Gerry wrote:
On Jul 12, 11:38 am, Don Foreman
wrote:

On Sun, 11 Jul 2010 15:31:24 -0700 (PDT), Gerry
wrote:


On Jul 11, 2:16 pm, Gerry wrote:

Anyone have a way to chemically clean white corrosion from zinc pot
metal? Trying to reclaim an old Weber DCOE that looks like it was set
up with a bit of water in the bowl. I know I'm being anal about this
but I really will not be happy until I get the body looking as good as
I can before I reassemble it. Tried, CLR, Ospho, Muriatic along with
carb soak. The corrosion is all that is left on the body now. Ideas
anyone?

This is a carburator so there is no way a cup brush could be used on/
in it without destroying something

Then go to a welding store and purchase a stainless steel
"toothbrush". They're used for welding aluminum, cost a buck or so.


I do not want to brush it off. There are too many areas where even a
tiny brush will not reach and still be stiff enough to remove the
corrosion. This is why I ask for a way to CHEMICALLY remove the
corrosion. Looking for a proper dip or soak. Thus far I have tried
Berryman carb soak. Got the carb clean but did not touch the
corrosion. Next I tried vinegar-no good. Then CLR-still no good. Next
was lemon juice-a small improvement. Then came soda/cola-with about
the same results as lemon. Muriatic was way to aggressive on the base
metal to use for long. Next on my list is phosphoric acid, and then
alkaseltzer or Polident. The whole object is to get a good, even
finish and dip or media blasting is the only way I know of being
consistent. I really don't want to have to blast a carbs internal
parts with any kind of grit for fear of plugging tiny orifices up. My
gut tells me a mild acid is the way to go because I suspect the
corrosion itself is probably basic. I think it's a matter of finding
the right one/ones. Surely with all the knowledge in this group
someone else has been here before

I'd go with the phosphoric acid treatment. I think the carbs, I've had 6
Dellorto DHLA, are aluminium rather than zinc alloys but I've not had to
do much cleaning of them. Saying that I've always found a phosphoric
acid based cleaner works very well for cleaning off the powdery
corrosion from various aluminium alloy products. I've used Jenolite, a
rust remover, and alloy wheel cleaner with equal results. Alloy wheel
cleaner being far cheaper and bought by the gallon. I've not found it
attacks the underlying metal, I would be concerned that the like of HCl
would.