About 14 members gathered at the Club House on a chilly Saturday morning to learn the ins and outs of the Model A carburetor. But, the chilly outdoors was no problem as the Club's wood stove kept things cozy. The long distance award went to Walter Pickles who drove in from Consort. Honorable mention went to Harry Weigle who came in from Water Valley and had to contend with 6 inches of fresh snow.
Organizer Glenn Smith got the proceedings under way shortly after 10 a.m. with some introductory remarks and then passed out to each participant a comprehensive reference book on Model A carburetors that he had prepared. Included in the book are restoration techniques, float problems, parts lists and prices, tool needs and references. Glenn then discussed a variety of safety considerations, which served as good reminders of how careless we sometimes get working around gasoline and electricity.
Murray Walkemeyer than took over as lecturer. As props, Murray used an assortment of carburetors and some first class drawings of carbs obtained on line with permission from Chris Pelikan who lives in the Denver area. With the props, Murray explained the air and gas flows for the Zenith and Tillotson carburetors under various conditions from idling to high speed. Murray went into great detail on floats: the various types, the problems they can cause and how to fix and test them.
Murray then dealt with the general procedures used to restore carbs and some of the plusses and minuses of repro parts versus renewing originals. It was a delight to hear the many techniques available to coax good reliable performance out of the old equipment.
Murray then headed up a troubleshooting discussion dealing with such subjects as leaks, speed problems, mixture adjustments, and idling adjustments. Murray also offered some advice on problems with the timing and electrical systems that are sometimes blamed on carburetors. The day ended with some demonstrations on how to check and test the various jets in the Tillitson and Zenith carburetors.
Club President Norm Devitt ended the day with thanks to Murray and Glenn for all the work that they put in preparing and presenting the seminar. A hat was passed to provide some compensation to Glenn for the Reference books. Some extra copies of Glenn's reference book are available at the Club House.
Thanks to Harry Wigles who brought the donuts.
