toad wrote:
>
> BPAULTR3@aol.com wrote:
> >
> > Also the solvent of choice to clean out solidified gasoline from old lines,
> > carbs, etc.
> >
> > BTW, this is not nice stuff. Wear chemical resistant gloves. Very
> > hazardous. My guess is it will be pulled off the public market in the
>future.
> >
> > Bob Paul
>
> Brethren
>
> Solidified gasoline is the main ingredient (I have been told) of Napalm
> of Viet Nam fame. Be careful! And oven cleaner will also make short
> work of cleaning up solidified gasoline.
A little basic chemistry:
Bob is right about methyl ethyl ketone, but as for solidified gasoline
being napalm, well, sort of. Napalm, more accurately, is _jellied_
gasoline (in its most recently used form, late in the Viet Nam war, it
also contained styrene, which prevented it from being scraped off
skin... ain't technology just wonderful <sigh>). And, well, gasoline is
gasoline....
When one speaks of solidified gasoline, as in long-unused fuel lines,
that's not actually gasoline, at least not any longer. The reference is
probably to the varnishes left over when the volatiles (the really
explosive bits) evaporate. The varnishes are the heavier components and
any suspended solids left over after refining. These are not in and of
themselves highly flammable or explosive.
As for oven cleaner, it is a combination of detergent, lye and aerosol
agents. The principal active component in it being lye. It is harmful to
paint, aluminum and some plastics, and in sufficient concentration,
pretty hard on human tissue. It also has the tendency to make gummy,
soapy residues of tars and varnishes, which, in themselves, are
difficult to remove from small orifices such that in fuel lines.
Probably the most suitable chemical agent for removing such deposits in
fuel lines is oleum, which is the primary constituent of the
typically-found carburetor cleaner in a gallon can (the ones with the
basket inside for soaking). Put a rubber plug in one end of line, fill
it up with oleum and let it sit a few days, then drain back the residue
into the can (when the can is not good for any cleaning any longer, it
is reasonably easy to dispose of at a city waste facility--it is not
something such a facility would refuse to accept, but, it shouldn't
simply be dumped down the drain), then blow out the line with compressed
air. Oleum will go after paint, but is slow to attack aluminum, and it
will remove varnish in a fuel line, just as it does for carburetor
parts.
Cheers.
--
Michael D. Porter
Roswell, NM
[mailto: mporter@zianet.com]
`70 GT6+ (being refurbished, slowly)
`71 GT6 Mk. III (organ donor)
`72 GT6 Mk. III (daily driver)
`64 TR4 (awaiting intensive care)
`80 TR7 (3.8 liter Buick-powered)
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