Started on this one about 8 this morning, should have taken a picture of the junk box I dug it out of.
Shows machining necessary to use Holley G bowl, custom made float, custom made seat/needle, new throttle shaft, powder coated bowl, etc. Should have taken more pics. I have a special tool to regrind the boss for the seat so it seals.
Stan did you work from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m. the next morning?
No, it was only 1 AM here. We are on Mountain time.
Stan,
Nice photos, nice layout, nice way of showing how different carb pieces are supposed to look and go together. I have learned a lot about carbs just studying your photos and I thank you. Bill
That sure is pretty. Makes me want to get a blast cabinet and join the fun.
Hey Stan,
Beautiful U & J! Get to work on that OX-2! I want to see that on here...
You do some beautiful work!
Regards,
Jon
Thanks. Bead blast cabinet is a good place to start. I also have 3 Ultrasonic cleaners, a sand/wire wheel/ polish/buff area, 3 lathes, 2 milling machines, 5 drill presses, about 30 different specialty taps and dies, arbor presses, all sorts of other tools; brass/naval brass/silicon brass/ aluminum/drill rod and cold rolled round and hex rod in nearly every size from 1/16 to 1 1/2. A powder coating setup, small copper plating setup and a couple hundred carbs for parts or rebuilding.
I have made about 25 special tools for regrinding the seat/sealing areas to try to stop them from leaking and have cabinets full of machine screws in standard and oddball sizes. I also have cabinets full of old needle and seat sets and can make a needle and seat for just about anything. Probably have a dozen sets of drill bits from 0-60 to 1 1/4, hand and chucking reamers from .035 to 1 inch including .001 over and under from .124 to .751.
That's why I don't do the easy ones too often. Anybody can rebuild an NH with a pair of pliers and a screwdriver. I like the more exotic and challenging ones. I like 5 balls and the ones nobody else does, like the U & J's and the more complex Strombergs. Took me an hour or more to make the seat for this U & J but it doesn't leak and it works. On the other hand, I don't sell rebuilt NH's for $100 and don't rebuild them for that.
Back to the shop. Busy week.
Here's the Accessory Of The Day Thread link From July 2013 on the U&J.
http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/331880/374110.html
Beautiful!
Thank you Stan, and all.
W2
OX-2 for Jon Allen:
This one is not Jon's, this one is for a 1920 Crossley in King's Lynn, Norfolk, United Kingdom. This is the English spec model with the locking idle mixture screw, vertical choke shaft, etc. It should be in England by now, mailed a few days ago.
Nice looking carbs Stan! Please try to take a photo of the OX-2 Before & After you restore it. I love the magic transformations that you do.
Regards,
Jon
Stan I have a feeling you would be a great watch or clock repair guy after looking at the great cleanup and detail work you do on your carbs!
You may have already tried it.
Beautiful work.
John, when I was a little kid an old friend of ours who had come to Montana and homesteaded to save his health was a clock and watch repairman. They farmed but a lot of the work of building up his place was done by people who traded work for either repair or a clock for the house. I used to stand on a little stool and watch him and when I was 10 or so he helped me fix a couple wind up clocks and gave me some simple tools. I now have a few of his tools and at one time had his watchmaker's bench but gave it to his grandson years ago. As you may or may not know, my grandfather was a violin maker and while he died before I was born my dad and one of my uncles did quite a bit of repair work and built a few fiddles. I started doing violin work with my dad when I was in high school and have done it as a business or hobby for the last 50+ years. I don't do hardly any of that work now but still hair bows for a few long time customers and for my own use and a couple friends. There are a lot of the same skills involved but it is hard to make any money fixing fiddles, hard to make money fixing carburetors but not as hard. There are not too many starving car collectors but a lot of starving musicians.
Something I am pretty proud of is that Maggie Estes White who some of you heard at the Centennial in Richmond in 2008 is still playing the fiddle she got from me when she was 9 - not one I made, a Tousaad Lee violin I sold her parents for her - and last Wednesday night the 17th played Carnegie Hall in NYC with the Getty's. She plays fiddle for them and her husband Zach plays guitar. She also plays fiddle for RUNA, the hottest Irish band in the world these days and is nominated for Irish Fiddler of the Year by the Irish Music Association. The fiddle she got from me has taken her a lot of places and she has taken it to places I never dreamed it would go. Far more places than my fiddle has ever taken me.
Stan, Dad loved it! It was SO difficult not to say anything, especially when he asked if I had seen this thread. Thanks again! Mark.
KOOl !!!!! After you told me he read the forum I was hoping I hadn't posted anything to tip him off. He'll like it even better when he gets it installed and takes a ride! Let me know how it goes and post a photo of him taking it out for a drive.
How does that U&J handle the idle fuel? Is there a small passage to bring fuel past the edge of the throttle plate?
Yes. There is a small idle passage and an air bleed.
Talking about carburetors. I'm in Tacoma, Washington for Christmas, had some woman who has been bugging my brother about wanting to sell a bunch of carburetors, which is part of the reason I came out here - she wanted me to come buy them or at least some of them. Made plans and an appointment to go there yesterday, drove all the way out there, she was gone, but probably has 1000 carbs in various conditions. I dug through a couple tubs of them and picked out about 15 good cores and projects. Some guy was there. Nope. No price other than "Top Dollar!" Said she is selling them on ebay with prices based on what what some guy has them listed for on his web site. (my web site probably) Nothing under $150. What it amounted to was that they wanted me to show up and spend the day diggin through tubs of carbs in a cold dark shed to pick out the good ones that are worth some money so she could put them on ebay. They will never get them all on ebay and there are hundreds of virtually worthless cast iron tractor carbs, broken brass carbs, a couple Stromberg OF's with the steel parts all rusted away, lots of the less desirable Strombergs that I buy to get the float, cover & adjustment needles out of. There are buckets of NH cores, buckets of Holley G cores, missing bowls, needles, parts etc. etc. etc. He said they don't need to sell them cheap, they have years to get top dollar. I'd have paid top dollar for some that were worth it but not the ones with rusted away parts, missing arms etc. Minimum price: $150.00 and then wouldn't sell them when I said I'd pay that for some of them.
Wasted day. I brought several thousand dollars in cash to buy carbs with, never bought a thing. Oh, wll, I will buy the cheap ones on ebay; I've already bought a couple that she had on there that she didn't know what they were and sold cheap. Off I go, I'll be back in the shop working Tuesday, I have tons of work waiting and a couple hundred carbs in inventory.
I am so taken....isn't this all just wonderful?
Can Stan or anyone post a photo or two that shows the idle passage area of this U&J carb? From the underneath it sure looks like a Holley G
I found it....
http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/331880/374110.html?1377878648
Does the U&J have a cast strangler tube like the G does?
The idle passage is drilled into the side and capped with a little blob of solder when new. Depending on how dirty they are when I redo them I drill the passage and put a plug in. It's a pretty clear passage so mostly them come clean with the Ultrasonic cleaning.
Since I'm back in the shop today......
I had calls right after I posted this, about 11 days ago now, from several guys who wanted to know if I had another one of these. The first guy that called wanted one and so I told the two or three other guys that I had sold the only other one I had. Well, I know better but I didn't save the next guys' phone numbers and of course the guy who was going to put a check in the mail that afternoon must not have done it because after 11 days I haven't got a check so......... If anybody is still interested I have another one for sale. I have more U & J carbs but pretty sure I only have one manifold. It's too cold to go look for another one in the warehouse. About 5 below zero here right now.
I'm back in the shop working for a couple days this week and then back full time next week.
I always hate these deals. If the guy would just call and say, "The old lady lowered the boom when I told here I was going to spend money on a carburetor," I'd say "No problem" and move on. What I hate is that they kill the sale and I have to sell it again and hope the deal works that time.
Oh well, it's just part of being in business. I've been in business for over 50 years, seen a lot of different deals go south for one reason or another. Just the way it works.
By the way, I turned 72 yesterday, still doing carbs, still doing auctions, still playing music and still chasing women. Still pretty successful at 3 of the 4. You guess which 3.
Sorry Erich, missed that. No is the answer.
By the way, I should proofread more since I am now older. I tend to miss letters and type things like here instead of her.
Oh, well. A lot of things that used to bother me like that don't bother me a lick now.