We're bringin' back the Flat Tops!

[motorman7]

Not completely finished, but i am about 90% done.  I need to get some more of those micro cotter pins to finish out the choke diaphragm assembly.  Also need to look into getting new fuel filters.  Do they exist?  Surprised those are not in the rebuild kit.  May do a bit more polishing on the right flat top.  

On 1/26/2019 at 8:37 AM, Zup said:

Interested to know, what were the charges were for the dry film coating of the throttle shafts?

Technically $26 each.  Actually there is typically a lot charge, $75, and then price reduced with QTY.  The more you bring in, the cheaper it is.

 

On 1/26/2019 at 8:37 AM, Zup said:

The EGR valve plating looks great! Did you have them plate the entire assembly or did you find a way to disassemble the diaphragm mounting portion from the cast iron base?

Tried to disassemble but could not do it without damaging something.  The locking ring on bottom of cast iron has a spot weld.  I zinced the whole thing and did cast iron spray over the base.

 

On 1/26/2019 at 8:37 AM, Zup said:

Have any of the plated items with internal cavities (tubing, housings, etc.) exhibited bleed out from the plating process that discolored or degraded the surface plate finish?

Yes, this was a bit of an issue.  Tried to reduce the problem by putting silicon in holes.  The silicon did not always stay in place.  

 

On 1/26/2019 at 7:31 AM, Captain Obvious said:

Throttle shafts look cool. Make sure the butterfly plates fit in the slot and the retaining screws still fit the threads. I don't know how thick the coating is, or if it did a good job of getting into the nooks and crannies, but if there are any issues it would be easier to deal with before the shafts are back in the bodies.

They actually assemble nice when you have the correct set installed.  I had throttle plates segregated but should have marked the throttle shafts.  The shafts for this set of carbs was in the best condition, but after the coating it was a bit harder to discern which were the better set.  The forward carbs assembled perfectly with no issues (beginners luck).  On the rear, must have grabbed the wrong shaft as the throttle plate would not align. Took several tries to get the correct shaft.  Also, the correct shaft rotated smoothly in the bushings.  The wrong shafts did not.

 

Also, had four gasket sets.  Two of the gasket sets had nice fit for the fuel bowl seal.  The other two were short as shown in pics below.  

Edited January 27, 2019 by motorman7

[jayhawk]

1 hour ago, motorman7 said:

 

After seeing these, I'm certainly clamoring for such beautiful carbs.   Carburetors as art.  

[Dave WM]

every time I see this thread title for some reason I flash on Def Leppard.

[Captain Obvious]

Look great. Hope they work as well as they look!!

I've never found a source for replacement filters. I haven't looked hard, but in the little poking around I did, nothing turned up. Seems like they wouldn't be thaaaaat hard to make yourself.  (Famous last words, right?)

[motorman7]

3 minutes ago, Captain Obvious said:

I've never found a source for replacement filters. I haven't looked hard, but in the little poking around I did, nothing turned up. Seems like they wouldn't be thaaaaat hard to make yourself.  (Famous last words, right?)

I was thinking about that actually.  I have a number of different stainless steel mesh sheets from a cancelled project at work that could possibly be used.  Will look into that.

[Patcon]

Any idea on what size screen it needs to be ? How would you handle the edges? Are they banjo screens like the earlier carbs?

[motorman7]

On 1/26/2019 at 1:54 PM, jonathanrussell said:

 The yellow zinc plating looks fantastic. Color looks great and nice level of shine. Apologies if you have mentioned this earlier but can you please describe what you did to prep the parts before sending to Sav-On?

Typically I do a light wire wheel on the heavy rust or corroded items.  I also try and remove any grease or oil just because it contaminates the nicer parts. Also, all paint needs to be removed.  No need to be real clean on everything and no need to remove the old zinc.  They do a nice job with the plating.  

[motorman7]

8 minutes ago, Patcon said:

Any idea on what size screen it needs to be ? How would you handle the edges? Are they banjo screens like the earlier carbs?

The fuel filter looks like this, its very small.   I have some of this at stuff at work that seems to be somewhat similar: https://www.twpinc.com/wire-mesh-material/stainless-steel/635-mesh-t316-stainless-138

Not sure how I would handle the edges yet.

[motorman7]

3 hours ago, jayhawk said:

After seeing these, I'm certainly clamoring for such beautiful carbs.   Carburetors as art.  

They really came out nice.  My favorite part though is something that you will not see when installed and that is the throttle shafts with the throttle plates.  They really fit nice in the carb with the dry film lube coating.  I put a little bit of light oil on the interface with the bushing and they turn very smoothly with a nice seal.  All the mechanisms and floats have been adjusted.  They operate very nicely.  Looking forward to having them operational.

[Captain Obvious]

If I were to try to make filters, I would start with brass screen just like the stock filters. That way you could solder the seam just like the originals. And then you could also use some soft brass sheet to welt the ends and solder them in place as well.

I don't know what hole size would be appropriate, but McMaster has brass screen with hole sizes down to six thousandths.  >>  https://www.mcmaster.com/brass-wire-cloth  You can get a one square foot piece for about $7.50. Enough to go into production and supply filters for probably all of the flat-tops still on the road today! 

[motorman7]

15 minutes ago, Captain Obvious said:

If I were to try to make filters, I would start with brass screen just like the stock filters. That way you could solder the seam just like the originals. And then you could also use some soft brass sheet to welt the ends and solder them in place as well.

I don't know what hole size would be appropriate, but McMaster has brass screen with hole sizes down to six thousandths.  >>  https://www.mcmaster.com/brass-wire-cloth  You can get a one square foot piece for about $7.50. Enough to go into production and supply filters for probably all of the flat-tops still on the road today! 

Will look into that....and go into production? ?

[grannyknot]

It looks like the filter in the top of an old fuel injector, I'll dig one out and post a pic next to a tape measure.