Dellorto Carb colour/coating

[1down5up]

All,

Anyone know an Aprox match for the green/grey of the dellorto carbs. I have a set of PHF's on a 850 lemans that were to grimy to clean up for a restoration, so they got the blast treatment.

I have had great success with painting carbs in the past, much easier to keep clean and non stained if you use the right paint.

Not sure of the original were painted or anodised.

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

IIRC, it's an alodine/chromate conversion coating. Definitely not paint. Perhaps this would do the trick: https://www.pegasusautoracing.com/pdfs/Iridite-Instructions.pdf

[1down5up]

IIRC, it's an alodine/chromate conversion coating. Definitely not paint.

Yes, I did think as much, scratches and stains fairly easily in my mind.

I wonder if anyone has attempted a colour match with a paint, and if so what colour they used.

[Tusayan]

The original carbs on an 850 Le Mans (I, II or III) did not have the grey/green coating and were unpainted aluminum.  The coated carbs started with the Le Mans IV.

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

Somehow my mind got stuck on the lovely yellowish/greenish hue as used on VHBs. Wonder how that happened. 

[wirespokes]

I don't mind the gray anodized finish on the LM4 dells, but the ugly hoses coming off the float bowl breather ports, I do. One of these days I'll pull the copper tubes, drill the angled hole and plug the top where the copper tube went.

If yours had the anodized coating, then they probably had the smog lines off the float bowl ports also? I'll have to read again how you removed that coating - removing anodizing isn't easy, so maybe yours were coated some other way.

[geodoc]

You can get Alodine (1201 for a gold cast and 1001 for clear) from Aircraft Spruce as well as the Alumaprep etching liquid:

https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/cspages/alodine1201.php?clickkey=11999

I seem to recall that the bodies anyway are made from a zinc - aluminum alloy call Zamak. How it would work on that you'd have to test to find out.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zamak





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[pete roper]

I don't mind the gray anodized finish on the LM4 dells, but the ugly hoses coming off the float bowl breather ports, I do. One of these days I'll pull the copper tubes, drill the angled hole and plug the top where the copper tube went.

Errrrr? That really wouldn't be wise. You know why those vents are there?

[wirespokes]

Errrrr? That really wouldn't be wise. You know why those vents are there?

i do, Pete. The idea isn't to eliminate the vent, just the ugly copper tubes with hoses out the top. Put them back the way they used to be in the good old days. You know, drill the downward facing part of the vent, joining the main section heading into the float bowl. Close off the hole where the copper tube was eliminated.

The copper tube with hose was most likely the solution to capture any possible fumes out of the carb - a smog thing.

[Frenchfrog]

...and also to stop shite getting in

[1down5up]

i do, Pete. The idea isn't to eliminate the vent, just the ugly copper tubes with hoses out the top. Put them back the way they used to be in the good old days. You know, drill the downward facing part of the vent, joining the main section heading into the float bowl. Close off the hole where the copper tube was eliminated.

The copper tube with hose was most likely the solution to capture any possible fumes out of the carb - a smog thing.

And to stop staining/mess from the vapours, and to stop water getting in.

[wirespokes]

The way those vents were originally designed, they were drilled close to the top side. Then a second drilling came up at a 45 degree angle connecting them. Nothing ever got in through the vent and definitely not water. Yes, the fuel vapors would cause a spot of guck around it after a while, but I'd find that much more desirable than the ugly copper tubing with another vent tube going up and over the carb. It's just a cleaner look.