Recent content by Pin_Head

It has worked fine for the past two years. I hauled a couple hundreds of pounds of lumber on it and my kayak and gear. No problems. It is easy to remove and reinstall when I needed to take it off to load a bucket of soil with a skid steer loader. If you have to buy the 10 mm tap, get a...

Among the strange things I have encountered that result in dramatic power loss without misfire is a baffle coming loose in the muller and occasionally getting blown around and covering the exhaust outlet. When you shut the engine off, it would fall down and the problem go away until it jumped...

This is true, and Zippy’s last name is Pinhead. Generally, you have to be over 65 to appreciate this.

Thanks for the shine. My day job was explaining molecular biology to university students, so I had plenty of experience lecturing people. I retired from teaching and administration yesterday, but I guess I can’t turn off the urge to lecture.

I recommend keeping a functional power piston. The way it works is when there is low/no vacuum on the piston iit is open and makes your mixture rich, which you need under high engine load. You don’t need it open under most conditions, so if it is always open, you will get even worse fuel...

This sounds most likely like a lack of idle fuel at the transition slot. There are two main reasons for this: 1. Manifold vacuum leak. 2. Idle fuel circuit plugged. Just because it can run at 650 RPM doesn’t mean that it is really idling. In both cases above you would need to increase the...

Getting the right size master cylinder is a little tricky because it not only has to move the proper amount of fluid, but also produce the proper pressure. The larger diameter piston moves more fluid, but also takes more pedal pressure. Make sure your 80 brakes are properly bled and do not...

In addition to cooling the fuel at the inlet as many people have mentioned, the return has a restriction that may also serve to clip the pressure spike from the pulsatile flow of the pump. I’m not sure what this might help. Neither function seems compelling, which is probably why they run so...

That carb was rebuilt in 2010, so it is past its warranty period.

Remove the top cover screws and gently loosen the cover by tapping on it and lifting the fuel line. Once it is free, lift it up to that you can see the end of the needle valve where it meets the float. Free the needle up with some needle nose pliers or a small screwdriver so it can move up and...

The BY ignition wire to the coil /distributor is the only wire in the 40 that is not fused which I probably why it burned up. The ignition is not part of the engine fuse circuit.

That would do it but it won’t explain why capping this hose off did not make it idle better. Maybe the other end of the hose connects to the air cleaner or somewhere else above the throttle plate.

For the carb issue, it is most likely either a lack of idle fuel at the idle fuel port under the throttle plate or a air leak below the throttle plate allowing air with no fuel into the intake manifold. It is not always easy to distinguish these two possibilities, but you can try. First check...

Try power washing it first. Cheap spray paint on a poorly prepared surface might come right off.

The 1-2 shift gate is out of position and is either stuck in first gear or it is part way engaged but enough to lock out the other gates. You need to pry it up so the 1-2 slot lines up with the other two shift gates, reverse and 3-4. Once you get all three centered, manually move each shift...