The original style NH carburetor needle and seat with the stainless steel needle is no longer available. Does anyone know if this is a temporary thing or are they no longer being made ?

I ordered a needle from Snyders this morning because the pickup project's carb started dripping. Neoprene. . steel needle was not even on the list.
I guess some stuff like the good band lining and steel needles that don't dry up and drip are going the way of the dodo bird.
Ethanol will ruin that neoprene in short order.

I would ask Lang's. I'm glad I got some while I could. This will be something else to watch for at swap meets.

I ordered one from Lang's that is Viton tipped. Viton is similar to a soft rubber compound like neoprene, but has excellent resistance to both methanol and all forms of gasoline. It also has very good dimensional stability. Time will tell......

Ethanol not methanol, damn auto correct

How about the hole size in the seat? The ones that are no longer available bragged abut being the right size and made to spec.

They are not available because they did not work as advertised.

I believe they leaked, unless the point was polished more to make it smoother.

I had good luck with them after polishing them in my small clock lathe.

Go back a year or so in these Forums and you can find high resolution photos of the problem.

James,
That's exactly what I did. Used my Jeweler's lathe to polish them to a mirror finish.

These are some of the needles that have been available over the years. I believe the third one is original or a good reproduction. It has a brass body and a steel tip.


This is the "original style" I recently bought before they were apparently discontinued. It's shaped like the original, but is all one piece of stainless.


Here's a closer look at the tip. I will certainly smooth it before I use it. I expect I'll probably do the same with whatever product they come up with to replace it.

Steve, that is the exact original complaint and why about 4 carbs I rebuilt still leaked afterwards, until I first saw this photo and polished the points.

I have only done a few carburetors but have always just reused the existing needle and seat.
Try chucking the needle in a drill press or hand drill then pushing the end grain of a block of softwood into it. Keep repeating in new places until you see no dirt left behind in wood. For the seat whittle a piece of wood or maybe use a skewer in a drill. Carve a new tip to remove the gunk and repeat until it comes out clean. I am pretty sure these old parts even with not so conical looking peened mating surfaces are indeed mated to one another quite well but embedded dirt prevents a good seal.

The Viton tipped needle has worked very well for me over many years. One very important item to consider when assembling the carburettor is the float setting. You must not
force the needle closed with a screwdriver or like and bend the float to a higher setting. This will damage the Viton seat and it’s basically useless after that. You must adjust the float level setting by trial and error and remove it every time to adjust the
level setting arm.
Viton has been used in many carburettors since the early 70’s
I run both of my T’s on 98 Octane unleaded fuel.
Just my experiences
Alan in a Western Australia

Well, this new needle with the soft black tip,is not dripping. I looked at the old metal needle with a good lens and it has imperfections in it as posted above.

Mack, I have been using the Viton tipped needle for years, no problem. It is not neoprene, totally different. Dave

People will now be combing the cans full of small parts looking for good reusable needles. I have always been a saver and the last NH I rebuilt I reused one I had kept and polished the tip. Works fine now.

how are you folks polishing the tips? I understand kinda what it would take to do it. Polishing compound and a cloth but it is so dang small,I can hardly hold the needle to install it much less polish the tip. It is way small to try to chuck in a lathe I would think. I aint tried,maby it could be done. That would at least keep it round.

For the new ones, or old, with just tiny grooves from raw machining, or tiny minor wear, just chuck up in power drill, and drill into a good hardwood block.

My choice is dense walnut. Burnish the tip smooth that way. If the needle is worn beyond just a burnish up, then discard it.









Lastly, be sure to follow the instructions in Ford Service paragraph 884 to lightly hammer it and 'set' the needle into its seat. Remember, the brass seat is machined too, so you are doing this step to make them mate with each other. This 'set' is something you can't do with the Viton soft plastic tip ones. Others may like the soft plastic tip, but they always cause me sticking grief.

"Setting the tip" is a step that gets overlooked when rebuilding these old carbs. As far as resurfacing a tip you can chuck it up in a drill and get you piece of fine sandpaper, hold the paper in you hand and and refinish the tip. Then polish it in a wood block or finer sandpaper. You will be surprised how good it comes out. Others will have differing opinions about this but it does work.

I must admit,setting the tip is not a step I have read about.So that is news to me.Thanks for taking the time to help me understand how i can do this with tools I have.
I might try this on some older small engine carbs I have trouble with.

Thanks for all the good information.

I'm glad to see Dan's comment about the sticking Viton tips. That's why I quit using them and went back to original. I thought I was the only one.

I used both
Never tried polishing in hardwood will try on my next rebiuld

Steve, you are not the only one frustrated with sticking Viton. My luck has been that they will work good for a while, then start sticking. Once they start to stick they refuse to seal properly for me.

Mack I believe it's in the Ford service manual about setting the tip. I overlooked it too. I've had a T service manual since the late 60's and never noticed until I read about it here a few years ago.
The 1 or 2 line sentences have a lot to say when we read them!

Help me understand the need to remove all the machining marks running around the circumference of the float needle. The contact area of the needle to the seat is on a very thin sharp edge. I could understand the need if the machining marks were running lengthwise making it difficult to create a seal between the two. All that work cleaning up the needle and the first thing you do is hit it with a hammer forcing it against the sharp edge of the valve body?
Sorry for the poor picture

Joe, look again at my last picture. While the machining marks run in the same direction, they're somewhat irregular and there are little burrs. I expect that combination could easily keep the thing from seating properly.

Hopefully the guy that was having those made ran out of them and the next ones will be better.

This is what they were selling as a "Perfect reproduction of the original needle and seat."

I reground some of them to they would hold and then just made some. They aren't that hard to make and then they hold. I agree with the "Viton" tip which will stick in the new gas.