Spring INSIDE of the carb?

[Indy]

I was given the old carburetor from our A4 by the previous owner and decided to disassemble it to get a better understanding of its operation. When I separated the top and bottom, a small torsion spring (about 1/8 dia. by 5/8 inch) fell out on the workbench. It's not shown on any exploded views of the carburetor that I can see. The carburetor is original, without the extra screw that holds the top and bottom together.

Anyone know of a spring used inside the carb?

[JOHN COOKSON]

Is your carburetor a Zenith 68 series carburetor? The only two springs in this carburetor are the idle adjusting spring and the poppet valve on the choke butterfly. See Page 2.




ex TRUE GRIT

[Indy]

Thanks for the response. Late model engine, it's the original carb, but not the one with the extra bolt holding the top and lower halves together. So, yes I believe it's the Zenith 68. Both of the springs you mention are in place, neither is even the same type. This one is a torsion spring, looks like it is meant to hold something open or provide some resistance to being closed.

I'm not ruling out the possibility that the previous owner put the spring in there to drive me crazy. He's pretty droll.

[ndutton]

A picture would really help.

[Al Schober]

Strange stuff. I've heard tales of coke bottles (remember them) inside gas tanks and marbles on a sheet metal ledge in the dashboard. One I've seen personally (worked at a Chevy agency) was on a new car that went up on the lift. Yellow grease pencil on the bottom of the gas tank said 'This is Ford country'.

[Indy]

A picture would really help.

Next time I'm at the boat I'll snap a photo of it. I just dropped it back in and put the two halves together.

[Hawkeye54]

Strange stuff. I've heard tales of coke bottles (remember them) inside gas tanks and marbles on a sheet metal ledge in the dashboard. One I've seen personally (worked at a Chevy agency) was on a new car that went up on the lift. Yellow grease pencil on the bottom of the gas tank said 'This is Ford country'.

Along those lines, Al, my mother bought a new 1965 Corvair, which had a tough to locate rattle from new. As I was poking around ( teenager with newly minted drivers license - knew it all) , I found 3 wrenches, a screwdriver, and a clamp-on visor mirror tucked down inside the rear fender. Rattle fixed





Rick

[W2ET]

Many years ago, I (and a bunch of fellow graduate engineers) toured a Ford assembly plant in a city I will leave anonymous.

Along the way, we watched nuts, bolts and screws tossed aside (or dropped in the assembly) when the line got away from the worker.

The magical parts:

• Watching a big stack of carpeting in a rainbow of colors present precisely the proper one to the next item on line. One layer off and it would have been a disaster.
• The robotic paint booth, way ahead of its time.
• A fully equipped machine shop, mounted on the chasis of what would otherwise be a fire engine, complete with lights and sirens. If that line stopped, they rolled, and you didn't get in the way.

Oh, one more thing:

• A master mechanic at the end of the line, with only one tool: a huge rubber mallet with maybe a 24-inch handle. The hood didn't fit precisely? Door a bit off? Windshield looked to be not quite properly seated? He took care of all that.

And yes, they drove each one away when that master mechanic was done.

Bill

[Sam]

One last story. Reading the last post I'm reminded of way back in 1972 I was a graduating engineer and had a job offer from a Ford assembly plant producing Mustangs and Montego's. It was a tense pressurized environment as described with cars rolling off the line at 1 per minute. The plant manger was giving me a tour in an electric "golf cart" that had a verticle 4ft angled rod mounted in the front. I inquired if that was some sort of antenna. He answered that they had a lot of Vietnam vets working there and the rod was used to cut thin wires that some disgruntled workers would stretch across an aisle at neck height - they recently lost a supervisor that way. I did not like his characterizations, his answer nor the work place labor relations It was a good offer but I chose another.

[JOHN COOKSON]

When overhauling an engine if there are any parts left over toss them in the oil pan. After all, they are the property of the customer.

ex TRUE GRIT