How I removed my stuck jets (stripped)

I'm gonna put this in here just so I can say I've contributed in at least one post

I picked up a carb rack for my 550 maxim engine, but the slots on the main jets were completely buggered up when I went through them doing a cleaning and inspection. I ordered them from a fellow member with "condition unknown" on the listing, so I wanted to know what they looked like. It appears that someone had started doing a deep clean on them, couldn't remove the jets, and gave up. Everything else was nearly spotless. SO, on to the good stuff...

After soaking the jets for a few days in PB Blast and WD-40, I used a high torque, variable speed 120v drill motor with a 1/8" reverse drill bit chucked up. I had the carbs set as flat as I could on a table with the jets pointing to the celiing. With the drill in reverse, using very light "taps" on the trigger and a good amount of pressure, the bit grabbed the brass jets and backed them out. Some came out easily, some had to be drilled a little before they caught. The most problematic was one that I tried driving a torx bit into, which did nothing but enlarge the hole when I turned the bit.

Word of warning: if you drill even slightly off center, you'll ruin the threads for your jet. The 1/8" bit fit perfectly for the stock jets, and used the stock hole as a pilot, but it's still possible to drill wrong if you have had too many beers.

 

Were they that badly chewed that you couldn't get vice grips or pliers on the head then?

That'd be my first thought if the slot was damaged, but if the jet was so badly chewed as to not allow this then the reverse drill method sounds like a good plan to save the carb bodies. (Also remember that if the threads for the main jets get damaged all is not lost, you can at least replace the emulsion tube in this situation so maybe "get your eye in" on the main jets first. But be exceedingly careful with the pilots as stated, since damage to the threads here would be effectively irreparable...

 

easy outs work nicely too