Storing an old carburator

[DerbyDad03]

I just ordered a new carburator for my Honda lawn mower engine.

Since placing the order, I tried some Mechanic In A Bottle and it improved the performance of my mower significantly. It's not 100%, but if I hadn't already ordered the carb, I probably would wait a while.

Anyway, since the new one is on it's way, I'm going to change it, but I don't see a need to throw out the old one just yet. I might just keep it around as an emergency spare.

Should I choose to do that, what's the best way to clean it and store it to keep "fresh" so if I ever need it (years from now?) it'll still work?

BTW - Plano Power equipment has a great website for outdoor power equipment - especially parts for Honda engines and genrators.

[jamesgangnc]

You'd be better off just canceliing the order or trying to sell. Stockpiling parts for a mower is not very smart. Just buy the part when you need it.

If you really wish to keep a spare then keep the new one.

[Bryan Scholtes]

It's probably already coated with whatever it needs to stay shelf fresh for years.

[clare]

Just drain the bowl, blow it dry and stick it in a zip-lok bag.

[DerbyDad03]

That's just about what I thinking of doing.

Thanks!

[Jules Richardson]

Yeah, that'd be my advice too. Stick a bit of card in there with a label saying what it is, too, because if you're anything like me you'll end up with shelves full of stuff like that and it's not always possible to remember where it came from when you "find" it again in ten years' time :-)

cheers

Jules

[DerbyDad03]

Thanks...the new carb (and air cleaner, plug, blade and assorted gaskets) arrived last night, so after one more mow this weekend, I'll be swapping parts.

[jamesgangnc]

For what it's worth I've never replaced one of those carbs on any of my gas powered equipment. Simply cleaning it and replacing the gaskets has always been enough. That yours improved with gas additive suggests the same.

[dpb]

On 5/24/2011 8:40 AM, jamesgangnc wrote: ...

I've had to replace them on some equipment but it's generally after 20+ (to maybe 40 or more even) years. Old Zenith and the like will wear around the throttle shaft so that air inleakage eventually becomes intolerable and uncontrollable. There's no effective repair as they're not bushed and unless one has suitable machine shop facilities to do so oneself, the expense of paying somebody to do the custom bushing is more than the new carb by quite a bit.

Unfortunately, many of these old guys are now out of production and replacements aren't available so if I outlive the current versions it'll be a harder route... :)

Anything new enough that it had a Honda engine wouldn't be a likely candidate for needing a carb replacement yet I'd think... :)

[DerbyDad03]

Some fine fella in this group mentioned prioritizing their time. In another forum dedicated to OPE, I asked if they knew of a site that had step-by-step instructions for cleaning and tuning a Honda engine, including the carb.

One long time member mentioned that for the $15 cost of a new carb from Plano, it's hardly worth taking the old one apart and cleaning/ tuning it. Of all the things I'm pretty good at, small engines, especially carburetors, isn't one of them.

I called Plano and they said their carbs are just bolt on and run. When I said I'd like a blade, air cleaner and plug for the same mower, they gave me a pretty good break off the on-line shipping cost, essentially throwing in free shipping on the blade, by far the heaviest item in the order.

So for the amount of time I'd spend cleaning and (trying to) tune the old carb, I'll just toss the new one on and be done.

Any extra time I spend cleaning and storing the old one will basically be play time.

How's that for some good old fashioned rationalization? ;-)

[dpb]

On 5/24/2011 1:12 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote: ...

Dang!!! That's about 1/3rd to 1/10th the cost of any I've ever dealt with--don't think could have gotten a replacement when they were new for that 30 years ago...

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[DerbyDad03]

Check out Plano Power Equipment for all your Honda engine needs.

Of course, I haven't actually tried the carburetor yet, so maybe you oughta wait a little bit. ;-)

[dpb]

On 5/24/2011 3:12 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote: ...

Own nothing that has a Honda engine...closest relative might be the small mower Kawasaki or the utility tractor Yanmar diesel (which, needless to say, is carburetor-challenged : )

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[DerbyDad03]

Just FYI...

From

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Honda - Stihl=AE - Echo=AE - Briggs and Stratton - Tecumseh - Kohler - Wisconsin - Toro/Wheel Horse Mowers, Tractors, and Professional Equipment - Lawn Boy Lawnmowers - Maruyama - Little Beaver - Scag - Snapper Lawnmowers - RedMax - Manco - Trimmer - Tru-Cut - Billy Goat - EarthWay - Yard Shark - Little Wonder/Mantis - Walbro - Zama - Tillotson -Whipper-Clipper - Wisconsin - Wisconsin-Robin - Rotary - Silver Streak - and more.

[dpb]

On 5/24/2011 3:55 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote: ...

I think I have used them for a set of points for the Wisconsin engine in the JLG manlift--oh, no, now I remember. JLG has an OEM-specific version so the standard J4V parts didn't fit; had to go to a JLG distributing dealer at very dear pricing... :(

Will say they were good in letting me return the ones that didn't fit, though, so that was good... :)

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[Jules Richardson]

Yeah, it's getting pretty bad on both the old B+S engines that I have, which are around 25 years old now. They use tiny grub screws to hold the throttle stop onto the shaft too, and there's no chance of getting those out after so many years - removing the stop is the only way of removing the shaft.

Maybe I'll motivate myself to cut the stop off one sometime (and make myself a replacement) if I can plan a way of adding bushes to the carb body (which I expect is what's worn; the shaft's probably not too bad)

cheers

Jules

[dpb]

On 5/25/2011 7:55 AM, Jules Richardson wrote: ...

It's pretty trivial to grind off the throttle plate screws then remove them and replace. I've done that in trying to cobble up a fake bushing w/ some shim stock and other halfbaked goes at it.

The trick is the machining for bushing in the carb body to accurately bush the shaft. I've wondered if one of the JB Weld or similar products would be hard enough but figured unlikely so haven't ever tried it. It wouldn't be bad if one had a milling machine setup (or very, very good drill press, even) but my press is ok for farm repair heavy stuff but not up to the task for such precise work. The guy in town wants way more than they're worth for setup charges.

Indeed, it is the carb body casting that wears; I've mic'ed the shaft on a couple and they're barely discernible as to wear--it's all in hogging out the body from the longterm vibration.

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[jamesgangnc]

I've bushed other things myself. Usually you can find a sleeve that fits the item or can be drilled out to fit the item. Then just drill the body to fit the sleeve. On a carb I'd also wonder if you could peen the body such that the hole was smaller again and then clean it up to fit the shaft with a file. Another possibility would be cutting a groove in the shaft and fitting an o-ring. Or attaching a thick washer to the outside that matches the shaft.

I had a throttle shaft go on my $79 blower. I just put a bolt through the hole. I usually ran it at full speed anyway :-)

[dpb]

On 5/25/2011 9:22 AM, jamesgangnc wrote: ...

...

The principle is simple, agreed.... :)

The issue I've had was that the toolset at hand is much more adapted to stuff of the much heavier persuasion than a little single-cylinder carb bowl since most work is farm equipment size. I wasn't set to try to accurately align the carb for drilling out the bowl sides and keep alignment to avoid potential for throttle to then bind if not quite true.

I kinda' like the idea of the exterior patch idea, that has some possibilities. The one I last replaced was so far hogged out there would be no hope of peening sufficient material to fill the gap, if I could have kept it in there there was actually enough space I got a chunk of shimstock around the shaft at one point--it help briefly, but vibrated out after a couple uses.

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[Jules Richardson]

Ahh, this is just the screw holding the stop / idle speed adjustment which sits externally to the carb - whether the throttle plate screws (although I think it might only have one, without going to look) are also snafu is another matter :-) I don't think I could get the stop off without completely trashing it, but it shouldn't be too hard to make something functionally equivalent anyway.

Yes, that'd be my worry, too, getting it all aligned properly.

Yep, same deal here. Maybe drilling slightly larger than needed and then epoxying the new sleeves in place (using some kind of rig to keep it aligned while drying) might work. Modern epoxies seem to be pretty robust

- I even filled some quite serious scoring in the cylinder bore of my "junk" engine with the stuff, and so far it's taking the oil and heat and having piston rings sliding past it just fine (I tried it more for chuckles than anything, but it's really surprised me how well it's holding up). If it can take that kind of abuse, it'd likely last in a carb body, too.

Yeah, I don't think that whatever metal they're cast from is particularly hard, so I'm not surprised that they wear long before the shafts do. But then 25 years isn't bad for something that was probably only designed to last a fraction of that, either.

cheers

Jules