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Is Berryman's Chem Dip still the soak of choice when overhauling carbs? I can't imagine it is as nasty as it was when I rebuilt my first carb, an AFB on a 59 Pontiac in High School auto shop in 1964.

I'm about to overhaul my Carter YF 964S because of a sudden very rich condition. Gas mileage dropped from around 13 mpg to 6 mpg. Exhaust smells of unburned gas enough to make your eyes water.

I'll look through our web site for hints and tips on YF carbs. I rebuilt this carb when I first bought the truck in 2013 and it ran well for 40K miles and hopefully I can do it again.

Bill - It's still available and has current good reviews plus available from the majority of auto parts houses. I think you may find it's a lot more expensive today than that first can back in '64. About $40 for the 3 qt can and dipping basket.

Current descriptions says it safe for most plastic and metal parts of carbs and throttle bodies. It mentions "...includes steel, aluminum, and their alloys.", but doesn't say anything about brass.

I can’t speak from experience for the Berryman’s dip.

I have rebuilt a few carbs and tried several different methods/ concoctions. Can’t say that I really have a favorite. Simmering in Pine Sol is a commonly recommended trick. I did NOT care for that. It ate at the casting.

Usually I’m dealing with some crusty core that has sat around for untold decades. For a carb on a running vehicle, I might be inclined to just use the spray cleaner and some tiny tube brushes and a bunch of compressed air. I suspect the kit will do you more good than the cleaning.

Get the right needle/seat. Most of the kits are wrong.

I don't like the cleaners hanging around after using them. I rebuild a few QuadraJets for local guys, I use Simplegreen in an old crockpot I pickup at the local goodwill type store. I looked for the biggest one I could find. I use maybe a 1/8 cup SimpleGreen and fill the rest with water, medium heat for a couple hours checking on it every so often. It does a good job on dirty castings and parts, if they are crusty, I have a small table top sandblast cabinet with worn out glass beads ( almost dust ), the worn beads don't change the surface finish, just cleans it really good. For steel parts, use a plastic jug and plain old white vinegar, the cheapest I can buy, soak the steel parts over night or longer depending on the temp where you are working, give it a shake every so often. A quick wire brushing and they look good as new. To prevent rust, heat then up and dip in dirty black oil ( I use old diesel oil ), the oils gets burnt on and leaves the screws black and protected. Compressed air and pin-point air nozzle is really handy. For light crusty stuff, a soda blaster will clean pretty good also. Harborfreight has a handheld version that works pretty good, basic baking soda from grocery store and have at it.

I use a heated Ultra Sonic parts cleaner with a Simplegreen product that is formulated to use with aluminum. This cleaner works great, and leaves very little residue. This cleaner also will not darken aluminum like some cleaners will do.

Simple Green SMP13406 Extreme Aircraft and Precision Cleaner

I used Berryman ChemDip about 5 years ago to rebuild a Carter YF. Works perfectly , including on brass. Not as potent as it was when I was a kid but still does the job.

Its been a long time ago, and I know nothing about the current compounds; but once opened the shop door to a nasty odor and found the 5 gallon steel can of carb cleaner was now empty with a hole rusted in the bottom, and the cleaner was all over the floor ! Nasty stuff !!!

Switched to a combination of Dawn dishwater soap and the automatic choke spray cleaner.

Jon

^^^ I’ve done the boiling pot of Dawn solution a couple times based on Carbking’s recommendation. It does seem to handle the ~functional~ part of the cleaning quite well.

If you want your carb to ALSO look pretty, some additional steps as outlined by Joe H’s post will be in order.

They make little wire wheels for a dremel tool. (I prefer the off brand without the gold-plates Dremel price). Those are super handy for spiffing up the steel and cast iron bits which would be impractical to disassemble…like the throttle and choke butterflies and peened-on associated parts. Otherwise, I have used vinegar just as Joe describes.

Hahaha! Jon, that happened to me with a can of Berryman I had in college.

The new Berryman Chemdip comes in plastic paint cans that don't disintegrate.

If it cleans oil-soaked baby ducks I guess it would do the job on a Carter YF.

Do you recommend soaking in a heated container such as the "old crockpot I pickup at the local goodwill type store" that Joe H recommends?

Whatever dip cleaner you use, it only softens the deposits. Compressed air and a needle point blow gun is your friend. An instructor at the GM training center I used to attend on a regular basis expressed it this way- - - -"Put 55 gallons of air through every hole in the carburetor!"
Jerry

Yes! Lots of compressed air. Use safety glasses! I once got some nasty carb cleaner in my eye - stung like hell and a panic run to the wash basin to rinse thoroughly - don't want to repeat that. Using Dawn sounds like a good idea.

(off topic - Dawn doesn't really save birds after an oil spill; most die regardless. But it makes the humans feel better)

Are you saying Dawn is not "for the birds" ?

One of the most cost-efficient tools I ever bought for the shop was an ultra-sonic cleaner.

However, not everyone can justify the cost (yes, I realize the costs have dropped since I bought one).

A substitute is a 3 pound metal coffee can (or a crock pot) and boil the carburetor. The roiling action of the boil does flake the dirt / etc. from the parts.

Compressed air (with goggles and safety protective clothing) is also a good thing.

Jon

Fran remembers her Dad boiling carbs in the kitchen and her Mom going ballistic about it.

When I was a kid, Dad didn't have a compressor; hardly anyone could afford one back then. I remember Dad cleaning a carb and it was my job to pump a bicycle pump as fast as I could while he blew out the passages.

To preserve domestic tranquility and avoid having to sleep with one eye open, use a Coleman camp stove and a cheap turkey roasting pan out on the back porch or in the shop to boil out carburetors. Using Mama's favorite soup cooker on the kitchen stove might get a little hazardous to your health!
Jerry

I considered this. SWMBO and I have been married since 1967. I'd like to have a few more years.

I also considered the 3 pound coffee can trick, but that would still be on the kitchen stove.

I went by Goodwill and a local church sponsored resale shop this afternoon. The only crock pot only held about a quart and a half. Not big enough.

I use a Coleman stove outside and a big pot

The oldtime Coleman gasoline stoves with the pressure tank and a carburetor burn a LOT hotter than the Propane models. I've still got a couple of them stashed away, leftovers from when our family did a lot of camping and fishing. Fuel is less expensive, too.
Jerry

I still have and occasionally use my old Coleman liquid fuel stoves. They do burn much hotter than the propane models. I enjoy cooking on them because there's a much wider range of flame heat available.

Found a new 6 qt. crock pot on sale at Wally World for $17.95 Friday. Much cheaper than what it would cost me if I used any of SWMBO's pots and/or stove. This week is going to be real busy, so the rebuild won't start before 3/22/26 at the earliest.

Also bought a cheap set of "needle" attachments for my air gun.

The most complete set of overhaul instructions I've found is titled
SERVICE PROCEDURE
YF DOWNDRAFT CARBURETOR
copyrighted 1949 by the Carter Carburetor Corporation. I've attached it below. If anyone out there has better ideas, comments, additions, etc. please let me know.

I also have another Carter document titled Form 4958D, Chevrolet Carbureter (the misspelling is theirs) Manual Choke 1937-1952, YF DOWN-DRAFT CARBURETER No. 964S which is a complete parts list along with adjustment procedures for the carb. I can't attach it because it is larger (8.8 MBytes) than allowed on our forum.

Bill, Here's that parts list and adjustment document, although it's 4958H so probably a later version of what you have. I got this from Jon at the Carburetor Shop after I had to call him to confirm the parts arrangement in my 964S after a metering rod spring went flying as I was doing some work on it. I had a generic parts list from Holly that showed some parts that I didn't have in my carb. Jon was able to quickly set me straight (of course.)

When I originally rebuilt this carb, I used my son-in-law's ultrasonic cleaner while we were visiting them a couple years ago. Worked nicely. I didn't have any springs go flying then, so got them all back in the right place, but couldn't remember the order this time.

Thanks Kevin. Yours is the same document number with an H suffix vs a D suffix on mine and a newer 6/59 date than my 8/53 date. But yours does not have a stamp reading "Joe's Repair Service, New Berlin Ill" on page 3.

I'll see if I can spot the difference.

If anyone is interested in the Carter YF docs I have that are too big to upload to our forum, drop me a PM with your email address and I'll try to get them to you. Documents include:

1. A hand typed (with added written notes) titled
LECTURE 10 Page 179 (to 195)
The Carter YF Carburetor

It looks like instructors lecture notes from a tech school.

2. Carter Power Center
YF Type Carbureter Form 3594 Explanation of Circuits Copyright 1953 Seven pages

... and Carter did spell it carbureter and carburetor on the same page.

Next question: Procedure for cleaning with a hot dawn/water solution.

Something like:

1. Disassemble all parts cleaning with carb cleaner/brush/needle air tool as you go. Include an carb passageways.
2. Soak all parts in hot (boiling?) dawn/water solution for how long?
3. Clean all parts and passageways again with carb cleaner and air.

I'm planning to take lots of pictures as I go.

I bought an ultrasonic cleaner recently. I haven't used it. I have been too busy getting all the trucks ready for auction. But I did get about a dozen of the old things running last week. Some of them I just replaced the carb. I am hoping to try the thing soon. Most of the old engines had ethanol free with Sta-Bil, but after 5 years the gas still turned to tar. There is a guy that is well respected in the Y-Block world. https://www.hotrodreverend.com/ He has some You Tube videos that show using the cleaner. And I think it probably has some instructions with it, but they may be written in Chinese.

There is a lot of useful carburetor information available, more so for Carter than any other manufacturer.

Bill pretty well has the Carter YF covered:

(1) Information from the school manual
(2) General service information
(3) General circuit information
(4) The page(s) from the Master Parts and Service Manual for each individual carburetor

What is NOT USEFUL are the generic instructions found in most aftermarket kits, regardless of whose name is on the box.

Attached, hopefully, is the first page in the school manual.

Jon

Was this a course that dealerships and corner garages could send their employees to?

Yes. The textbook is quite basic, but is quite useful to those who didn't grow up with carburetors.

Jon

If you need only the gaskets (manual or auto choke) for the Carter YF models, I have those listed in the Swap Meet section.

I have an ultrasonic cleaner that has its own heater-but very slow to heat up. I got an immersion heater that really gets thing going. After removing it you can heat up regular water in a 5 gallon bucket and the warm/hot water in there really gets the cleaning solution rinsed off and dries quickly when blown dry also. I wonder if a bubbler system would also help matters.

How do you determine what is right or wrong? What happens if it is not the right one? How to get the right one?

Texczech, if you're talking about a repair kit, get one from Jon (carbking) You might have to send him some detailed photos of your carb if it's an odd manufacturer or application. Definitely let him know what engine it's going on. He'll take care of you.