Carb Chastity belt to help remove butterfly screws

Having carb issues with the Maxim-X I picked up last week, I decided to break the rack and replace the throttle shaft seals. I didn't care to spend a long time carefully filing the peened over threads holding the butterfly to the shaft and wanted instead to use a carbide tip on my dremel in such a way as to not gouge the carb. Using a tip like this would take seconds but any slip and it would ruin the carb. I need a carb Chastity belt!

What to do?

I had an idea and had to give it a try; How about making an epoxy barrier to protect the aluminum? Epoxy putty would be perfect, pliable, hardens fast and once hard would be like a rock barrier inside the ID of the carb. It would only need to be on the side the threads stick through on the throttle shaft and should be deep enough to be sure to protect anywhere inside if the dremel jumps off the threads.

Can't have the epoxy adhering to the carb or that would be a real problem so what to do? Oil! The epoxy will still harden even when soaked in oil and if I oil the output ID real well, there's nothing for the epoxy to cling to and if I press the epoxy thin and wide, it'll have the perfect shape to do what I want. I sprayed Kroil all around the inside figuring it will do a twofer by also helping to loosen the butterfly screws. { Important to use the bottom of the output so you don't push epoxy into the 4 tiny air tubes in the top part up above }.



After it's hardened then you push it out from the input side. I used a popsicle stick so as not scratch the aluminum. Note how it's more than 1/2 the diameter, it needs to be even less than 1/2, it needs to rest on the throttle shaft on both sides but be thin enough to not interfere with the carbide bit.



I used a cutting disk on the dremel to trim the ends perfectly. Be sure to make the edges rest flush with the throttle shaft, this will keep it thick enough at the edges.

It fits perfectly!



It took maybe one minute to flatten both screw threads, it slides out easily and then slips in carb # 2 & so on.



Now I have a tool to use on any BS33 carb & I'll make one to fit the XJ1100 as well with it's larger BS34 carbs. Ought to come in handy at a carb clinic too!

 

Good idea, and nice work!

If I were to make something like this, my first stop would be the PVC plumbing pipe section of the the big box store to look for something close in size that I might be able to make fit. Second stop would be the large diameter flexible rubber hose section.

Don't know if there's anything of the proper size, but I'd start there.

I filed mine... Mostly because I didn't want to slip with the grinder!

 

Good job on making a RE-USABLE tool fast and easy !!

 

Thanks guys. I thought about readily accessible things that might fit. The first carb overhaul I used blue painters tape and plastered the inside with it. It still wasn't right and I made one nick which thankfully was not where the butterfly closed. This time I needed to do it right and since it's a metric size, I doubted anything in the house would fit the job though I thought about using a piece of milk jug. Anything I came up with wouldn't fit the proper contour. So this cost maybe 50 cents worth of epoxy putty and it'll work on 50 carb rebuilds. Fits perfect and does 100% what it's supposed to do.

Nice that what you visualize actually works as planned...

Rare quark in my universe.