Stripped Inlet Threads

 

Sub QJ (and other carb) fuel inlet fitting thread strippage disease

Sparky, Dave and other interested parties: Tomco makes an expansion-type fitting with O-rings that will fix this problem. It works better than I thought it would, altho I'm not sure you'd want to use it with an electric fuel pump. These can be ordered thru local jobbers who carry Tomco. There are also thread-cutting fittings for this application but they seem to be difficult to find. Some carbs that have been thru the "independent rebuilders" have them. And I think they're bad news anyway. As they thread in, the metal chips go into the carb and all kinds of neat things happen when they get in there... Have also seen "ind rebuild" carbs with helicoils, but good luck finding one. It's a bastard size and I couldn't find one anywhere a few years ago. Also, with any of these bandaids, you may have trouble with fuel line sizes, some of these things are for 5/16 and some for 3/8. We went thru all this a few years back on a friend's '67 Ninety-Eight convertible and it was a nightmare. I wrote a story for JWO about it; anyone who wants a copy let me know and I'll email it.

BTW, confirming that QJs were std on all Toronados (until EFI in V6 ones o'course). Not all were made by Rottenchester tho, apparently. Evidently in some years, due to limited production capacity, manufacturing was also subcontracted out, I think to Carter. Not sure when, but something tells me mid '70s. Will check with my QJ expert and let you know.

 

Submitted by: Doug Kitchener

 

Jan 14, 1997