Paint the carburetor after being rebuilt?

[TheDude]

I have the carburetor cleaned and ready for assembly. Should I use carburetor paint once it is assembled? Can anyone give me an idea of how the carburetor might have originally looked, as in colors of the bodies and linkage? They have silver and bronze available in aerosol cans.

Thanks!

[Smartin]

If I were you, I'd leave it unpainted. Chances are, there will be at least a small amount of fuel seepage...and it will kill the paint and make it look like crap. Does it look bad now, or is it a good even bare metal with not much corrosion?

[TheDude]

The parts have been soaked in cleaning solution but I'm just worried about corrosion. I thought carbs would have some kind of protective coating put on after being rebuilt.

[Smartin]

The best thing to do is have them plated.

[NTX5467]

With all due concern, "rust" or "corrosion" is generally not a problem with carburetors. The throttle body could well be something other than pot metal, but the rest of it should be pot metal (if I recall carburetors of that era correctly). Even if there might have been some cad plating on the pot metal castings, it would have deteriorated over time with heat and such.

I think that Eastwood has a small kit to cad plate various items. With the carb castings, you'll have to make sure to only plate the outer surfaces as any possible buildup of the plating on the internal calibration holes and bleeds and such CAN adversely affect the metering characteristics of the carb. Some of the external linkage might have been cad plated too.

IF there might have been some paint on the castings from the factory, it would not have been "show quality" paint work. Rather, probably a "hit or miss" mist coat if anything.

I have noticed that DupliColor has some "anodize coating" sprays out. I've seen red and blue and probably clear between WalMart and O'Reillys. Even if you use that sort of coating, little is better than too much. These will not go on like or cover like paint, but the base metal will show through to a certain extent.

Personally, I think that I'd use some of the cad plate color on the appropriate linkages and possibly paint the throttle body (if it's cast iron rather than some other metal) black and leave the rest of the carb castings "natural". If they get some seepage from the gaskets, then some carb cleaner will tidy things back up pretty quick. I suspect that with respect to heat dissipation issues for the carb itself, no coating is better than any coating as the paint/coating could hold heat in rather than letting the ambient air cool things off.

Just some thoughts,
NTX5467