Hey Jon, lets talk Viton. All of the needles I've seen in the last 40 or more years have been Viton. How does this hold up against the alcoholic gas? Do you ever encounter problems with them?
Richard, mine is the flat top 'B' or the first versions, which were introduced in '50. Apparently by the end of the following year they were already having problems with them and they were beefing up the castings and many more changes were made over the next decade.
No venting of the bowl in the early ones. There is a check valve in the plunger that is supposed to allow the gas that percolates in the well to vent back into the bowl rather than into the venturi and drain into the manifold but that was it for the early 'B'.
And the biggest problem I'm seeing with this engine is after its shut down, the fuel pump pressure would have nothing to do with this after the engine is shut down. After a 20mile run at highway speed we shut her down and were watching the AC sediment filter. Its is a few inches in front of the carb and we watched it drain over the next 15 minutes and the glass bowl on top of the fuel pump also drained down about half way or about even with the screen. Why these drained down has me baffled because the fuel tank was just filled up which puts the fuel level about 12" or 13" above the fuel pump sediment bowl.
The carburetor throat was completely dry right after shut down but after 15 minutes it was all wet inside and full of fuel vapors.
Can't wait to try the W-1, hope it’s all that its cracked up to be.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL
