Thanks Doc, I’ll put that in my note book and keep my eyes open at the swap meets. Glad to have a few more options and the first hand report. I’ve been looking for carburetor books that cover Carter carbs but haven’t had any luck. Jon says the “Carter Master Parts and Service Manuals” are what I need but he forgot to say where you can find them. I’ve been keeping my eyes open for carb manuals at the swap meets but there taint much out there anymore. Guys are snapping them up and hoarding them, and then they die and the in-laws pitch them out with all the old Playboys when they ransack the property. Much better do send them or at least a copy, to Keith Hardy and let him preserve the material in his archives.
I’ve been downloading all the Rochester manuals for my reference library over at Keith Hardy’s site, The Old Card Manuals Project,
www.tocmp.com and there is a wealth of information available on RP. The only problem is it doesn’t cover warpage of the Zinc castings after 50+ years!!!!
Of course Jon, that dawned on me last night while downloading all those bulletins. I kept seeing the GM– RP logos popping up.
Distortion; “To much work for the results”, as is true of the machining that I tried. I think machining would work, for a little while but you really need to leave the raised lip in the center of the web and the only way I can think or doing that is with a CNC program. To much work for the results!!!
I feel pretty sure that what is happening is that as the gasket gets soaked and shows a little weeping people have a tendency to tighten down the four screws a little more then a little more until the castings are again warped. This added to the “Zinc creep” problem leads to a carb that is leaking continually. At this point Charlie feels that all he has to do is put a Rebuild kit in it and that will solve his problems.
I’ve measured two of the early airhorns after they were heat treated and also the one I machined. The cross section is so weak on these that after assembly even the moderate amount of torque needed on the screws distorts the gasket surface. It’s not as bad on the later ones with the thicker cross-section but warpage is still a problem.
I haven’t heard your opinion on the later YF’s that have been suggested, do you have one? What engines were these originally used on, I’d be willing to bet they were a larger displacement than the 216.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL
