New carbs overtorqued.

[airheadPete]

Hi y'all. I just got my new set of carbs from Randy, and as I had his carb bolt/o-ring set already, (planning to put it on my originals), I thought I'd install them on the new ones before they go in.

So, to the seven other inmates who bought the other sets: break the torque on the screws holding the carb lids and the front and rear gang plates!!!!

It doesn't matter if you're replacing the screws like I did or not. I found that most of the screws were excessively tight, to the point of threating to strip.
I actually had to use my impact driver and valve compound on one that I was losing.
These are new carbs, and I'm sure they use air tools on a production line for them; they're overtorquing them on initial assembly. I hate to think of how it would be to work on the carbs after they've been on the bike a few years, and have a chance to get a spot of corrosion on them.

Happy as hell I bought them though, it's gonna be a beautiful thing!

[ribbert]

........ I hate to think of how it would be to work on the carbs after they've been on the bike a few years, and have a chance to get a spot of corrosion on them.

These screws are a perennial problem.

You can use the softness of the screws to your advantage.
Squeeze them tight enough with vice grips and you can partially squash the screw head, creating a flat on two sides, as shown in the photo.



These particular screws were so tight they nearly exceeded my capacity to twist the vice grips, but the tool did not let go or slip. It will get the tightest of them out and leave the PH head unmolested for refitting. Better still of course to replace them with SS allen heads.
You can have all the screws out in a couple of minutes with no chewed up heads.

It will not work using the vice grips side on.

Noel

[Pat Conlon]

Good visual Noel....Where would we be without Vice Grips? What a great design and a very handy tool.

[ribbert]

Good visual Noel....Where would we be without Vice Grips? What a great design and a very handy tool.

It's very satisfying when the specific qualities of a tool come to the fore, letting you do a job nothing else in the tool box would get near, and yes, they are a great bit of design.

Noel