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10 Steps Toward Taking Control of Your Subconscious Mind
January 20th, 2012 by admin No comments »
There are two parts to our brains- the conscious mind, which handles all things we are aware of and the subconscious mind, which controls everything else. The conscious mind works only some of the time (when we are awake). But the subconscious mind is always at work.
Whether we are aware of it or not, the subconscious mind, not including involuntary physical behaviors such as breathing and our heart beat, works off of signals sent to it from the conscious mind. In other words, whatever we spend our conscious time thinking about most becomes a point of interest for our subconscious mind. And since our subconscious mind is always at work, it puts forth a great deal of effort addressing those topics.
Have you ever gone to bed shortly after watching a scary movie? More often than not you have some sort of nightmares, right? Even if you can’t recall being woken from the nightmares, there is a good chance that you had them. The occurrence of the nightmares is a prime example of the awesome power of our subconscious minds. While you watched the movie your conscious mind was creating thoughts and images of the parts that you found scary. If you don’t change those thoughts before going to sleep, then your subconscious mind has nothing to work with other than the movie you just watched. During sleep is the most effective time for the subconscious mind, because there is no chance of conflicting signals coming from the conscious mind. This is why when making an important decision people will sometimes want to “sleep on it”.
Ultimately your subconscious mind knows what’s in your best interest, and will nudge you in that direction. Without the negative influence of the conscious mind, which tends to make decisions based on emotion rather than logical thought, your subconscious is free to do what it does best. That is, to help you achieve whatever it is you desire.
Now that we’ve determined that sleep is the best time for your subconscious mind to handle its work, we need to be sure that the scary movie thoughts are replaced with positive, problem solving and productive thoughts. This way, when your subconscious mind gets working it is addressing the issues of most importance to you, and not caught up with trivial matters that are out of your control anyway.
Following is a list of ten methods you can apply to your life that will help you access your subconscious mind.
Although the ideal situation would be to apply these tactics right before bed, it’s not practical to expect to do so. I also think there are advantages to applying them throughout the day so that you’re sure the things you want are reaching your subconscious mind.
Like anything else, these concepts will become easier with practice, but even when implemented poorly or improperly, you should still begin to see substantial results.
1. Leave Reminders
The easiest way to be sure you’re thinking about things that are important is to leave physical reminders. There are a number of ways you can do this. The simplest is to write yourself notes. A to-do list can be helpful, though it’s easy to have your primary goals blend in with other, less important daily activities.
What I suggest instead, and have found personal success with, is to firmly and clearly write your goal or desire on an note card or piece of paper and put it in a strategic location. I did this with my recent weight loss goal.The idea being that you will see it often, and the goal or thought will begin to fester in your mind, even if you are unaware of what’s taking place.
Physical reminders use your conscious mind as a bridge to get to your subconscious mind. First, by creating the reminders (i.e. drawing the notes) you are instilling the thought into first your conscious mind, and then your subconscious.
Second, when you place the reminder in a strategic location, one where you will see it frequently, you give the thought an opportunity to take a direct route to your subconscious. (Think subliminal messaging.) If advertisers take advantage of this method so freely, and with such success, why can’t we “trick” ourselves, too?
2. Meditate
I’m not a person who puts myself into deep trances on a regular basis, but as someone who daydreams occasionally, I can attest to the benefits of allowing your mind to drift into a relaxed, thoughtless state.
Thoughtless may be the wrong word. Focused is probably more accurate.
The next time you catch yourself daydreaming, take a moment and think about how focused and in tune with your thoughts you were. That is the state of mind you should shoot for when you meditate. Relax until you are literally lost in thought.
Be sure to have a focused topic as you are drifting into meditation or your thoughts may be misdirected. Take a minute to specifically identify the goals you want to achieve or the problem you’d like to solve. Once you’ve got them clearly in your mind, close your eyes, control your breathing and relax your body. Don’t let those thoughts leave your head. Now visualize (see step 3.) yourself achieving the goals, or functioning in a world where your problem has been solved.
Continue in this state for as long as you feel necessary, and repeat as needed.
3. Visualize
Visualization works best when it’s paired with meditation, but it doesn’t have to be. Meditation puts you in a relaxed state, which makes it easier to create visual sequences. By creating visual sequences you put yourself in a situation that you anticipate yourself being in, before it actually happens. This allows your brain acclimate itself to the situation that is about to occur.
Essentially, visualization is practice for your brain. It’s no different than practicing an athletic event, except rather than training muscles, you’re training your brain, so it knows how you want it to respond in a specific scenario.
To visualize, all you do is create mental pictures (some people prefer videos), of yourself successfully accomplishing something. You would actually see yourself performing the task, either in third or first person, whichever you prefer.
It’s important to remember to create the picture in as much detail as possible, making note of such things as sounds and smells. The more detailed the visualization, the more successful it will be.
Visualize through the entire event or performance, imagining the desired outcome and all the excitement that comes with it. Allow yourself to feel the joy that you will feel when you actually do successfully complete the task. Make it as real and as accurate as possible. Repeat as necessary, and don’t stop until you’re convinced you’ve already achieved the goal.
4. Tell Others About Your Goal
If you were to state your goal or desire aloud on a daily basis, your subconscious mind would have no choice but to listen. In order to speak, your brain must formulate thoughts, and in order to formulate thoughts, your brain must first compile and organize those thoughts. Such a simple thing as telling others about your plans requires that you make important decisions before you can do so.
The entire process is orchestrated by your conscious mind, which relays the plan to the subconscious. Suddenly, you’ve opened up the channel of communication between the two minds, simply by stating your thoughts. While you’re explaining away, your subconscious has already begun working on how you’re going to accomplish your goal.
A beneficial byproduct of this step is the accountability factor. This is another strategy that I used when starting my weight loss plan. The more people you tell of your plan, the more people you will let down if you fail to achieve it. For me, the accountability aspect adds an extra element of motivation to my already desired goal. It is also a huge help when dealing with procrastination.
5. Talk to Those Who’ve Been There
Trails are blazed for a reason. Could you imagine if every time you wanted to do something you had to completely start from scratch? What if recipes had to be invented new each time? Or if computers weren’t built based on successes and failures of previous builds? Imagine how impossible progression would be on this planet.
Thankfully, that isn’t the case in manufacturing and cooking, and there’s no reason why it should be in life either. If there’s a particular thing you’d like to do with your life, then make it a point to speak to someone who has already done it. If you can’t get in touch with them, then read everything you can about them, or study their career. Do everything in your power to follow the path that they created for themselves. If there’s something you’d rather do differently, you can always veer off, but there is no need to insist on being a pioneer to get to the same place someone else already has.
You don’t have to stop being your own person to follow a blueprint for success. Having a plan that is already proven successful will allow your subconscious mind to work on the nuts and bolts of following the plan rather than designing its own plan. The closer you can get your subconscious mind to the heart of the matter, the better.
It begins with starting down the right road.
6. Set a Deadline
Tell your subconscious mind that you mean business. If you were to combine a deadline with the accountability factor, you’d give yourself no choice but to accomplish your goal.
A deadline tells your subconscious mind that there is an urgent matter at hand, and it must be taken care of immediately. Your mind will feel the importance of the matter, and will make all the necessary adjustments to be sure that the proper attention is given to solving this problem, which it understands to be the most pressing.
Even if it isn’t the most important thing going on in your life, a deadline will keep your mind working on it, until it’s met.
The amazing thing about the subconscious mind is it does whatever it takes to accomplish the things that you ask it to. Attaching a deadline to a particular goal simply increases the rate at which the subconscious mind works, without you even realizing it.
7. Maintain Focus
It’s extremely easy to become distracted from the goals that are most important.
Typically, when you lose focus on what’s important it’s because your conscious mind becomes occupied with something. Although your subconscious mind wants to continue working on the original plan, your attention is diverted from the ultimate goal to something more timely, but usually not nearly as important.
When your focus shifts, the ability of your subconscious mind to take on and solve the problems you’ve layed out for it becomes significantly lower. To counteract this, you’ve got to make a conscious effort to maintain your focus on the issues that you want your subconscious to concentrate on. By this I mean you’ve got to be aware of the distractions that are presented to your conscious mind, and do your best to flush them out.
Once you understand how to filter your thoughts so that only the absolutely important ones make it to your subconscious, you’re on your way to realizing its potential.
8. Chart Progress
The only way to truly understand progress is to see where you were then, and compare it to where you are now. To see a visual map of the road you traveled is an important step towards reaching your ultimate goal.
To begin, take the goal you’d like to achieve, the one that you’ve been calling on your subconscious mind to accomplish, and write it down in as much detail as you can.
Next, identify a few of the stages or milestones that you plan to reach on the way towards achieving that goal. Keep them in your mind as necessary benchmarks.
Now when you approach those benchmarks you’ll be able to see how far you’ve come, as well as how much further you have to go.
The road map lets your subconscious know that it’s on the right track, that it’s making progress, and what the next benchmark is, so it can apply its efforts accordingly.
9. Be Realistic
It’s easy to tell your subconscious that your goal is to end world hunger. However, when you do that, and then realize that such a goal is beyond your scope of ability, you’ve set yourself up for failure. As a result you become discouraged and risk losing faith in yourself.
A better way to accomplish your goal is to set a goal that challenges you, yet is realistic. If ending world hunger is your ultimate goal, how about setting your first goal at ending hunger in your community. Once you’ve accomplished that goal, then you can broaden your scope and work on something bigger.
Give your subconscious mind a challenging goal, but pace yourself. Going for it all right off the bat is a recipe for disaster.
10. Persevere & Persist
Understand now that there will be setbacks. There will be struggles and difficulties. But keep in mind that those things are only temporary.
No setback has to be permanent. It only becomes so if you allow it. It’s your responsibility to train your subconscious and conscious minds to see the difference between setbacks and failures.
When you hit a roadblock, go around it. When you have a bridge to cross, cross it with confidence.
Tell yourself that no matter what, you will accomplish that goal. Your subconscious mind, once it has the assurance that you want it to work on a goal, will do whatever it takes to succeed. But if it has the slightest bit of doubt (i.e. you’re not totally convinced of what your want, or if you can accomplish it) then it struggles to find solutions.
Be persistent, persevere through tough times, decide confidently in what you want and allow no temporary setback to put you off course.
If you relay this message to your subconscious mind by making a conscious decision that this is what you want, your subconscious mind will respond.
You Control Your Destiny
Remember, your subconscious mind exists to serve you. Put it to work in a productive way and it will provide overwhelming results.
Make conscious decisions that are in the best interest of your overall goals, and your subconscious mind will receive the message, and go to work.
The more you utilize the great power that your subconscious mind provides, the better you will be at calling on it. And the better you get at calling on it, the more success you will realize.
Only you control your destiny. You have the ability to make decisions that impact your life. Take advantage of the power you have to make the best decisions.
Turning a Drawing into Lineart on Photoshop
January 10th, 2012 by admin No comments »This is my first video tutorial ever!! 
I know it’s long but I try to explain some of the nuts and bolts of what I’m doing instead of showing you steps to copy. Sorry about the poor mike quality, I used the best that I had 
For those who are already familiar with photoshop and want to know the technique in a nutshell: 1. Use levels adjustment and brightness/contrast adjustment to make your drawing’s lineart darker and as even-toned as possible. This will be easier to do if you ink in pen, not pencil, like I did XD 2. Create a layer to cover up the background sketches and all that stuff and fill it with white, then make another layer for the final lineart to go on. 3. Using the eyedropper tool, select the color the lines. Go to Select/Color range and adjust the fuzziness slider until you are selecting most of your lines but the minimal amount of dirt. 4. Turn on your white layer and go to the blank lineart layer, being sure to keep the selection. 5. Fill in the selection using Edit/Fill (better than painting it in because you will be sure not to miss any spots) 6. Lock transparent pixels and ta-dah! You are done! 8D
How To Repair A Leaded Glass Panel
January 3rd, 2012 by admin No comments »
We recently repaired and replaced a leaded glass panel. This was a repair to a leaded window and we traditionally use the copper foil method developed by Tiffany studios in the early 1900’s. So we were mixing two styles of glass construction. The results were perfect.
1. A client called and asked us to repair a window in their home. The window had a broken piece of glass and we would need to take it from their home, repair it at our shop and reinstall it in their entryway.
2. The window frame had been assembled with 45 degree miters in the wood, which required that the nails be removed in order to get the wood out. Fortunately, the nails used were very thin pin nails, similar to a staple in size, so I was able to break the fasteners with a sharp rap on a putty knife at each nail.
3. Once all the pin nails were cut, I was able to carefully remove the wood from the frame work.
4. The leaded panel was very tight in the framework, which is rare, and I had to gently work the panel loose so as not to break it. This installation had one piece of tempered glass on the outside of the door frame and then the art glass. In our studio we insulate window units so that there is tempered glass on each side of the art glass.
5. Because the tempered glass was still in place, I simply replaced the wood pieces back in the frame till the reinstall took place. Normally we put a piece of cardboard or plastic in the opening while it awaits replacement.
6. When I got the panel back to our studio, I first traced the outline of the panel. I knew that since this window was so tight, I had to be absolutely sure that it didn’t grow on me in the repair process.
7. I heated the joints of solder and, using pliers, rocked the outer bar back and forth until the outside strip of zinc came loose from the panel.
8. Using a razor blade knife, I loosened the cement joint between the lead and the glass so that I could remove the glass pieces.
9. Once the cement was loose from the glass, I was able to de-solder the joints and work the lead free from the glass.
10. Next, I applied clear tape to both of the broken sides of the glass so that as I eased it out of the panel, it would stay in one piece which I could use as a pattern for the new replacement glass.
11. Once I had the cement and glass loose from each other, I applied gentle pressure on the glass and spread it apart so it was easy to remove from the panel.
12. I used the removed piece of glass as a template to cut my replacement pieces. Since the glass was a close match, but not quite perfect, I replaced both of the pieces so that they both looked the same. Your eye would notice the difference if only one of the pieces was replaced, but couldn’t see the small difference since both were replaced.
13. Next, I nailed down the panel on the pattern I traced earlier, so I could make sure the window stayed the right size.
14. Then I slid both of the replacement pieces of glass into the lead came.
15. I tapped them into place tightly using gentle pressure from a glass hammer.
16. Then I nailed the outside lead, in place making sure that the glass was tight and inside the lines of the pattern.
17. Up until this step, the techniques I used are those that both a copper foil artist and a lead artist would use. From this point on, I focused on copper foil methods. I placed a strip of copper foil along the bottom of the panel, so there would be something to solder to. We might have used lead came but the came we had in stock didn’t match the original lead.
18. I foiled the bottom three beveled pieces with copper foil, getting ready for soldering the panel.
19. I cut a piece of zinc to fit the panel and nailed it in place, making sure that the panel still fit inside the penciled in pattern.
20. I carefully soldered the joints at the bottom of the panel, using care to only heat the lead that was being attached just enough to solder to, trying to avoid melting the came.
21. When the solder lines were complete, they were a little too shiny to match the original window, so I cleaned it with an ammonia based cleaner which darkened it and then added a dilute black patina to knock the color down.
22. After polishing and waxing the window, it matched the original pretty well.
23. When we went back to the home for the install, my wife, Jeanne wiped the window down for a final cleaning to get rid of any dust and smudges.
24. I removed the molding that was in temporarily and a couple of nails from the frame work. Then I followed Jeanne’s example and polished the inside of the tempered glass to get rid of any dust that might have collected.
25. I used my putty knife as a lever to center the window in the opening.
26. Then I applied a small bead of silicone caulk around the entire framework.
27. I gently tapped the wood back in place.
28. Then, since I wasn’t going to nail the trim back in place, I forced a stick in the opening between the molding so that they’d be held tightly while the silicon dried. The silicon will form a good enough bond to hold both the window and the molding in place.
Just a few simple steps later, we had the job done with very satisfactory results.
How to Clean a Motorcycle Carburetor, The Right Way
December 30th, 2011 by admin No comments »
I get asked about Carburetor Cleaning regularly both from readers and from friends offline. So I’ve decided to write a definitive guide for cleaning carbs the RIGHT way. So put your tools down for a minute, grab a beer, and give this a read. You might just save yourself a lot of headache and sweat.
Carbs come in many shapes and sizes. Single carbs, dual carbs, racks of 3, 4 or 6, V racks, carbs with ticklers, carbs with accelerators, carbs with asynchronous designs, and carbs that operate vertically. While working on some carburetors is more difficult (due to design) than others, they all share the same basic components, and the process of cleaning those components is generally indentical.
BEFORE YOU START
Make sure that dirty carbs are actually your problem. Lots of things can make a bike run poorly or not start. Weak battery, corroded electrics, old spark plugs, bad timing, low compression, mis-adjusted valves, dirty air filter, and plugged exhausts can all cause poor running. I’ll write an article eventually on how to diagnose poor running conditions shortly, but for now – lets just deal with the carbs.
OK, SO YOUR CARBS ARE DIRTY
Once it has been determined that the carbs are the problem it’s time to get to it. Some racks of carbs are easier to remove than others. If you’re working on a newer model bike the rubber boots from the airbox to the carbs and the manifold boots from the carbs to the motor should be relatively soft and pliable. On older bikes however this is rarely the case.
First remove the fuel tank, seat, and side covers. Depending on your model of bike other parts may need to be removed too. For many single cylinder bikes the carb can often be removed without removing any body work at all.
The bike below is a 1983 Yamaha XJ750 Seca with 4 inline Hitachi carburetors
You’ll want to loosen the circle clamps on all of the rubber boots. Sometimes I’ll even take them all right off (carefully, without bending them too badly) so that they aren’t in the way.
Inspect the airbox. On many bikes it is bolted in place to tabs on the frame. Remove those bolts and try to create as much space as possible for the airbox to pull backwards.
Next, put the bike on it’s centerstand and straddle it facing forward. Put your right hand on the right-most carburetor and your left hand on the left-most carburetor and get ready to sweat. Sometimes you’ll be able to pull the carbs straight backwards nice and easy, but that is pretty rare. I usually end up rotating them up then rotating them down as best I can while pulling backwards furiously. This can really take some work and time, especially if you’ve never done it before. In real extreme cases where you simple can’t get the carbs to pull backwards out of the manifold boots I have a couple tips. These tips should only be used in extremely difficult cases when you have been struggling for an hour and simple can’t get the carbs to pull backwards out of the manifold boots.
Tip 1: Ratchet Straps – This is sort of a last resort, but it has worked without fail for me when I’m pooling sweat on the garage floor and the carbs aren’t budging. Wrap a ratchet strap around one of the outer carbs and put the hooks somewhere on the rear of the frame. Then slowly ratchet the carbs right out of the boots. Be careful not to pull them too cockeye’d or you could damage the boots. Attach a second ratchet strap to the other side if necessary. (Note: you can do this in the opposite direction to force carbs back into the boots once they are clean.)
Tip 2: Full Pull! – You should do this before you do the ratchet strap method above. Sit down on your butt along one side of the bike. Wedge one of your feet up between the forks and the front fender, then put both hands on the same outermost carb and PULL PULL PULL! This might not work so well if you’re short! Ha.
Ok, So The Carbs are pulled back
Chances are the airbox boots are all crammed up now. Do your best to rotate the carbs up and out from the boots and pull them out one side of the bike. Sometimes it’s easier to pull the carbs out one side than the other, so have a look to see if there are frame elements, motor elements, or hoses that may block the carbs from coming out on one side.
Also keep note of the throttle cable(s) and choke cable (if there is one). Now may be a good time to loosen the nuts that hold them in place and disconnect them.
Struggle just a couple more minutes wriggling the carbs out the side.
Ok, You have the carbs off the bike
Make sure you brush off any loose dirt or grime, then flip the carbs over and remove the screws from the corners of the carburetor. Some carbs won’t have bolts in the corner and instead have a wire latch over top which can just be forced over.
Remove the bowls.
If the carbs are real gummed up the insides might look like this:
It’s obvious that these carbs are all clogged up. Some carbs might not look so bad, some might be a lot worse. It’s always a mystery what will be inside the bowls.
Now it’s time to remove the floats. It’s generally a good idea to drench everything in carb cleaner (available at any autoparts store). Sometimes the pins will practically fall right out, sometimes they’ll be so stubborn you won’t think they’ll ever come free. But they will! Carefully push on the pin from either side. Sometimes a nail and a gentle tap from a hammer is helpful. **BE CAREFUL**, using force to remove a stuck float pin can break off the pin tower. If they are really stuck and you can’t seem to work them free here are a couple tips.
Tip 1: Heat – Adding a little flame to the float pin towers can help. **Don’t Burn Down Your Garage!!**
Tip 2: Pliers – Using pliers to gently clamp the end of the pin and push it through has worked well for me in the past. **Don’t break the towers!!**
Once the float pin is out you can remove the floats, the float needle, and unscrew the float jet screen.
Set everything aside. Next remove the main jet, pilot jet, and idle jet (if there is one). They should come out easily with a flathead screw driver.
Set them aside.
Next flip the carburetors back over and remove the caps. Underneath the caps is a rubber diaphram with a spring. Sometimes the caps have a tendency to shoot off the top, so be very methodical when removing the screws. Other times the cap tends to stick down until you start to pry at it, then it shoots off, again, just be cautious and don’t loose any parts.
Next you’ll want to gently pull the slides up out of the carburetor body. You can gently pull on the rubber diaphrams, but be very careful not to tear them. If they don’t come up easily stick your finger into the carb intake and push the slide up with your finger. You can also gently pry it with a screw driver (gently). If it doesn’t want to budge don’t force it. Instead finish reading this article and pay attention to the boiling tips further down.
Now your carbs should be pretty well emptied out. If the throttle on the bike moved fluidly and smooth there is little reason to do much to the carb bodies themselves. However, if the trottle was real sticky or frozen there are a few things you can do to free it up. Sometimes just drenching all the throttle components on the carbs and letting it soak is enough, other times it is not. I generally try to break racks of carbs apart. It isn’t often necessary and can be confusing to put everything back together in the right places. Also, the little rubber connector hoses and o-rings have a tendency to crack or leak if you mess with them. If you can’t work the throttle back and forth until its smooth have a look at the boiling tips further down.
Keep it Neat
Organization pays off.
Clean the Main, Idle and Pilot Jets
Hold each jet up to the light and see if you can look through it. The idle and/or pilot jets have extremely small holes so make sure you are looking through them straight. If you can see through the jet it isn’t clogged. There could be a little gunk built up around the edges so spray them down with carb cleaner and let them sit a bit.
If you can’t see through the jet it is clogged and needs to be cleaned. Always try the easiest things first. Here’s an ordered list of a few things you can do to clean the jet.
Blow through it. – Rarely works, but hey, who knows.
Compressed air. – Force 100 pounds into it. Works occassionally. Make sure to hold the jet tightly so it doesn’t go flying across the garage. You might put the jet back into the carb body to hold it in place for this.
Soak it in cleaner. – When I first started cleaning carbs I thought carb cleaner would be the magic answer. It isn’t. In fact, I hardly ever use carb cleaner any more, because it simply doesn’t do a very good job of anything but removing varnish from the bowl and slide. But try this.
Poking it through. – Collect a few different diameters of needle like objects. A wire from a steel bristle brush works well, a bristle from a broom works well, a baby pin, small sewing needle, etc. Very gently try to poke it through the jet. If you are using a metal needle use caution, brass jets can scratch and deform easily.
Boiling! – This works better than anything. Toss the jets into a pot of boiling water and let them bounce around for a couple minutes. When you pull them out blow some compressed air through them and you’ll most likely be good to go.
Some idle jets can be real tricky and never seem like they’ll be cleaned out . . . Just keep working at it, I’ve never met a jet that couldn’t be cleaned.
Cleaning the Choke and Air Mixture Screw
Air mixture screws have a tendency to strip or break. If the carbs were real gummed up you might find that the air screws are stuck. Don’t force them, if they don’t want to come out, just leave them for now. It is fairly rare that these screws will need to be cleaned because they are above the float level. If you can get them out just wipe them down with carb cleaner and spray some through the jet.
Cleaning the Slide and Needle
These are easy to clean. Squirt them with a bit of carb cleaner, wd-40, or anything similar, then wipe them down with a rag. Once the varnish is gone they’re good to go. Sometimes they get heavy varnish on them which I will scratch off carefully with a piece of plastic. Scratching the slide and needle is a BAD thing, use caution.
Cleaning the Carb Bodies
Use the same squirt and wipe method noted above. Most of the time the other pressed jets and passages in the carburetors won’t be clogged. But if the bike has been sitting a real long time with squirrels in the airbox it is certainly possible. Us a compressor to blow some air into every passage you can see. Listen for the air coming out the other side. If no air compressor is available use a can of WD-40 with a straw attachment.
If some of the pressed jets are clogged it can be difficult to open them up. There are a few things you can do.
Carb Dip – Most autoparts stores sell carb dip. It comes in a can similar to a paint can and is a VERY harsh cleaning agent. Soak the entire carbs in this dip. This dip can eat at rubber and plastics if they are submerged for too long, so try and remove everything you can from the carb bodies before soaking them. Once you pull them out swish the carbs around in a bucket of water to clean off the excess dip, then hose them down with WD-40 to get rid of the water.
Boiling in Water – Not many people do this but it is by far the best way of cleaning carburetors. Dropping the carbs into a pot of boiling water will instantly free up stuck slides, throttle plates, and other frozen parts. It will also loosen the dirt and grime clogging up pressed jets and other passages. Just make sure to dry the carbs thoroughly with compressed air or the sun afterwards.
Boiling in Lemon Juice – There is NOTHING BETTER at cleaning carbs than a giant pot of boiling lemon juice. The acidity from the lemons eats through everything; gas varnish, oil build up, dirt, grime, etc. Sometimes I won’t even bother doing anything but this – I’ll just remove the bowls, remove the caps, then drop everything into the pot and let it sit for 20 minutes (rotate them a few times). The one caveat to doing this is that you’ll want to wash the lemon juice off the carbs as soon as you pull them out. So have a bucket of water ready, or a can of WD-40 to hose them down. Also note that the acidity has a tendency to put a dull finish on the aluminum bodies of the carbs. This isn’t a problem in most cases, but if you must have everything shiny be prepared to do a little scrubbing and polishing afterwards. It may sound weird, but trust me, I just saved you LOTS of time. (Most dollar stores sell 1/2 gallon jugs of lemon juice, so buying a few gallons will only cost you $6. Plus you can put it back into the bottles afterwards and save it for next time.)
Cleaning the Bowls
This is pretty straight forward. Use any of the methods above to tranform your varnished bowls.
Most carb bowls are simple, just clean them up and they are good to go. But I picked this Hitachi’s for photos because they have a jet built into the bowl. You can see the ‘fifth’ hole along the edge of the bowl, that is actually a thin passage that extends to the bottom of the bowl. This is for the idle jet and is extremely important. If these passages are clogged, the bike won’t stay running, period. Use the same poke, soak, and boiling methods outlined elsewhere in this article. Not all bowls have these passages, only some, if your’s don’t – good for you!
Once Everything is Clean
Now that everything is clean it’s time to put it all back together. Take your time and make sure you put everything back where it came from. WD-40 is your friend. When screwing in the jets don’t over do it, they only need to be seated and snug, do NOT use any force putting the carbs back together.
If the bowl gaskets got goobered up you can put a little RVT on them. So long as the float needles are still in good condition leaky gaskets shouldn’t be an issue. However, prudent carb tinkerers may want to order replacements if necessary.
Once the carbs are back together stuff them back into the bike!
Extra Notes
Rebuild Kits – This guide did not mention rebuild kits until now. Rebuild kits (consisting of new gaskets, jets, needles, etc) can be purchased for nearly any bike, both old and new. 95% of the time these are NOT needed. I have rebuilt enough carbs to block off main street, and only once have I used new parts. ONCE!
Carburetor Adjustment – Carburetor adjustment, setup, jetting, and synchronizing is a whole encyclopedia waiting to happen. Those topics are not covered in this article, but I will address them in future articles.
Carburetor Polishing – External carb asthetics will be important to some, and not to others. Cleaning is all I am covering here, this will be addressed in the future.
Work Space – Make sure you have lots of space to keep organized. I also like to work on a wooden surface because it absorbs the spilled gas and cleaners rather than pooling.
That’s it! You’re Done!
I’ll continue to write a couple more related articles about diagnosing carburetion issues as well as the proper way to adjust, jet, and tune your carbs.
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