Gas Valve Question
 

Recently installed a new gas valve so I thought I'd disassemble the old one to see if it could be redeemed as a spare. But the disassembly led to a question. In the picture you see all the parts of the valve and nowhere was there any shred of anything you could call 'packing.' All the repair kits I see include a packing cylinder so was there supposed to be some in this valve? It was put in when the car was restored about 1980-83 so were there valves that didn't use packing back then? The valve never leaked a drop - just got really hard to open and close. I hope a little valve grinding compound (or whatever you all use) and I can hand-lap the valve back into service. But what about the packing?

Re: Gas Valve Question
 

Looks like a repop valve to me. That looks like a black "o" ring on the stem, hard to see in the picture. The rubber "o" ring acts as the seal on the stem, and takes the place of the packing. Lapping the taper to the seat can be done with toothpaste. If it is not scored, and does not leak it probably does not need to be lapped, just lubricated. Put some oil on it, work it back and forth, and reassemble.

Re: Gas Valve Question