I am in the process of rebuilding a non CC q-Jet.

In the past I used the Napa brand carb cleaner (dip solution) on a TBI unit, and it worked quite well. The castings were like new when done soaking. But here I am ten years later or so, and I am rebuilding a q-jet for my T/A. The same solution is now double in price and very disappointing in performance.

The castings looked like crap after a 20 min soak and were clean, but had a corroded look to them. Not quite what I remembered from the first time I used it.

So, I used some killer chemicals at work, and soaked the castings in a product made by Ecolab called "AC-3". It is a combination of phosphoric acid and nitric acid. The castings looked like a dark gray color when done soaking and are very clean with no corrosion at all. Not only that but all the linkage parts look like new bright metal, no rust at all. The springs even look like new.

The problem that I am going to run into now is, without a finish on the zinc parts, they will oxidize quickly. Do any of you know where I can get the solution to dip these parts in before assembly that will give the carb that gold/brown color?

Eastwood makes a spray to get the color of the gold iridite coating back.

eastwood also has OEM carb finishes in Bronze and Silver. that would work nice for a quad. the bronze would make it look just as it waws when it was put on the car.. or if you get really ambitious you could always polish the whole thing and then Clear coat it so it does not oxidize. take alot more work to polish.. but it would definitely look pretty nice.