I recently discovered the shouldered nut on the anti-backfire device has broken in half inside my primary. I'm in the process of accessing the device and when released and inspected I'll order a new nut plus any other parts showing excess wear. I have read the piece in 'Old Brits' describing the setting up of the device to allow it to slip when 50ft-lbs of torque is applied.
In the article the gentleman describes making a tool by welding a thrust washer to an old socket. I don't have welding kit so am looking for advice on any/all other options to accurately set up the required tension on the device. Does anyone produce a suitable tool I could buy?
One option I'm considering is buying a thrust washer and cutting it on the outside edges to fit a suitable size socket, then simply using the socket and thrust washer 'nut' to apply the necessary torque force, any views on why this wouldn't work?
Any and all help appreciated. I'm located in Norfolk, England.
Regards,
Alex Caldwell
I can make or lend you mine
I made mine doing what you said, welding an old socket to a thrust washer. I don't see any reason why making the thrushwasher hexaganol won't work either.
I also altered the way of locking the shouldered nut by facing off the 'peening edge' and making a thin locking nut to take its place. Then by using a thin jawed open ended spanner on the shouldered nut and another spanner on the thin lock nut, makes it a doddle to set the correct release torque.
I got fed up trying to set the correct torque with the original set up. Using the welded tool and attempting to see what torque the unit has been set to actually altered the adjustment. The action of the overload operating (lifting and turning the mechanism) undid the adjusting nut!
Regards
Peter
Thanks Peter, you're clearly…
Thanks Peter, you're clearly more ably skilled or equipped than i am, I could face off the peening edge, but don't have the kit to make a thin lock nut to suit. Thanks for the vote of confidence on the Hex thrust washer, that's probably my favoured route at the moment. It may change as i progress!
Regards,
Alex.
While you have the stuff in bits
While you have the stuff in bits also modifiy one of the thrust washers (the one that is nearest the engine) by turning a bigger chamfer or a concave radius to provide more clearance from the primary chain. I always see evidence of the chain touching this washer on The MK3s i have worked on.
Regards
Peter
Will have a look while it's…
Will have a look while it's out, if evidence, I'll make amendments, thanks.
Progress
So having taken the device out, I noticed the ball bearings had dislodged from their seat and the whole thing had jammed, no doubt forcing the collared nut to shatter. This made releasing the remaining half-collared nut difficult as the spring washers were under high tension, so i needed to turn the device as if it were in use to re-seat the ball bearings, then releasing the tension and freeing the broken nut. So i made the old thrust washer into a 7/8 W nut by grinding the shape. That did the trick, now i've also got it to use to set the torque up. Result. Now to order the new parts!