MTFCA Forum

This AM I duplicated an Economizer Needle Valve P-8547 and installed a new spring P-8588, since by all observation, it certainly warranted it. The old one was broken off at the cotter hole, and from the OFs I've seen, this appears to be a common problem. Anyway, it's not a problem for this carb, any more.

I'm not setting any records for this project, but fit it in around other stuff, and it has been a very interesting and satisfying endeavor thus far. Looking forward to spring and putting it to good use. If it's done by then!

Keep up the good work !

Thanks John

these small jobs create quick satisfaction. That's a nice thing when you wonder if spring will ever arrive.

Are you going to make any for sale?

I may, but as of today, I only did this one. I might devote a day in the near future and make some just to see how it goes, but I suspect that most folks working on this type of carb are already capable of making this sort of thing, so I think demand would be low...small numbers might be OK, though. We'll see.

From the voluminous work Stan Howe has done, I half suspect he's already restored 99% of the ones left in the wild...

Well,I typed this on my phone while I was having coffee but as usual it won't post from my phone and just dumped it when I tried to post it so.......

Yeah, I make them by the handful. I have no idea how many. Virtually every one is broken, bent or worn to the point where it doesn't go down into the orifice straight. Usually the holder is also worn out of shape -- the hole too big or off to one side. So I make new ones of those, too. Also make the little tapered nuts that fit on the shaft. I make the pointed part by the dozen, the fittings with the hole by the handful and the nuts by however much time and ambition I have that day. I used to fool around trying to regrind the taper, do all sorts of stuff to get them correct. I built a holder on my valve grinder to grind the various tapers Stromberg uses on various models of carbs and can grind the tip and drill it for the rod quicker than I can fool with on old one with a groove worn in it. I also wind the springs. I even make those little brass sealing washers for the top of the spring.

I also make all the passage plugs, the idle jet, throttle and choke shafts, bushings, bleeders in various sizes, the conversion fitting for the seat, the needles for the fuel bowl, the float bowl caps by the handful, lots of other parts for other Stromberg and Zenith carbs like the adjustable main jets, venturi, accelerator well tubes, other parts. I have a pretty good stock on NOS main jets but am out of the OX-2 ones -- which are virtually always messed up - so I also make those and a few other main jets. Having all the weird sizes of taps and dies helps but they are still piddly to make. A lot of them have been drilled to get them out of Stromberg carbs or are just missing. But I'm always out of something. I sell a lot of the needle and seat conversion kits for both the type one and two Stromberg inlet style and when I'm out of cores I make up 25 or so of those. 13/16 hex brass is expensive so I make the new ones out of 3/4 now.

As you know Scott, there is a big difference in restoration and rebuilding on this stuff and just spinning the needle rod in a drill and holding a piece of sandpaper on it and wiping the body down with an oily rag. I just got two of those in to do. I like them better if nobody has fooled with them and hate to tell the customer that I can't warranty anybody else's work or lack of it. But so it goes.

Saturday, back to the shop, need to get a couple things in the mail today, wish the wind would quit blowing and it would warm up. I'm tired of Montana winters.

I just learned about this hashtag deal.

#1000 OF's and counting - well, not really quit keeping track of them
#5 lathes is not enough
#Not enough hours in the day
#Not enough energy
#$500 worth of brass rod again