Carb question: Is this repairable?

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Nov 3, 2007 | 12:32 PM

The_Dude

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St. Jude Donor '11, '16-'17

Carb question: Is this repairable?

I wouldn't worry about it, except that this is a valuable old Holley.

Nov 3, 2007 | 12:39 PM

knight37128

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From: "cutesy" TN

Nov 3, 2007 | 06:19 PM

murraybs

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From: Sacramento (Citrus Heights) California

Definitely.

I had a Solex carb do something similar on an old Volkswagen and I whipped together some JB Weld for a quick fix. I'm sure the same thing would work here.

Nov 3, 2007 | 07:49 PM

The_Dude

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St. Jude Donor '11, '16-'17

I thought about JB-Weld, but I was worried it could crack, and eventually chips would get sucked into the carburetor. What about aluminum brazing rod?

Nov 3, 2007 | 07:57 PM

noonie

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From: Florida

Tig

Nov 3, 2007 | 11:56 PM

Matt Gruber

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From: central FL, near the beach.

jbweld good!
i've used it 13 yrs on my carb fuel plugs. still like new.

Nov 4, 2007 | 01:29 AM

Bowerss2

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From: Kalamazoo Mi

take it to a shop and see if you can get someone to tig it up for you, if not jb weld does work well.

Nov 4, 2007 | 10:30 AM

jshug

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From: milwaukee wi

I have used aluminum brazing rod on a Holley accellerator pump housing for stripped out mounting screw holes and it worked great.
Just do a little practise brazing on some scrap aluminum and watchout you don't get the base metal to hot, also and put on too much and file off the extra.

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Nov 4, 2007 | 10:40 AM

lars

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From: At my Bar drinking and wrenching in Lafayette Colorado

Quote:

Originally Posted by noonie

Tig

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bowerss2

take it to a shop and see if you can get someone to tig it up for you, if not jb weld does work well.

Nope. You can't TIG zinc die castings - it flat won't work: The zinc simply falls away as it comes up to temp. I've tried using several weld setups and shielding gasses. JB Weld is probably the best alternative for a low-stress area like that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jshug

Just do a little practise brazing on some scrap aluminum.

Problem is, the carb castings are not aluminum - they're a "pot metal" casting with a lot of zinc. It does not respond well to repairs like "real" aluminum. You might be able to fill a captured hole, like a stripped screw thread, with aluminum brazing material, but a clean fractured part like the one shown in the photo probably won't hold well with a brazing process - it will break off again, unfortunately.

Last edited by lars; Nov 4, 2007 at 10:45 AM.