1983 ATC 200 carb disovling in carb clean?

[86trizinger]

I have a 1983 ATC 200 that had some carb issues. SO tonight I decided to clean and carb since i have the rebuild kit. When I disassembled it I noticed it was a little pitted all over.

I disassembled everything and put the housing in the carb cleaner kit. I took it out in about 5 or 10 minutes at the most. I noticed a grey film on the carb upper half. The lower half was perfect. But the upper half looks like it is just melting away. I scrubbed it for 30 minutes to get the most of the film off.. But it is still not gone all the way.. It even feels oily after spraying it down with carb clean.

Anyone have any suggestions at all? I already have a brand new carb kit for it , just not sure if I can use the carb or not. Any info you can give would be great.

[Vealmonkey]

I've never had that happen and it doesn't sound real good. Pits in the carb before you started didn't sound real good to start with either. I've had some crusty carbs, but never all pitted up on the outside. Inside the float bowl one or 2 times though.

[juggaloclownz18]

agreed i have seen some nasty MF'n carbs before and never any pitting in them..... The carb i just pulled off of the 200s i got a couple of weeks ago, sat with gas in it in someones barn for over 10 years an no pitting in it, just dirty and nastyness thats normal....

As far as the film from the cleaner kit, not sure never used one before, just used cleaner in a bowl, last time i cleaned a carb i used rubbing alcohol and it worked great, let it sit overnight and it all cleaned up in about 10 minutes when i took it out of the bowl the next day....

Wish i could help sorry :-(


I would suggest if its pitted that bad, pick up another carb.... i got mine for $28 shipped on ebay came in 2 days!

[86trizinger]

well its not pitted anymore.. Perfectly smooth.. but it take some metal away... Kind of strange.. If I touch the carb it gets gray stuff all over your hands. I am gonna try and soak it in something else tomorrow.

[jennybudz]

Gasoline additives probably sat in bowl. Something like Sea foam or the such. This is all I could think of. How does that sound to you?

[dajeepman]

Sea Foam does wonders to carbon build up... lol i dont see it doing too much damage to the carb.. it would evap to soon before doing damage.

[harryredtrike]

hopefully its not disolved in critical areas

[mopar_man]

That's odd. I've rebuilt a lot of carbs and have never seen that before. What brand of cleaner are you using? Did you take any before and after pictures?

[86trizinger]

Not before but can get some after though. The carb is very smooth all over now.. A little oily feeling since its totally dry. A dry film is on even the outside. It kind of looks like a new carb is some areas but you can definitely see where it are some of the casting. I am going to spray it down with some carb clean tomorrow night and put the new jets in and try it out. I will let you know how it works or if it still does.

As far as the carb cleaner I have used it on 2 other carbs with no issues at all.. The strange thing is that when I opened the can tonight it was under a ton of pressure and a little pry popped the lid a foot in the air.. Nothing like a flying lid to wake you up. Some sort of chemical reaction is happening.

[Vealmonkey]

Who knows what the previous owner did. I'd be worried that ran some nasty racing fuel through the carb. Some of that stuff you had to drain the carb and tank after a race or it would eat the carb alive. It might have some of that magic elixir in there. It would run cool, but it was destructive if you didn't drain the carb out. Good ol Alky.

[3Razors]

I have a 1983 ATC 200 that had some carb issues. SO tonight I decided to clean and carb since i have the rebuild kit. When I disassembled it I noticed it was a little pitted all over.

I disassembled everything and put the housing in the carb cleaner kit. I took it out in about 5 or 10 minutes at the most. I noticed a grey film on the carb upper half. The lower half was perfect. But the upper half looks like it is just melting away. I scrubbed it for 30 minutes to get the most of the film off.. But it is still not gone all the way.. It even feels oily after spraying it down with carb clean.

Anyone have any suggestions at all? I already have a brand new carb kit for it , just not sure if I can use the carb or not. Any info you can give would be great.

Are you talking about the Chem-dip brand that looks like a paint can and you lower your parts in? If so I've had the same experience as you. They changed the compound in recent years to satisfy epa requirement and I dont know what they did but it ruins the finish on the carbs and doesn't even clean them all that well. The grey film was nasty, I remember it. What I just do now is soak the complete carb in a bucket of gas to get rid of all the dirt and grime on the outside. Then use spray carb cleaner in the can for the inside of the carb.

[beets442]

I've had some trail70 and XR75 carbs get brittle like from leaving it in the cleaner too long, just clean it the best you can. Remember those carbs were made in another country out of pot metal....