Progress

I needed to get my carb off the workbench, so I could clean it off to work on other things, so I finished putting them back together. Then went to soak the master cyl bolts, and fittings again. I figured the master cyl was easier to get off, and put back of while the carbs were off so just for the heck of it I tried loosening things, and everything broke free without any real troubles. I ended up getting it cleaned up to check the bores (not pitted nearly as bad as I feared it would be, light enough I think I can get away with it for a while since it won't hardly get used)and one thing led to another, and it's now rebuilt and back on the car. Got the carbs back on, got it running and basic adjustments done.
Usually when I get sidetracked, It's on something rather unproductive, but this wasn't too bad of a sidetrack. Heck this is the most progress I've made on this car since the first week I had it almost a year and a half ago.

Problem now is they look so much better than anything else on the car, I'm going to have to find the time to start working on other things now.

Looking good. My carbs are still sitting in a box, polished and ready for assembly. Come to think of it, so is my master cylinder! Nice work.

Rob, thanks for posting! Now I feel just slightly better about how my engine bay looks. :D

Great work on the carbs! What did you use to polish everything?

I was going to really clean them up, but since the rest of the car looks so bad, I cheated and just cleaned the small parts on the wire wheel. I painted the steel parts with black satin trim paint, left the bodies, and float bowls with just a good scrubbing in the solvent tank. The dashpots were bead blasted, and then a quick buff on the wire wheel (they are too marked up to polish properly, or I would have), then a little steel wool on the copper fuel line. Simple, effective, and not to time consuming, I figure by the time I get the rest of the car done I would have to do it again anyway, so I'll do them right then (unless I come into some money then I'll swap them for a supercharger)

That's some great detailing and well worth the effort but I can see where this is going to end up...

"I'll just pop the engine out to give it a bit of a repaint, oh and whilst it's out I may as well clean up the engine bay......how did I end up doing a full restoration?"

I've seen it happen so many times.

A couple of quick thin coats of clear spray can enamel will keep them from tarnishing for a long, long time

Good idea since I did mine recently they are already pretty nasty looking. :(

Clear isn't necessary - they'll just turn yellow fromheat in a couple years. I just hit mine with a shot of brake cleaner every year to keep the oil and debris off, then lube the pivots.

I would just give them a rub down with WD-40 once in a while myself to help prevent the white oxidation from forming on the aluminum. Of course if I remember and I get around to it!