
If they are metal, would NOT want to use them on brass (PS - we have LOTS of various jets available), and maybe not on pot metal.
Used on cast iron, would probably be OK.
Jon.
Good carburetion is fuelish hot airThe most expensive carburetor is the wrong one you attempt to modify. If you truly believe "one size fits all," try walking a mile in your spouse's shoes!The Carburetor Shop | | | | | Joined: Jul 2014 Posts: 333 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Jul 2014 Posts: 333 | I know nothing about the composition of guitar strings.
If they are "catgut" like fishing leaders, then maybe.
If they are metal, would NOT want to use them on brass (PS - we have LOTS of various jets available), and maybe not on pot metal.
Used on cast iron, would probably be OK.
Jon. Steel... | | | | | Joined: Jan 2019 Posts: 106 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Jan 2019 Posts: 106 | Man that’s a good one!! Lol
1950 4400
| | | | | Joined: Jan 2019 Posts: 106 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Jan 2019 Posts: 106 | You use one the size of the hole and and then use solvent or air or both . Didn’t mean
to imply that you saw it back and forth,I guess sometimes I need to explain more clearly
1950 4400
| | | | | Joined: Jan 2019 Posts: 106 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Jan 2019 Posts: 106 | They come in steel, wound or not wound, you use it just to poke a hole threw the crud then use carb cleaner.
1950 4400
| | | | | Joined: Feb 2019 Posts: 4,100 AD Addict & Tinkerer | | AD Addict & Tinkerer Joined: Feb 2019 Posts: 4,100 | I’ve used tip cleaners for OA torches with success. Never to ream it out, only to get a hole started, then use carb cleaner and compressed air to blow it out.
Phil Moderator, The Engine Shop, Interiors and Project Journals1952 Chevrolet 3100, Three on the Tree, 4:11 torque tube Updated to: ‘59 235 w/hydraulic lifters, 12v w/alternator, HEI, PCV and Power front Disc BrakesProject JournalsStovebolt Gallery Forum | | |
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