Idle jet stuck in tower

Hey Guys,

I've been working some old Kawasaki carburetors. So far all has been good. I ran into a problem last night and I don't know what to do.

In one of the carburetor bodies, the idle jet unscrewed just fine. Nice and easy. Normally turn the carburetor upside down, and the silly thing falls out.

But this one is stuck inside. I can wiggle it with a dental tool, and it moves back-and-forth. I can unscrew it, but it is already loose.

It's almost like there's a burr or something on the brass jet or someone buggered it up and now it doesn't wanna fall out.

I tried using hydraulics, using lacquer thinner and a big syringe, applying pressure to the air inlet port that communicates with the idle jet. No luck.

I tried using compressed air 40 psi through each of the two pathways that talk to the idle jet. No luck.

I tried heating the carburetor body by placing it into an ultrasonic bath at 45°C, hoping the aluminum body would grow, the allowing the jet to fall out. No luck.

I tried using a tiny pair of needle nose pliers to spread outward against the inner diameter of the jet top side, but no luck.

This might be somewhat academic, because I know that this jet is open, not clogged, meaning it doesn't really have to come out.

Put my anal retentive nature has me wondering how this would be done assuming the jet needed to be changed due to size or terminally clogged?

I don't have any machine shop tools so part of me says leave it alone. The other part of me wants to try.

So I'll ask you guys, any ideas?

Here are some pictures
 
 

Greg replied.."Not sure of what you have going on, but the following process come to mind.Do you have another jet if the existing one gets consumed in removal?If so screw the jet it back in loosely then drill the jet for a small machine screw or sheet metal screw.With the screw head out of the body to grab or leverage the jet out."

Hey, that’s an idea. It’s just that they are so tiny to start with. Yes, I do have many other jets are the same size. My concern is that without having a drill press I would have to free drill it and probably do more damaged than good?

Mark replied. "I would screw it back in to just seat, then use a small ez out to unscrew it.  By using the ez out to unseat it, it might get just enough bite to pull it out when fully unscrewed. If you decide to try drilling it, make sure to use a left hand bit."

Believe it or not I got Smart and just buttoned it back up. If for some reason that idle circuit doesn’t work, I worry about it then????



 

Now you know the consequences of using "any old  screwdriver" to remove the pilot jets. Whoever destroyed the slots in those jets, burred up the slots and now the jets won't pass the threads  where the brass cap screws fit above the pilot jets.

I would suggest you screw the jets back into the carb body and then attempt to knock off the burrs off the top of the jets and maybe, just maybe you can get the jets to drop out  If I were doing it, I would try using a slot drill by hand to clean up the tops of those jets. Think of it as scraping the burrs off. A slot drill is a flat bottomed milling machine tool and they come in various diameters. Possibly a 3/16" slot drill would fit the bore.

If this doesn't work, then another attempt by me would be to get a new jet for fitting purposes and then grind a needle nosed plier to fit in the recess of the jet ( in the top of the jet) in an attempt to remove the jet by inserting the pliers into the top of the jet and holding the pliers open to grip the jet from the middle of the jet and pull the jet out

In Scotch's "rebuilding carbs" instructions, he went to great detail on how important it is to have screwdrivers that fit the pilot jet slots fully and how to grind a screwdriver specifically to fit those pilot jets, and then keep that driver just for those pilot jets (a dedicated driver)

A Google search for "carburetor jet screwdrivers" will reveal a number of options and that alone should tell people that special tools are required. Scotch's instruction to grind a screwdriver works just as well


Good luck