Some good news to redeem this thread. Lemon juice works great on cleaning brass jets, correctors and e-tubes from side draft carbs. I just tried it in a dish and place the parts in it and swished around. The black deposits and corrosion disappeared and they brightened right up. I then heated the lemon juice in a microwave and it worked a little faster.

A neat benefit is that it unsticks tight holders, jets and air correctors. They loosen up and can be easily disconnected by hand when some previously needed a tool to separate.

Edited October 16, 201311 yr by Blue

Comparison with original and dipped/soaked for 2 hours and just dried.

The orange/copper colour lessens through hand rubbing with a cloth and a brilliant yellow shine appears .

Sad to see one of the 6 F11 e-tubes is an F2 ... I bet the PO had fun tuning.

I also noticed the lemon juice did not remove crust in the grooves of the accelerator pump piston. I think ultrasonic cleaning in a solvent and a mild acid like the lemon juice would be best form of cleaning.

Edited July 16, 201410 yr by Blue

That's great result!

Very nice!

Household vinegar works great on copper, brass and bronze, not so well with aluminum, it is the difference from citric acid in the lemon juice & acetic acid in the vinegar. Gives any copper based object a new look if you don't want an aged patina.

Bonzi Lon

Thanks Bonzi!

I just tried both for 30min (soak then rub with paper towel). The vinegar cleans faster and better (look at the carbon on the top holder). The lemon seems to be less yellow in tint but shinier.

Have a look:

OK I gave it another go:

Enamel pot on the Barbie with lemon juice and some vinegar. Rolling boil for ~ 20min is the trick.

It degreased the carbs and the carbon flakes off.

Here are some pictures: