Weber 32-36 Adjustable Secondary Linkage

[7502]

After using Tom's adjustable secondary link now for over a month, I can report it's probably one of the nicest additions I've made to the Weber 32/36 experience. The engine just feels stronger.  As expected, my highway mileage has not been negatively affected. 

 

That new link along with the original air cleaner (silencer) make for a nice responsive and predictable engine. If anyone is on the fence about trying one, go for it!  Not sure if Tom is making any more but it wouldn't hurt to ask him. Heck he might even have some adapters to mate the air cleaner properly to the carb.

Eric

[John76]

Hey Tom, I'm in!

Let me know $$ for part and postage.

 

 

I promise to use it only "off-road".....ha!

[Labphoto]

Hey Tom, I’m game as well let me know where to send the money!!

['76mintgrün'02]

Thanks for the feedback Eric.  You are an excellent Beta-Tester.

 

That light is a cool setup, Jon.  I love the creative use of a drawer pull.  Can you feel the secondary coming in underfoot right after the brake light comes on?

It feels pretty obvious under my roller pedal (with that spring on the firewall in the "weak position").

 

I'd be happy to make a run of ten of them if there were buyers; but don't want to spend $100 on links and then store them in my parts stash.  I doubt it'd be a very profitable venture, but it'd be fun knowing ten more people were driving around saying, "ah, that's better!"  I'll make more than ten, if there's enough interest.  

 

What's the proper format for a "gauging interest" question?

 

Let's hold off on sending money my way until there are enough to justify an order. 

 

I have a busy day today, so I'll be away from the computer.  

Thank you for the interest so far.

 

Tom

[John76]

3 hours ago, '76mintgrün'02 said:

Can you feel the secondary coming in

 

No, I can't feel the secondary...hence the light switch.

I can cruise on the primary at just about any speed, and of course the light comes on if I press the pedal just a bit past half throttle.

But I can't feel the added spring resistance. Maybe just a numb foot and a bad knee joint??

John

 

PS: I think I'll hook up a bunch of stuff to indicator lights....make my dash look like a data center server with lots of blinking.

[Labphoto]

Tom, on the Beta side, I have a 1975 2002 with a slush box.

['76mintgrün'02]

Look what the mail man brought me today!

 

 

 

[7502]

You need to set up a page of your goodies on the FAQ store section. I can think of two of your creations that might sell, these and the aircleaner adapter.

[John76]

4 hours ago, '76mintgrün'02 said:

Look what the mail man brought me today!

Yeah! 

Key chain bottle openers ?

['76mintgrün'02]

McMaster-Carr is awesome.  I spent more on shipping than I did on parts, but they got them here quickly.  I am making progress, albeit slowly.

 

I just looked up albeit, to make sure I was using it correctly and apparently I am.

 

al·be·it

/ôlˈbēit,alˈbēit/

 

conjunction

 

1. although.

   "he was making progress, albeit rather slowly"

    

 

 

I took your advice @Son of Marty and twisted the throttle spring around to increase clearance to the hose.  I recently added a brass knob, to move it out even further.  I like brass.

 

 

 

Tom

Edited October 29, 2021 by '76mintgrün'02
The Glitch HATES me.

[John76]

I like the bleed screw on your throttle rod. No spongy pedal !

['76mintgrün'02]

I've completed the first batch of ten links/tools and contacted the people who've expressed interest. 

 

 

The design of the feeler gauge has been changed from having a loop on one end, to folding the end over.  Now that end can be used to gauge a .060" gap.  (I've also changed the gap on the link in my car to .060" and like it that way).  If you rotate the tool ninety degrees and insert it, it sets a .090" gap; so, one tool gives three repeatable settings; along with the .030" no-gap setting.

 

I made some drilling fixtures to locate the screw hole and tab-slot holes, to give repeatable results. 

 

 

Inserting the tab in the slot gives one hole and flipping it 180 degrees gives the other.  Then it's just a matter of filing it into a slot.

 

 

I finally got to try out my little tapping head.  It works!

 

 

I'd like to make more of these if there is enough interest.  Feel free to send me a PM if you'd like to put a little more pep in your pedal.  I've got a few more available at $45 shipped.  

 

Tom

 

['76mintgrün'02]

On 6/12/2021 at 1:52 PM, Son of Marty said:

Tom, you should make kits and sell them.

 

Thanks for the encouragement, Marty.  I did list them in the For Sale forum and got a few likey-clicks, but no buyers.  So, either I priced them too high, or people are content with the secondary transition the way it is.  I did sell enough of them to pay off the links I bought from Pierce Manifolds, with a few dollars left over for my effort.  The time involved would be less for the next batch, now that the tooling is made; but it doesn't look like that will be happening, based on the lack of demand.

 

I like taking photos of the process and sharing them here helps me remember what I did.  There are a lot of little steps involved.

 

The adjustment tools are pretty straight forward.  I've got a cut off wheel in one of my grinders and I used that to shorten the Allen wrenches, cutting half way through and then letting them cool before cutting the second half.

 

 

 

To make the bent over .030"/.060/.090 feeler gauge, I had to heat up the end so it would bend without breaking; because those stainless steel wiper blade strips are hardened spring steel. 

 

 

The slit in that piece of 1/4" steel is a bending gauge/tool.  Once they've been heated, they're soft enough to finish folding them over.  

 

 

I cut the slotted tab strips on the bandsaw and then held them in this little vise to file the corners round.

 

 

I used the same little vise to bend the ends over, with a little piece of thinner sheet metal between the jaws as a stop, to give 1/8" depth.

 

 

The drill fixture I made for the slotted tabs is not quite centered in the 1/4" strips that I cut, but it doesn't show once they're under the screw and they work just fine; so I ignored that flaw.  I could either shim the fixture, or make the strips a little wider and that would center it up. 

 

 

The crookedness took some of the fun out of filing them.

 

 

Starting with a round needle file joins the two holes and then that little rectangular one flattens the sides.  Just like a water jet, only much slower and way less accurate.  

 

 

Making two tabs out of each piece sped things up a bit.  Drilling stainless is a pain in the butt.  You have to keep the drill cutting, or it will work harden the material and burn up the bit.  Pushing the drill through creates a burr on the bottom side, which made it hard to get the part out of the fixture, so I took that apart to create some clearance.  The nukie grinder worked well to clean up the surface after filing them smooth.

 

 

Then I made a little holder for the bandsaw's cross slide to cut them to length. 

 

 

Cut one, insert the other end and cut that.  Then knock off the burr and round over the corners/edges.

 

 

Cutting the screws to length was easy, using the wire stripper's 6-32 hole, with a washer under the head to get the length right.  Then I cleaned up the end cuts on the grinder.

 

 

The most exciting part of this job was getting to use my $5 Habitat tapping head for the first time. 

 

 

I added a strip of wood to the post, to give it a smooth surface to ride against as it goes up and down.

 

 

@Conserv made a post in another thread yesterday that I'd like to share here, as I think it applies to me.  

 

In a lifetime of “saving and restoring old stuff,” much of it in the form of antique furniture, antique houses, and old vehicles, I’ve found that many of the best craftspeople (actually most in my personal experience) are absolutely terrible businesspeople. Full stop.

 

My wife and I refer to these people as “artistes”, that’s with a French accent, although it’s got nothing to do with the French and everything to do with being an “artist” and not a businessperson. If I only worked with great businesspeople, the quality of my restored pieces, houses, and cars would suffer tremendously. So I much prefer to compensate for the weak or nonexistent business practices of an artiste by planning around their business weaknesses and allowing them to exercise their strength, their art.

 

Thanks to the people who requested adjusters and were patient with my slow turn-around. 

Tom

 

 

[jasonk]

Hi any chance you could make another one of these kits for me 

['76mintgrün'02]

Hi, Jason.  Thanks for your interest and welcome to the forum.  I sent you a message.  Tom