My spring was broken, shaft rotted in two. Holes in the manifold were egged. I happened to have an old bbq grill that I kept the stainless grid with a diameter just a smidge too big. Cut a piece a little longer than original.Drilled out the cast manifold to fit and turn freely. the flap had to be drilled just enough to also fit the rod as well. Drilled for the flap for a tiny stainless nut and screw from my mayonnaise jar of who knows where it came from keeper stuff. used the original to get the distance from the weight to center of flap. Dry fit installed in manifold to get the right angle for the weight to drop to make the flap default to open. Marked that location and took apart to drill for a small cotter pin to hold the weight on. Reinstalled to get the angle of the slot to hacksaw into the other end for the spring. Held the weight up to closed position, eyeballed install position of the spring, (purchased from Carter) gave it a tiny bit more to put a little tension on the spring.I had cut 1/8 “ extra length so the slot was longer and no risk of spring falling off. Installed everything permanently, tapped threads of screw in flapper into a rivet. Pinched the end of the slot with vice grips to trap the spring. Bench tested with a couple of quick flashes from my propane torch. Weight dropped, flap opened and it’s amazing how much movement is in that spring. Yay! As for the stob that catches the spring you might look a small diameter of steel tubing to slip over and drill for a tiny picture frame finish nail for a rivet. Originally I don’t know if they are threaded or just pressed in and to do it right that’s probably the correct way. One of the exhaust pipe studs was broken off so while I had it all apart on the bench I drilled out and chased the threads, installed new studs,replaced rusty nuts with new extra deep brass nuts. Good to go.
Last edited by 37 GC; 04/08/2025 1:49 AM.
