Not a Honda... But question about cleaning a carby

So I'm working on a bit of a project bike - 1981 Suzuki katana shaft drive 650.

The previous owner painted everything black, including the outside of carbs. What I want to do is tear down the carbs, and clean as I go. I'll clean the inside and inside parts with carb cleaner. But what should I use for the outside? Petrol, kerosene, carb cleaner?

The outside is very gunky and greasy, plus if I can get rid of the black paint, would be good to.

 

For oil, grease, dirt, etc. i will dunk the whole rack in a bucket of pine oil cleaner aka pinesol, for 24 hours. May have to hit stubborn spots with a toothbrush, but it will come out clean, smell good, not harm rubber parts, etc. Kerosene mixed with ATF is also a good dirt and grime cleaner. Rinse with soapy water and blow dry with air.

To get the paint off--depends on the type of paint. If it's rattle-can then maybe you can wipe it off with mineral spirits or paint thinner/lacquer thinner. A good strong carb cleaner such as berrymans might work also, but cost more. Don't get solvents on any rubber or plastic parts. Maybe you'll get lucky if he painted over the dirt and grease...

 

Wow, I had no idea that bike was shaft drive... I looked it up to see pictures. Very cool!

 

Haven't seen pine sol or berrymans down here in Australia. Hence struggling a bit with my choices. Most google searches on this topic point to the berrymans stuff in the can.

Might just have to experiment.

 

If the previous owner rattlecanned the carbs, the carb bodies are aluminum and it's possible the painting was done in situ over grease, oil ect and the paint is not well adhered. Paint thinners aka mineral spirits and a used toothbrush may be the ticket. Acetone and lacquer thinner are both miscible with water to diminish the solvent strength. Like KB sez, keep off the rubber and plastic parts with strong solvents.

Old standby here is product called "Gunk". Pricy in a rattlecan and even in the pint or quart size. See if you can find it maybe as a concentrate. The mix there is 10:1 with #2 diesel. Another good degreaser are the concentrates from the big box stores. For down under one comes with the Repsol label. Reduced with water this stuff has all kinds of uses. At full strength it will remove paint.

For US dudes, both Costco and Walmart have the stuff at about seven pesos/gallon.

Just in case...this is for the exterior of the carbs only!

 

Thanks. Will see what I can find.

And yes, exterior only. Interior and interior parts will be solely Carb Cleaner which I have in the spray can