Periodic Cleaning

There are two items that seem to have grown in favor with V owners.  The first is Berrymans B-9 Chem-Dip carb and parts dip, The other is Berrymans B-12 Chemtool Carb and parts cleaner.  Both are avalable at most larger automotive retailers sich as Napa and Pep Boys.
The other consideration is a weekly addition of a good water remover or "dry gas" product.  Berryman and Seafoam also make these products.
THE FINAL SOLUTION FOR DIRTY CARB PROBLEMS

Visions are known for having finiky carbs. The most important mainanence for these carbs is cleanliness.  This begins with a clean fuel tank, instalation of an inline filter, cleaning and maintaining the carbs. 

Years ago, I used to buy a product called Berrymans  B-9 Chem-Dip. It  was a mild acid solution that came in a 5 gallon metal can with a basket inside. what you would do is completely strip down your carb (I rebuilt a lot of 70's Q-Jets) making sure that there were no rubber seals or anything left inside and put all the parts in the basket and let them soak for a few hours. the longer the better. One shop I worked at even had a special lid the basket would hang from with an air powered agitator built in. You can agitate it by hand..

When the parts come out they look they just came from the factory, every passage is whistle clean. You should wash everything off thouroghly with a hose, and blow it dry wth an air hose.
Of course most of us don't have a compresser at home so what I do is dry as much I can with a chamois (no lint) and spray out the passages with carb cleaner to remove any residue left behind by the dip.
reassemble the carb and set your basic settings such as float level and mixture.

NOTE: '83 carbs have a secondary pin, spring, and ball behind the pilot air screw and must also be removed.

2 BIG WARNINGS:
1) This stuff is acid so keep it away from your eyes, wear latex or vinyal gloves if you can.  Also use this stuff outside  as it has fumes and the wife will complain.
2) DO NOT PUT ANY RUBBER OR GASKET MATERIAL IN THE DIP AS IT WILL NOT EXISIT WHEN YOU TAKE IT OUT!!!... (we can't get get rebuild kits.)

WHERE TO GET IT:
Pep boys sells it for $12.00 and change. It comes in a convienent one litre size, you may have to do one carb at a time. probably a good idea anyway.

One more thing: I bought a kit at Wal-Mart to make baloon animals with. it comes with a nifty hand pump that is great to blow out those carb passages with. I gave the baloons to my kids and had fun watching them try to blow them up by hand.
A couple of carb disassembly notes

NOTE: before you start these procedures that most of the following are made of brass, which is soft.  the most inportaintant tool here IS PATIENCE!

ACCELERATOR PUMP NOZZLE
The brass accelerator pump nozzles do come out there is a ball and weight underneath that should be cleaned as well.  to remove the accerator nozzles, grasp the "turret" with Vice grips and carefully twist back and forth while pulling upward. 
Pulling these can be a test of nerves, but can be done.  on one of mine the nozzle came out of the turrent, but it was a simple matter to solder it back in.  I use a Micronox torch from Radio shack and 60/30 solder with a bit of flux.  this small torch is perfect for wire soldering as well as heavier stuff as these brass nozzles.  they use replaceable butaine cartriges.
I had to clean up the top of one nozzle with a file to allow it to fit into the carb top later.
to reinstall, drop the check ball in then the weight, then tap the nozzle back in with the wood end of a hammer.  you may have to readjust the nozzle spray.


EMULTION TUBES, EARLY '82
on the early '82 carbs there is an emultion tube pressed into the top of the lower carb body that can also be a challange to remove.  this tube is located next to the accel nozzle. you will see it once the gaskett is removed.  it looks like a flat brass circle with a raised circle in the center. 
The way I removed mine was to grasp the raised part with needle nosed pliers with a serated tip and gently twist and pull upward.
this worked on one nozzle. the other was stuck in due to "gunk" in the bottom part of the well.  the solution for this one was to cut a nice clean slot in the raised portion of the tube with a small dremel cut-off wheel, then i inserted a flat blade screwdriver in to the slot and turned the tube to free it up. then grasp the top with the pliers and work it out.  again, this takes some patience.
A Personal Note
I suppose in this day and age i should include a disclaimer that brand name products mentioned on these pages should not be considered an endorsment, etc, etc, etc.
Although I will say that I, and many other people I know  NEVER reccomend Pep Boys for their services or "Pro" line of products.  Do yourself a favor and buy only brand name products from them and have your sevice performed elsewhere.
Carb Cleaning
1