Gator81

I'm rebuilding an E4ME for a friend (the computer controlled Q-jet, although that makes no difference here, as far as I know). At the front of the carb is a vacuum connection. It comes out of the carb body and then becomes a "T". The "T" is a metal pipe, about 3/16" or so.

The problem is, the "T" has been broken off flush with the carb body.

What is the best repair strategy?

I could try to solder or braze it back together. I'm a little fearful of putting that kind of heat onto the carb body, tho.

I have another E4ME that is a "spare parts" carb. Should I drill out the broken piece, and then somehow extract the "T" from the spare carb, and press it into the carb I'm repairing? If so, how do you "extract" it from the carb body? And how do you secure it in the other carb after you press it in? Epoxy? Solder?

Here's another approach. The carb with the broken vacuum "T" is the correct carb for my friend's car - it's the #1228 for the '81, auto trans, 49-state emissions. The "spare parts" carb is the #1218 for the '81, auto trans, California emissions. I could strip the spare parts carb down to just the body (with an unbroken vacuum "T"), and then rebuild it with all the parts for the correct carb. Basically, that should give us a 49-state auto trans '81 carb, but it will just have the wrong part number stamped into it. My only concern there was that the rods and seats might be different between the #1228 and the #1218. So I checked the rods, and they are the same: both carbs have "CH" secondary metering rods, and "55U" primary rods ("needles").

Question: if the rods/needles are the same, can I assume the seats are the same, too? They are essentially a permanent part of the carb body, not removable.

Does anybody out there actually know what all the differences are between the California-spec '81 E4ME and the 49-state-spec '81 E4ME? Talk about your trivia!!! :crazy:

So there are 3 repair strategies. Which one would you try first? And are there others I haven't thought of???

Thanks in advance!!! :cheers:


[Modified by Gator81, 3:36 PM 4/8/2003]

adam

Hey Gator;

I'd swap bodies... easiest - does he care about the numbers?

If the T is removable then you can buy a new one and drill out the old one (good luck.) :D

Playing with carbs is fun, huh!

Tom454

I have the same carb on one of my vehicles...

Use a 6-32 or 8-32 tap (whichever will do the trick). Tap the remaining tube in the carb body, screw in a screw, and pry the tube out. Should take about 5 minutes.

If you're not good with taps & dies, ask someone to help you with it... you don't need a broken off tap stuck in the carb body.

Tom

Gator81

Tom & Adam,
thanks for the replies. Adam, you and I think alike! :)
Tom, great idea for removing the broken tube! There's a tap & die set on my workbench within arm's reach of where I was working on that carb - but it would never have occured to me to tap it and then use a screw to extract it! :cool:

Still looking for some info about just how, exactly, a California-spec carb is different from a 49-state carb.... :skep:

lars

Tom has the right technique - it works every time. The tube is not pressed in there all that hard. I've been running the tap in and then leaving the tap in there and using the tap itself to wiggle and pull the tube out. On one carb, the tube was corroded in place, so I attached a slide hammer to the tap and popped the tube out.