Replacing the carb on my B/S 137202 (tiller), and I've run into an issue. At the back end of the carburetor, there's a small hole - the mounting hole for the idle spring bracket (see photo). On the old carb, that hole was tapped for a small screw. On the replacement carb (actually, two replacement carbs so far), that hole has not been tapped at all (as far as I can tell). Am I good to just go after that hole with a tap and cut it to fit the existing fastener, or is there some other way I should be handling this? (Preferably short of rejecting a SECOND carburetor, shipping it back, and hunting a THIRD source for the blasted thing.)
Photos:
Old carburetor - idle spring bracket screw circled in red
Replacement carb - untapped hole circled in red
#2
Scrubcadet10
the proper way would be to buy the correct tap and tap the hole... however (some fruit may get thrown at me here), i replaced the engine on my personal pushmower with a short block a few years ago and the small holes the intake manifold screws went in were not tapped... so i got a can of WD-40 and the manifold screws, and slowly cut the threads into the block with the manifold screws. started with my hand nut driver, then choked up on my handle of my 1/4 drive ratchet . used it just like a tap, back and forth, back and forth, spray some. slow and steady won the race. WD40 was used liberally.
If I remember right, the screws are a self tapping type with a tapered end. You just have to be careful not to break it off.
#5
snapz007
Thanks for the help, all. Idle spring bracket mounted. Now I just have to go get a new fastener for the throttle linkage - it's cut for the wrong size, the bolt from the old carb is NFT........ and my tap set only has coarse-thread taps. Sighhhhhhhh. All told, this $15 carburetor's only gonna end up costing me about $300 in lost time. LOL
