Carburetor Seminar a Big SuccessAbout
14 members gathered at the Club House on a chilly Saturday morning to learn the
ins and outs of the Model A carburetor. But, the chilly outdoors was no problem
as the Club’s wood stove kept things cozy. The long distance award went to
Walter Pickles who drove in from Castor. Honorable mention went to Harry Wigle
who came in from Water Valley and had to contend with 6 inches of fresh snow. Organizer Glenn Smith got the proceedings under way shortly after 10 a.m. with some introductory remarks and then passed out to each participant a comprehensive reference book on Model A carburetors that he had prepared. Included in the book are restoration techniques, float problems, parts lists and prices, tool needs and references. Glenn then discussed a variety of safety considerations, which served as good reminders of how careless we sometimes get working around gasoline and electricity. Murray Walkemeyer than took over as lecturer. As props, Murray used an assortment of carburetors and some first class drawings of carbs obtained on line with permission from Chris Pelikan who lives in the Denver area. With the props, Murray explained the air and gas flows for the Zenith and Tillotson carburetors under various conditions from idling to high speed. Murray went into great detail on floats: the various types, the problems they can cause and how to fix and test them. Murray
then dealt with the general procedures used to restore carbs and some of the
plusses and minuses of repro parts versus renewing originals. It was a delight
to hear the many techniques available to coax good reliable performance out of
the old equipment. Murray then headed up a troubleshooting discussion dealing with such subjects as leaks, speed problems, mixture adjustments, and idling adjustments. Murray also offered some advice on problems with the timing and electrical systems that are sometimes blamed on carburetors. Much fun was had trying to operate a device Glenn made that was intended to assess the diameter of a carburetor jet by the measuring the amount of water that would pass through the jet in a minute. Glenn is undecided about getting a patent. Glenn announced that a post graduate session will be held in the spring in which the emphasis will be on problems with individual carburetors rather than the generalities of the November session. At the spring session Murray will discuss the Model B carburetor and provide more information on the Tillotson carburetor.
Club President Norm Devitt ended the day with thanks to Murray and Glenn for all the work that they put in preparing and presenting the seminar. A hat was passed to provide some compensation to Glenn for the reference books. Some extra copies of Glenn’s reference book are available at the Club House. Special thanks go to Ronnie and Dennis Dovich who brought a wheel spoke straightener that they donated to the Club’s tool chest. The attendees were also collectively grateful to Harry Wigle for having the presence of mind to donate two dozen donuts to nourish us through the day. Report by Jim Rouse
|
