MTFCA Forum

So I bought a new float needle and seat for my Holley G carburetor, but not sure what's the best way to install it. I had a deuce of a time getting the old one out with a screwdriver and hammer so I know that's not the best option for reinstallation. Is there a special tool for screwing it down? The two "slots" are angled so a normal screwdriver won't work. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Grab a "sacrificial" screwdriver Bill and grind it to match the angles. Now ya got a special tool you'll only use once in a lifetime!!

A ways back i picked up a couple boxes of carb rebuilding tools. Similar type tools of all different sizes.
I would expect the tool to look like a screwdriver blade cut to match those slots with a center steel dowel to match the i.d. of the needle hole, assuming the needle is not captive. Like the proper needle seat tool for the N.H. carb.
Just grinding a blade to match that profile could work if done carefully.

Um, Jack, if the slots are cut "wrong", Holley sure messed up a bunch of them from inception in 1914 through the last cast-iron bodied Gs. Every one I've ever seen is like this. The best advice is to make an adequate tool for the purpose. It's really not that difficult.

To answer Bill's original question, yes, there is (or was) a special tool for the Holley G inlet seat. It came in a 9 pc set of carburetor tools that could be ordered through Ford. I sort of recall that the price of the entire set was around 5 bucks. Sure would be nice to come across one of those sets today.

Looks like a trip to the hardware store for a 1/2" wide slotted screwdriver! Thanks for the tip.

Would a pair of sharp needle nose pliers work?

When I replaced mine I did not have the proper tool. I turned it down with two screwdrivers tight. Then I made a tool and had a nother two more turns, meaning it did not seat till I made the tool and then made sure it was properly seated. It can be tricky. Frank

So Frank, did you make a tool from a modified screwdriver? If so, could you post a picture of it? And no, I've tried the needle nose pliers and they won't work.

Several years ago I borrowed the use of a lathe and a mill at the local juco and made some carburetor tools. I used a junk axle shaft.

Now that's ingenuity!

Somebody at some time made them with a straight slot for a screwdriver. Out of all these only 3 are the ones with the 2 angled cuts. I got a new one before that was cut wrong, the slot was in the wrong place.
You can use needle nose pliers in those slots as suggested above then when it gets tight stick a punch at the outside edge of one slot and hit it with a hammer to tighten it up more. You can also grind the slot for a screwdriver as suggested above but if you do you have to get a round file and file the burrs from the inside or the needle will stick. Put it in upside down and twist it with your fingers to make sure it doesn’t bind anywhere.

Easy carb tool.

First of all, get a fine file and just file a slot in the seat. Then be sure to slightly counter sink the inner lip so the needle doesn't hang up.

Now, go through your box of cold chisels. Find an old one made from real genuine American USA steel. A hex upper handle works best. Grind the tip to a flat screwdriver shape that fits tight in the slot you filed in the seat. Put the new tool in the chuck of your drill press. Steady the carb on a block of wood on the table. Press down hard with the quill handle and turn the tool with a 6 inch adjustable wrench. (We used to call them all Crescent wrenches but that is probably politically incorrect today or somebody would complain about advertising a certain brand of tool. But I digress.) Doing it this way you can actually get it tight.

Now while you're at it, make a tool for all the other size seats to make them easy to remove. I have chisels ground to fit slots in diameters from 5/16ths to 5/8. The down pressure on it keeps it from skipping out of the slot and making an easy job harder.

If you do not have a drill press for down pressure, go to Harbor Fright. Buy a 99c old style brake adjusting tool. Heat it up with your handy dandy torch and bend it to a 90 degree angle. Grind the tip to fit the slot.

Free advice from Unca Stan who removes several hundred seats a year from old junk crapola carburetors. Take it for what you paid for it.

Stan: You can call the adjustable wrench what my Father learned me to call them. Knuckle Buster as “ Hand me that 10” Knuckle Buster.” Dan

Worked like a charm! Six bucks for the made in USA 1/2" cold chisel, flattened the end and viola, seated nice and solid!

You don't go to nearly enough auctions if you had to go buy a cold chisel. Glad it worked. The drill press down pressure is the trick.

I should have said if you have the old seat out you can easily grind it to fit the tapered slots, chuck up the tool in your drill press, down pressure and a wrench and it will come right out.

I don't have time to soak them for three days in magic potions, etc. I need to get them apart, get them clean, get them fixed and get them in the mail.

This works best for me. I also have an escalating library of admonitions of what I am going to do to the sob if it doesn't come out easy this time. Accompanied by a hot wrench. I learned some of those words from the master chief carburetor guy from years back, Jack Daron. He had been in the Navy and knew admonitions I had not thought of yet.

But the down pressure from the drill press was my idea and Unca Jack liked that a lot.