I pulled The Beast out into the sun, siphoned as much gasoline from the tank as I could, clamped off the fuel line and drained as much gasoline as I could from the old carburetor.
I removed the old carburetor and proceeded to spill what seemed like a gallon of gas all over the place. In reality, it was probably one or two ounces but a little gas goes a long way. I made note of all the linkage positions, disconnected the primer line, the fuel line and the linkage. Then I poured another gallon of gas on the floor when I turned it upside down and whatever was left in the float bowl poured out. Again, it was only an ounce or two but when you're pouring a flammable substance on your garage floor, even small amounts look like gallons.
Since I was fortunate enough to remove the fuel and primer lines without damaging them, I did not have to replace them. I plugged them into the new carb, hooked the linkage up, set the high power jet and the idle jet to about 1 & ½ turns and bolted the carb onto the intake.
I released the clamp on the fuel line, added some gasoline to the tank and was pretty happy to see that no gas was pouring out of the carb. This meant all the seals and the gasket were in good shape.
I tried to get the frame that connects the carburetor choke to the control knob but the screws holding it were in no mood to release their grip. I set the choke manually and fired it up.
It chugged and coughed while I adjusted the high power jet until the machine was purring nicely. I turned the power to idle and adjusted the idle jet and the idle screw until it had a nice gentle idle. I put it back into full power and engaged the drive and the auger to make sure it was going to maintain the power level. I let it run for about 10 minutes and shut it down.
Thanks to my strategic use of vice grips, I was able to loosen the screws holding the choke frame on the old carb and when I tried to put it onto the new carb, I noticed I had adjusted the jets while the carb was fully choked.
So I started the machine up, again, turned the choke off and adjusted the jets, again. I let it run for another 10 minutes, again, and when I was satisfied that everything was working like I wanted it, I shut it down so I could install the choke frame.
I started to put the choke frame onto the new carb when I discovered that running a snowblower for 20 minutes causes the muffler to get hot. Like really hot. Like freakin' hot enough to cause blisters when you touch it.
So now that the carburetor is installed and adjusted properly, I am a happy guy with a burn on his hand and a sore back from being bent over for an hour.
I'm hoping we don't get anymore snow this season but if we do, I think I'm all set.
Well, I hope I'm all set.
The Patriots re-signed Newton today and I'm not entirely sure how I feel about that. The guy has what it takes to be a good quarterback but last season didn't go too well.
He had a reasonable start, winning about 50% of the games. Then he got covid and that seemed to do some damage to him. Once he returned, he played like crap and the patriots finished the season with a losing record having won less than 50% of their games.
I'm hoping this year goes a lot better.
The Bruins won last night, shutting out the Rangers 4-0.
They played like the Bruins - aggressive and smart. They were beating the Rangers to the puck and their shots on goal were well placed. The Rangers out-shot them but Halak was a wall, stopping everything that came to him.
It was a fun game to watch.
As for the Red Sox, they won this afternoon but I didn't learn that until after the game was over because it appears both NESN and WEEI are boycotting the weekday games. They'll carry the games tomorrow and Sunday so I got that to look forward to.
The season opens in less than one month and then I'll be in baseball nirvana. Well, maybe not nirvana. If the Red Sox play like they did last season, I'll just be in baseball mode. If they win, I'll be in nirvana.
I just wrote a lot of words. If you read all of them, you have too much time on your hands.
Enjoy these few links while I wait for the ibuprofen to kick in:
- This is the kind of thing that would get me to go to church.
- Australia: What doesn't try to kil ya, hides under your trampoline.
- Of course he included the porn section.
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