Removing Gas Adjusting Valve Housing in Carb

[ericr]

how do you guys get that housing out? A site says to saw it off and then use an easy-out to back it out but I was wondering if heating the housing with a propane touch would loosen the stuck threads without hurting the carb bottom half.

[johnbuckley]

Usually find 1)soak in thinners overnight and/or (2) soak in ammonia followed by a good fitting ring or box wrench gets them going. Never needed an eazy out. Assuming it's a Zenith a propane torch providing some thermal shock does no harm ( but it might melt a tillotson )

[H. L. Chauvin]

Hi ecricr,

Humble opinion:

EAZY-OUTS are very useful for removing only "none-difficult" threaded items that have sheared off whereby there is:

1. No screw slot left to remove it with a screw driver; and/or,

2. No head left to remove it with a wrench.


CAUTION:

A. Usually the reason that the heads of threaded items are sheared off is because they were very difficult to remove in the first place.

B. EAZY-OUTS are designed to remove threaded items that are very "EASY" to remove with only little to very moderate force applied.

C. EAZY-OUTS are NOT designed to remove threaded items that are "NOt Eazy" to remove, because after the hole is drilled in the threaded item, the tapered EAZY-OUT is screwed in where it forces the drilled hole to enlarge; hence, forcing the threads to develop more friction & make the threaded item more difficult to remove.

D. On difficult threaded items the EAZY-OUT usually breaks with force, flush with the broken threaded item which presents a far worse problem; i.e., a regular drill bit will not drill out a hardened EAZY-OUT.

E. In summary, for better use while working on your Model A , paint your EAZY-OUTS red & green & hang them on your Christmas Tree to avoid using four (4) letter words after they break during the remainder of the year.

Hope this helps.

[Bob/Kansas City]

H.L. is right! I've broken way too many easy outs trying to get stuck bolts or screws out and every time I do that I knew I should have tried something else. It amazing how descriptive you can get when the darn things break !
You might try some Kroil if you can get some. That stuff is amazing at getting things unstuck!

[Tom Wesenberg]

I've heated the outside of the housing with a propane torch until a dull red or just about that hot, then dumped it into a pail of cold water. This usually works on the first try, but sometimes takes two tries. Never try an easy out on it.

[mot]

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both HL and tom are dead on
heat the housing dull red ,and quench it ,you may have to do it a few times
buy the correct 13/32 box end wrench ,(no compromise here)
drill out the bottom from the inside of the bowl,there are two holes to drill out ,as they are at the very bottom ,they usually full of crap
just be careful to drill only the packed in crud
HL comments : Christmas ornaments are not all eazy outs are good for
heres two little hammers I made using them
they are for tapping out dents in my bumper clamps
they are hard to weld as the metal is so hard
but they work perfect
tom

[jmeckel]

MOT and Tom are right heat the casting to a very dull red color, I have found that a Oxy/acte torch with a rose bud tip works the best. Be very careful when you dunk it in water as you can get splash / or steam burned, I wear a welding glove on the hand that I use to dunk the carb with (I hold onto the carb with a pliers).

I repair many carbs a year and have never had one that I needed to use a easy-out on. Heat and a bucket of cold water is your friend when working on these carbs.

[Tom Endy]

When ever I take an old rusty crudy Zenith apart that I found at a swap meet. I very carefully take the parts off that come off easy. Parts that won't budge, especially cast metal to brass I don't force. I light up the torch and heat the affected areas and immediately dunk it in a container of cold water.

Usually the parts that don't want to come apart are the GAV, the brass GAV seat (if an early carburetor), the secondary well, the jets, and the four little screws that hold the choke and throttle butterflies. I heat the head of each screw until it glows.

The venturi can also be frozen in both halves and will likely shear when the halves are separated. The broken halves can be removed with a tool or melted out with the torch.

It is amazing how applied heat and cold water dunking free parts up such that they almost walk apart.

Tom Endy

[Rudy T]

I think i mangled mine to the point where i am have to drill it out. any advice?

[jmeckel]

Have you tried the heating methods we list above? (see #3, 5, 6, 7 and 8, above) I would not drill any part of a Zenith carb that has threads. If you messed up the screw driver slots on the secondary well or on a jet I would still use the heat method and then a proper sized easy out to substitute for the screw driver slots. I have received carbs with the secondary well screwdriver slots broke off and mangled, after 2 heat/water dunks they came out very easy with an easy out. I also have a tiny snap-on easy out that I can just drill out a jet hole a tiny bit and it fits also. If you have the jigs and the expertise as a machinist you can drill all of them out, however I have seen more than one carb destroyed by someone trying to drill and not really knowing what or how to do it.

I know it sounds crazy to heat up cast iron parts and dunk them in cold water, one would think it would break into a million little parts, however they come out none the worse for wear. I suppose I will break one at some time, however it has not happened yet.

[Tom Wesenberg]

I agree with Jon, and have always had good luck with one or two heat/cold water dunk cycles.
I heat with the common propane torch. If the room was pitch dark, the cast might be a very slight dull red.

[Carb Guy]

I agree heat and cold water works but I try not to use an Oxy/ Act. torch and prefer a propane torch. Also took a deep 3/8" socket an filed it it down to 13/32" and it works real good on 13/32" housings and use a deep 7/16" socket on the 7/16" housings and almost never have problem getting them out.

[Tom Wesenberg]

I filed out a six point box wrench to remove the GAV brass housing. I don't recall if I filed a 3/8" or a 10 mm box wrench, but it worked fine. Just make sure it's a quality wrench with a thin wall, and not a cheap thick walled import.