Need BDC23 carb parts for Sandy Hook

[Terry Bentley]

Why are so many of you still running pump gas????? That stuff is crap in the nicest regard. When I gave up the modified alky burners and went to stock Yamaha classes, the only fuel that went thu those motors was AV gas. From 1988 thru 2002 nothing but, unless there was a spec fuel required at a race.

Everything gas powered either dinosaur chainsaws, ATV,s weedeaters, lawnmowers, Austin Healeys, Model A, Gopeds Mopeds. you get the picture runs nothing but AV gas now. It is the fix all for that bad gas. No more carburetor problems. I would have needed to rejet the ATV's and massage all of the lawn equipment to get 10% alcohol to run decently. My 3000 hates that stuff, not to mention it destroys all of the internal components in the SU carbs.

[doug tenney]

Bill,
No, the BDC-16 (and BDC-24) use a much larger inlet needle than the BDC-14 (and BDC-23).

Among other things, I tried an NOS nylon needle from Hi-Speed Products but didn't seal any better than the all-metal needle.

Doug

[David Luciani]

bill,
expected delivery was supposed to be monday
here's the tracking number just in case
9505 5116 0523 7125 1137 56
hope it's already there!!!

[Paul Hunter]

Why are so many of you still running pump gas????? That stuff is crap in the nicest regard. When I gave up the modified alky burners and went to stock Yamaha classes, the only fuel that went thu those motors was AV gas. From 1988 thru 2002 nothing but, unless there was a spec fuel required at a race.

Everything gas powered either dinosaur chainsaws, ATV,s weedeaters, lawnmowers, Austin Healeys, Model A, Gopeds Mopeds. you get the picture runs nothing but AV gas now. It is the fix all for that bad gas. No more carburetor problems. I would have needed to rejet the ATV's and massage all of the lawn equipment to get 10% alcohol to run decently. My 3000 hates that stuff, not to mention it destroys all of the internal components in the SU carbs.

Terry - Agree on the pump gas problems, learned my lesson several years ago. I've been able to get 90 octane ETHANOL FREE and have had good results. How much is the AV gas where you are?

[Bill Peck]

Hooray! The carburetor care package arrived today (thanks again, Dave). Now if my local auto parts store comes through on the battery cables I'll be ready to fire it up tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

[Bill Peck]

IT'S ALIVE!! I'd like to say it fired right up and ran like a Swiss watch, but that wouldn't be quite accurate. In fact, it popped twice and promptly flooded out. So I took plastic needle out of the carburetor (seemed like a good idea at the time), put the rubber tipped one back in, and lowered the fulcrum arm a hair. That did the trick. Ran it for a half hour to seat the rings. The compression is better than I had hoped.

Now I'm trying to remember what the fulcrum arm height is supposed to be, but that detail eludes recall. I have it set now so a straightedge across the carb body just touches the top of the arm, but I can't remember if that's the gas or methanol setting. Should it be a little lower for gas?

[Tom Day]

Bill, at least at present, there's no problem with parts availability for BDC's*, from the sources mentioned above (and a few others).

[The duckbill has always been a nuisance, because rubber degrades with time.  Most rubber compounds are attacked by methanol.  Roughly six years ago, Scott Kneisel ran some tests and I recall that he found that Elder Rubber was able to mold duckbills in a very satisfactory compound.  You can swap out a duckbill in a few minutes.]

Now, finding a BDC that hasn't been monkeyed-with, and/or has survived without internal corrosion, can be a challenge.

Some guys have BDC's that work great, and wonder what the fuss is.  And whenever they change engines, you'll notice that they keep that same carb and slide a different motor underneath it.  Hence Gary's point.  If you DON'T happen to already have a well-behaved BDC, then a brand new pair of tried-n-true Tillotsons looks VERY attractive.  (Bill McCornak is setting up a pair for me now.)

* The one BDC part I haven't been able to find is a rubber-tipped inlet needle for my BDC-16 (originals were brass or aluminum).  I bought a rubber-tipped needle about 4 years ago from Perry Blair (MarMax) but he doesn't have anymore.  It's on my list to call and cajole him into making another batch.  (Anybody know of another source?)

Doug, is the inlet needle the same as  a BDC 14 or 23? I have a couple of them that I wasn't going to use because of the ethanol in the gas these days.

The first time I tried to run methanol back in the '70s, the engine just shut off after a couple of laps. I assumed it was because the rubber inlet needle swelled up and shut off the fuel. I changed to a plastic needle and it ran fine after that. So, even though I'm going to run gas for Sandy Hook, I put a plastic needle in (just in case).

Still waiting for my care package of carb parts, but I'm also waiting on battery cables for my starter. Everything else is done. With a little luck I should be ready to fire it up this week!

Back in the 70's we had to keep the inlet in alky or soak it long enough to swell it up to maintain the fulcrum arm setting.As I remember it you pretty much had alky running thru the carb all the time and had to pinch off the line or hold your finger over the dump tube on the lineup before the race started.

Plastic needles don't seal well so keep your rubber tipped one handy. We run gas with no ethanol in ours.

[Bill Peck]

Bill, at least at present, there's no problem with parts availability for BDC's*, from the sources mentioned above (and a few others).

[The duckbill has always been a nuisance, because rubber degrades with time.  Most rubber compounds are attacked by methanol.  Roughly six years ago, Scott Kneisel ran some tests and I recall that he found that Elder Rubber was able to mold duckbills in a very satisfactory compound.  You can swap out a duckbill in a few minutes.]

Now, finding a BDC that hasn't been monkeyed-with, and/or has survived without internal corrosion, can be a challenge.

Some guys have BDC's that work great, and wonder what the fuss is.  And whenever they change engines, you'll notice that they keep that same carb and slide a different motor underneath it.  Hence Gary's point.  If you DON'T happen to already have a well-behaved BDC, then a brand new pair of tried-n-true Tillotsons looks VERY attractive.  (Bill McCornak is setting up a pair for me now.)

* The one BDC part I haven't been able to find is a rubber-tipped inlet needle for my BDC-16 (originals were brass or aluminum).  I bought a rubber-tipped needle about 4 years ago from Perry Blair (MarMax) but he doesn't have anymore.  It's on my list to call and cajole him into making another batch.  (Anybody know of another source?)

Doug, is the inlet needle the same as  a BDC 14 or 23? I have a couple of them that I wasn't going to use because of the ethanol in the gas these days.

The first time I tried to run methanol back in the '70s, the engine just shut off after a couple of laps. I assumed it was because the rubber inlet needle swelled up and shut off the fuel. I changed to a plastic needle and it ran fine after that. So, even though I'm going to run gas for Sandy Hook, I put a plastic needle in (just in case).

Still waiting for my care package of carb parts, but I'm also waiting on battery cables for my starter. Everything else is done. With a little luck I should be ready to fire it up this week!

Back in the 70's we had to keep the inlet in alky or soak it long enough to swell it up to maintain the fulcrum arm setting.As I remember it you pretty much had alky running thru the carb all the time and had to pinch off the line or hold your finger over the dump tube on the lineup before the race started.

Plastic needles don't seal well so keep your rubber tipped one handy. We run gas with no ethanol in ours.

Yeah, now that you mention it, I remember seeing guys with their finger over the dump tube while under caution. I never had that problem when running alky. Just lucky, I guess.

I'd love to be able to run ethanol-free gas, but I can't find a source near me (central NJ). I run pump gas in my '76 Suzuki GT550 (2 stroke) and it seems to work OK, so here's hoping that the Mac will run it!

[Terry Bentley]

Terry - Agree on the pump gas problems, learned my lesson several years ago. I've been able to get 90 octane ETHANOL FREE and have had good results. How much is the AV gas where you are?

The aviation fuel locally is $4.30 a gallon. Same just about any municipal airport around surrounding counties. Some of the busier airports wont sell it outright. But a lot of the smaller outlying ones have now gone to a drive up self service 24/7 that sure is convenient. The nice thing is this stuff never goes bad. Even ethanol free gas has a short life nowadays. I keep at least one 30 gallon drum around just for all of the junk I use it in.

[Bill Peck]

Terry - Agree on the pump gas problems, learned my lesson several years ago. I've been able to get 90 octane ETHANOL FREE and have had good results. How much is the AV gas where you are?

The aviation fuel locally is $4.30 a gallon. Same just about any municipal airport around surrounding counties. Some of the busier airports wont sell it outright. But a lot of the smaller outlying ones have now gone to a drive up self service 24/7 that sure is convenient. The nice thing is this stuff never goes bad. Even ethanol free gas has a short life nowadays. I keep at least one 30 gallon drum around just for all of the junk I use it in.

I just got off the phone with my local airport. They do sell av gas out the door. So now I'm going to buy a 5 gallon can and head for the airport.