Hey all,
Here is a post to show the effort being made to save Lorrie Van Haul's poor little old Holley 1920 carburetor.
Let me start by saying that everything that is wrong with the poor little old thing is MY fault, and no one else's. What actually happened was, in the final analysis, mine own doing, and mine alone.
What I'm trying to pull off MAY or MAY NOT work.
If it does work, then I can feel the satisfaction of having mended something that I damaged.
It is doesn't work, then I'm going to have to get a new carburetor for Lorrie.
BUT, I'd have to do that anyway, even if I hadn't decided to try to "fix" the poor little old thing. So what have I got to lose?
So here is the situation, and I'm going to do this as if NO ONE here has even heard of the situation in the first place.
I have a 1967 Dodge P200 Mail Van named Lorrie Van Haul, which has a 225 Slant-Six engine.
http://msamericanpi.bravehost.com/dodge.htm
She has been sitting for twelve years, and I have finally decided to awaken her from her coma.
In the process, I've decided to rebuild the Holley 1920 1V carburetor.
http://msamericanpi.bravehost.com/1920carb.htm
And to that end I have obtained the proper re-build kit. Disassembled the unit.
Put it into a can of Berryman's ChemDip, and was going to let it sit for two weeks (per a carburetor expert's advice). BUT, I got eager to get started on it after letting it sit for just one week, and so I pulled it out of the ChemDip, to find that the Fuel Tubes in the venturi had disintegrated!
Here is what they looked like:
[IMG]http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll66/Reignbough_Chase/1920carb45-1.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll66/Reignbough_Chase/1920carb46.jpg[/IMG]
As you can see, they are pretty much "TOASTED".
Well, being one who is not easily deterred, I sought opinions, and got a full range of recommendations : All the way from "Get a NEW one.", to "I'm not sure it can be saved.", to "Yes, it can be saved."
And taking the tack that I have nothing to lose by giving "It can be saved." a try, here is what I'm done so far.
First off, that Fuel Tube arrangement in the Venturi is one that no one that I've talked to has ever seen before. And it came to be called (during the discussion) the Greek Orthodox Crucifix Shaped Tonsil! (hereinafter referred to as GOCST)
As the above JPGs show, it DOES seem to have THAT appearance.
Anyway, I decided to give it a tonsillectomy! And here are a series of JPGs showing THAT procedure.
This first one is looking UP the venturi from the bottom of the carburetor where one side of the GOCST was removed by griding it away with a Craftsman RotoTool with a long spindled abrasive stone tip.
[IMG]http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll66/Reignbough_Chase/1920carb47.jpg[/IMG]
The next JPG is of the other side of the GOCST removed the same way.
[IMG]http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll66/Reignbough_Chase/1920carb50.jpg[/IMG]
And here are some JPGs of the removed GOCSTs.
[IMG]http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll66/Reignbough_Chase/1920carb48.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll66/Reignbough_Chase/1920carb51.jpg[/IMG]
Alright, now we have only the Main Fuel Tube left, and it needs some finish work. So with a small file, reaching in from the BOTTOM of the unit, the holes in the Main Fuel Tube were dressed down.
Here are the JPGs of that process. First one side:
[IMG]http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll66/Reignbough_Chase/1920carb52.jpg[/IMG]
And then the other side.
[IMG]http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll66/Reignbough_Chase/1920carb53.jpg[/IMG]
And here is what the finished dressing down looks like from the TOP of the Venturi.
[IMG]http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll66/Reignbough_Chase/1920carb54.jpg[/IMG]
Alright, now as you may or may not know, the fuel from the Fuel Tube is pulled into the air stream by a vacuum/low-pressure area caused by the opening in the fuel tube facing away from the direction of the air flow.
Well, the holes in the Main Fuel Tube ARE "kind" of facing away from the incoming air, but not enough to suit me. So I got to trying to figure out a way to make it to where the low-pressure vacuum would be more pronounced, and came up with an idea to "shroud" the holes in the Main Inlet Tube in a more POSITIVE manner. And I came up with the following idea which has come to be called: "The Micro Tonsil".
I took a page of "business card" paper stock and drew out a shape that when bent, folded, and crimped would fit over the Main Fuel Tube and be held in place with a wrapping of fine copper wire to make sure that it wouldn't come loose and get sucked into the engine.
Here is that piece of business card stock shape PRIOR to being bent, and folded:
[IMG]http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll66/Reignbough_Chase/1920carb55.jpg[/IMG]
And here are a couple of different view of it AFTER being bent and folded. It is being held in a pair of tweezers, so to give you some idea of how big this piece is, the long piece in the JPG is 1" in length.
[IMG]http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll66/Reignbough_Chase/1920carb56.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll66/Reignbough_Chase/1920carb57.jpg[/IMG]
And this next JPG is looking DOWN the venturi at the Micro-Tonsil installed on the Main Fuel Tube.
[IMG]http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll66/Reignbough_Chase/1920carb58.jpg[/IMG]
And here is the view of the installed Micro-Tonsil from the BOTTOM of the carburetor looking UP the venturi. BTW, you can get a pretty good idea of how big the Micro-Tonsil is by comparing it to my index and middle finger which are holding the Micro-Tonsil in place for the photograph.
[IMG]http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll66/Reignbough_Chase/1920carb59.jpg[/IMG]
As you can see, the "bell" of the "shroud" of the Micro-Tonsil is completely covering the area just below the holes in the Main Fuel Tube, which HOPEFULLY is going to create a low-pressure/vacuum area that is facing AWAY from the direction of the air flow. And will, as mentioned above promote the suction necessary to get the fuel to come out of the fuel tube, and into the flow of the air stream in the the venturi of the carburetor.
I've made another one of these Micro-Tonsils, which has a couple of improvements but is not yet finished. Will post JPGs of it when it is done which should be later on this morning.
When the shape is FINALLY determined, it will then be cut out of aluminum stock which will be obtained from the lid of a can of Colon Cleanse (Psyllium Husk), and installed in the venturi with the aforementioned fine copper wire.
Anyway, this is what I'm doing to try to redeem myself for having damaged the poor little old thing, and hopefully it will work, and Lorrie's Holley 1920 carburetor won't have to become a paper weight, and I won't have to spend $200.00+ for a NEW unit.
Thanks for reading this. Your comments, and opinions are solicited. Don't be shy. Say what you think.
Will keep you updated on the progress.
Hope you all are well.
JC
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HAVE A NICE DAY!!!!