Here's a recent problem I just had to deal with and thought I'd share what I came up with. Building a 1970 HS40 and the application calls for the air cleaner mounted high for fender clearance and the use of a Tecumseh/taylor dog leg muffler. The carb that the customer supplied with the engine for rebuild has issues, one of which already being that the choke lever was incorrect and damaged on it as well as something issues internally.
So I wanted to use a new replacement carb. While I am not in love with them, and you have to tear them down and go through them out of the box unless you want a leaker, you gotta use what you can get. Big issue is they put that long doofy choke lever on it. That's done so you can manipulate it yourself and make it work on various applications. Most people don't care about that and 90% of time this stuff is going on power equipment or something to that effect where the look does not matter.
In this case it does, plus the lever needs to be in an accessible, safe area if possible.
I tried a few different variations/twists, but I cant get it to look good and even come close to clearing with that style header:
in some cases you can simply swap the lever out (it depends on the detent and spring location that locks the lever in selected position). Unfortunately the Chinese carbs are in the wrong position for the levers that the HS engines used, to make matters worse they don't have a hole precast in the body to move the spring to like some of the OEM Tecumseh carbs did.
So here's what I did, I took an old carb that has both hole positions pre cast into the body, removed the spring stop and the choke lever. Broke out a "post-it" note and a small punch, stuck the post-it on there (sticky side on the carb body to help keep it in place), rubbed it with my finger to inset/show the holes a little, and used the punch to knock out the holes:
I transferred the post-it over to the new carb body, I left the springstop on the body still and carefully slid my pattern over top so It would help ensure I got the hole marked in the correct spot, also used the punch in the choke arm hole to verify alignment and then used a spring loaded centerpunch to mark the spot to drill:
Important thing to remember is that spot on the carb body is thin, so mark the depth for your drill bit and be very careful! ( I just bottomed it in the hole of the OEM tec carb and taped the bit):
Good idea to double check that depth on the china carb and adjust if necessary, I did not have an issue but I would not doubt they vary a little depending on who is making them.
With all that done, remove the existing spring and transfer it to the newly drilled spot. Use a good set of pliers right at the base (clean good teeth that grip all the way on the spring surface) and then twist out. Keep the pliers all the way at the bottom, you can only swing about half a turn so bottom the pliers each time you reset and try to keep it all as straight as possible when doing that and you can usually get it out in reusable condition:
I did find that even though my drill bit was the correct size, with a little wobble while drilling (was using a hand drill) made it a looser fit than whats ideal...its tight enough that I think it would be fine, but I'm gonna dab it with some adhesive inside the hole just to be safe. If you drill holes better than me (99% of the population probably can-put a drill in my hand and I start shakin' like Janet Reno :wink and the spring is a tight force fit, thread it like you did taking it out keeping the pliers as close to the bottom as you can so you dont kink spring.
Finished product:
The other BIG problem with this was finding that particular choke arm!!! I had to do some digging to find the right one, as they are NLA!! So please remember to try and salvage what you can off the old carbs before tossing them in the garbage! And let me know if you have any to get rid of :laugh:
So I wanted to use a new replacement carb. While I am not in love with them, and you have to tear them down and go through them out of the box unless you want a leaker, you gotta use what you can get. Big issue is they put that long doofy choke lever on it. That's done so you can manipulate it yourself and make it work on various applications. Most people don't care about that and 90% of time this stuff is going on power equipment or something to that effect where the look does not matter.
In this case it does, plus the lever needs to be in an accessible, safe area if possible.
I tried a few different variations/twists, but I cant get it to look good and even come close to clearing with that style header:
in some cases you can simply swap the lever out (it depends on the detent and spring location that locks the lever in selected position). Unfortunately the Chinese carbs are in the wrong position for the levers that the HS engines used, to make matters worse they don't have a hole precast in the body to move the spring to like some of the OEM Tecumseh carbs did.
So here's what I did, I took an old carb that has both hole positions pre cast into the body, removed the spring stop and the choke lever. Broke out a "post-it" note and a small punch, stuck the post-it on there (sticky side on the carb body to help keep it in place), rubbed it with my finger to inset/show the holes a little, and used the punch to knock out the holes:
I transferred the post-it over to the new carb body, I left the springstop on the body still and carefully slid my pattern over top so It would help ensure I got the hole marked in the correct spot, also used the punch in the choke arm hole to verify alignment and then used a spring loaded centerpunch to mark the spot to drill:
Important thing to remember is that spot on the carb body is thin, so mark the depth for your drill bit and be very careful! ( I just bottomed it in the hole of the OEM tec carb and taped the bit):
Good idea to double check that depth on the china carb and adjust if necessary, I did not have an issue but I would not doubt they vary a little depending on who is making them.
With all that done, remove the existing spring and transfer it to the newly drilled spot. Use a good set of pliers right at the base (clean good teeth that grip all the way on the spring surface) and then twist out. Keep the pliers all the way at the bottom, you can only swing about half a turn so bottom the pliers each time you reset and try to keep it all as straight as possible when doing that and you can usually get it out in reusable condition:
I did find that even though my drill bit was the correct size, with a little wobble while drilling (was using a hand drill) made it a looser fit than whats ideal...its tight enough that I think it would be fine, but I'm gonna dab it with some adhesive inside the hole just to be safe. If you drill holes better than me (99% of the population probably can-put a drill in my hand and I start shakin' like Janet Reno :wink and the spring is a tight force fit, thread it like you did taking it out keeping the pliers as close to the bottom as you can so you dont kink spring.
Finished product:
The other BIG problem with this was finding that particular choke arm!!! I had to do some digging to find the right one, as they are NLA!! So please remember to try and salvage what you can off the old carbs before tossing them in the garbage! And let me know if you have any to get rid of :laugh: