So this weekend I didn't have much planned and decided to clean up an item that has been hanging around one garage or another for the last 60 years or so since my father swapped them out for three deuces on on his 57 Fairlane. I'll most likely put the carb & intake up for sale later but I wanted to get into the old teapot and see how it fared gathering dust for all those decades and yes it was pretty gummed with varnish from leaded gas but soaking in the wash tank helped. Although almost everything has cleaned up quite well I wish I had an ultrasonic cleaner to really clean the float bowls & body.
That 60 year old varnish is stubborn. All of the small parts cleaned up exceptionally well the only casualty was small conical spring which pretty much fell apart as I removed the floats.
Is that a "Y" block intake? looks like fun to sit down and do taking your time with a cold beverage and you will have a nice looking unit when you are done...
Yeah old Y block, came off of my fathers 57 Fairlane along with the Holley tea pot around 59-60 when he went with three deuces on it. The carb and intake have been together on shelves at either my parents farm before they retired and sold it in 96 and since then in my garage. I finally decided to see the condition of them after sitting all this time. What kind of surprised me was how bright the aluminium body is, I thought it had been painted at one time but no that is how it came. Also the primary & secondary throttle shafts move perfectly free with no noticeable slop at the bushings .
Try some Muriatic Acid, for no more than ten minutes, and keep a sharp eye on it. It's what my former boss Randy would use, it worked about 60-70% of the time.
I wound up using some corrosion dissolver I've had lying around cut at a 30/70 split with water and scrubbing with a small stiff bristle brush, the results so far are looking good, I'll have to get a pic of the body as it is now, I should do that tomorrow after work. Ok, dinner wasn't ready so I went out to the garage and grabbed a couple of shots.