'81 550L - I've lost a pilot needle washer :(

[jwegman]

'81 550L

During the carb teardown process, I was ignorant of the little washer on the pilot needle and lost two of the four. My local hardware store didn't have any suitable flat washers, but had lockwashers - Is it sacrilege to use the split washers (pressed flat)? All these washers do is contain the spring on the upperside, and the oring on the bottom side, right?

The picture below shows the pilot needle with FIVE washers.
The original washer is the second from the LEFT - the thinnest and smallest in diameter.



Regards,
Jake in SE MN

[Steve]

Why do you have FIVE washers on the one screw?

On each screw there should be (in order from the threads to the point): spring, flat washer, o-ring.

If that's not what you have, then you are missing other pieces, too.

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[jwegman]

Why do you have FIVE washers on the one screw?

Hahaha, yes, I was just showing them in the picture to give an idea of what the mashed up lock washers look like next to an original.

I certainly do understand that upon final assembly, each pilot needle gets one spring, one washer, and one o-ring (all the springs are still accounted for and new o-rings from Robert)

Regards,
Jake in SE MN

[Steve]

OK, just wanted to make sure that you were not using a stack of lock washers to replace a spring.

I know that the washer assortment pack at Radio Shack is commonly used for shimming the jet needles, but I don't think they are small enough in diameter to be used for the mixture screws. If I were home, I could send you one, but I won't be there for at least a couple of weeks.

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[DimitriT]

PM me your mail address and I'll drop one in the mail for you.

[jwegman]

PM me your mail address and I'll drop one in the mail for you.

Hey DimitriT, thanks for that offer. However I'm inclined to see if my flattened split washer scheme will do the trick. I think all that washer needs to do is prevent the spring from bedding into the o-ring.

Regards,
Jake in SE MN

[Matchless]

The washers function is to prevent the rubber o-ring from being damaged, and to evenly seal it to the base of the pilot hole so a split washer is not really a good idea.

I have found that washers with the correct ID is available as standard stock, but the OD is too big. I then bolt 8 or more together and put in a small drill. I then run the drill and grind them to the right ID against my bench grinder untill that tube of washers will loosely fit into the pilot cavity.

Some smoothing of the edges with sand paper and you will have some usefull replacements within a few minutes.