anodized slides don't fit

marshg246 · May 24, 2021

Just took a non-anodized slide from stock and measured (caliper). Measured in the middle, four places 45 degree from each other.

1.3720
1.3735
1.3725
1.3725

Tried the slide in a bunch of old bodies. Generally speaking, loose. Two were tight but measured oval.

Tried two more from stock:

1.3730
1.3735
1.3730
1.3740

1.3730
1.3730
1.3740
1.3735

plumridge · May 24, 2021

marshg246 said:
Just took a non-anodized slide from stock and measured (caliper). Measured in the middle, four places 45 degree from each other.

1.3720
1.3735
1.3725
1.3725

Tried the slide in a bunch of old bodies. Generally speaking, loose. Two were tight but measured oval.

Tried two more from stock:

1.3730
1.3735
1.3730
1.3740

1.3730
1.3730
1.3740
1.3735

The design slide to body clearance is .0035" - .004". This will allow for a minuscule amount of body distortion caused by overtightening the flange nuts (even tightening gently to no more than a firm nip will cause some distortion of the body so you have to be very careful here). Out of round bodies can be restored to round if they are not already worn out and you can get or make a dolly to push into the hole.

Also, while on the subject of the new hard anodised slides, 2 things spring to mind to check:-

1) the return spring will fit and fully compress in the recess for it

2) The cutaway actually measures up the same as the number stamped on the bottom of the slide

Have experienced both these issues

maylar · May 25, 2021

marshg246 said:
Just took a non-anodized slide from stock and measured (caliper). Measured in the middle, four places 45 degree from each other.

1.3720
1.3735
1.3725
1.3725

Tried the slide in a bunch of old bodies. Generally speaking, loose. Two were tight but measured oval.

Tried two more from stock:

1.3730
1.3735
1.3730
1.3740

1.3730
1.3730
1.3740
1.3735

Thanks muchly for that. It means what I have is not out of the normal range. I'll have to take a bore gauge and check the carb bodies.

maylar · May 25, 2021

ashman said:
File WTF I didn't say file I said hone, if your old slides were worn then there be a bit of wear in you bodies as well, but as you say the bodies aren't warped but then how do you know they aren't and with only 4k miles on the old slides, are they really worn,

"File to fit" means using a bodge to accommodate ill fitting parts. Honing a perfectly good carb body falls into that category. They were only bolted to my engine once and have sat in their Amal boxes for 10 years. There is a chance however that I over tightened them back then, so I will check the bores for out of round just to be sure.

Lineslinger · May 25, 2021

Untitled

Andy Hardin, very reasonable and the work is excellent. So were the results.

maylar · May 25, 2021

Lineslinger said:
Untitled

The carbs I'm using now were sleeved by Lund 25 years ago. They still work well, but they have flat top spray tubes and I was hoping that my spares with the stepped tubes might perform a bit better on my 850.

elefantrider · May 25, 2021

You could use an ultra fine 3m sanding pad to knock down some of the coating thickness.
There's no guarantee a replacement set will be any different.

ashman · May 25, 2021

Yes to many folks are heavy handed when it comes to tightening things up and Amal's no need to over do them at all, when I go back to my Amal's I am going to rubber mount them on the manifolds like my Flat slides carb's.

Ashley

EstuaryBoy · May 25, 2021

Some cars have side draught carbs mounted with thackery washers, surprised they weren't used here...

justin scroope · May 25, 2021

maylar said:
I'm refurbishing a pair of 32 mm Amals that have about 4000 miles on them. Bought stay-up floats and anodized slides. The slides won't go into the carb bores. One measures .0025 more than the old slides, the other measures .0030 bigger. The smaller one I can jamb down but it binds, the other just won't go in. Old slides go down under their own weight as they should. Bores are NOT warped. If these new slides are only for Premier's then Amal should say so. They were not cheap but I won't hold the vendor responsible. He's just selling what he bought. Beware folks.

I had the same problem. New 850 carbs purchased from AN, 1/8/2012, anodised slides purchased from Burlen, 18/2/2020. Carbs were unused.

baz · May 27, 2021

justin scroope said:
I had the same problem. New 850 carbs purchased from AN, 1/8/2012, anodised slides purchased from Burlen, 18/2/2020. Carbs were unused.

It's really bad to hear stuff like that in this day and age!!

commandofastback · May 28, 2021

Had the same problem.
The set of Premiers i bought last year came in a genuine Amal packaging stating it had 3.5 slides, but had slides size3 fitted instead (normal fit).
Ordered 3.5 slides directly from Amal and these got stuck in the bores, so i had to lap the bores out to make them work.
BTW: i inspected the main jets on my brand new ORIGINAL Amal-carbs and they have a WASSEL stamp!

marshg246 · May 28, 2021

commandofastback said:
Had the same problem.
The set of Premiers i bought last year came in a genuine Amal packaging stating it had 3.5 slides, but had slides size3 fitted instead (normal fit).
Ordered 3.5 slides directly from Amal and these got stuck in the bores, so i had to lap the bores out to make them work.
BTW: i inspected the main jets on my brand new ORIGINAL Amal-carbs and they have a WASSEL stamp!

IMHO whoever sold them to you screwed you! The main jets are clearly marked Amal when the come from Amal. All carbs are hand-assembled at Amal so it's possible for the assembler to grab the wrong slides but they certainly don't have Wassell jets! The boxed sets from Amal have a printed label on the side with the part number (PACK xxx) and the size of each component installed.

If the sub-numbers on the carbs are 300 and 301 then the seller bought generic carb sets and changed the jets to your specifications or to make them into other numbers.

This discussion is driving me bats. Not saying anyone is wrong or lying but there's something wrong. I've sold hundreds of slides, both standard and anodized and I've never had a return for not fitting. It's difficult to believe that I'm just that lucky!

commandofastback · May 28, 2021

marshg246 said:
IMHO whoever sold them to you screwed you! The main jets are clearly marked Amal when the come from Amal. All carbs are hand-assembled at Amal so it's possible for the assembler to grab the wrong slides but they certainly don't have Wassell jets! The boxed sets from Amal have a printed label on the side with the part number (PACK xxx) and the size of each component installed.

If the sub-numbers on the carbs are 300 and 301 then the seller bought generic carb sets and changed the jets to your specifications or to make them into other numbers.

This discussion is driving me bats. Not saying anyone is wrong or lying but there's something wrong. I've sold hundreds of slides, both standard and anodized and I've never had a return for not fitting. It's difficult to believe that I'm just that lucky!

Thanks for your response. In my case there was NO printed label and the stated sizes for slide and main jet were hand-written.

justin scroope · May 28, 2021

marshg246 said:
IMHO whoever sold them to you screwed you! The main jets are clearly marked Amal when the come from Amal. All carbs are hand-assembled at Amal so it's possible for the assembler to grab the wrong slides but they certainly don't have Wassell jets! The boxed sets from Amal have a printed label on the side with the part number (PACK xxx) and the size of each component installed.

If the sub-numbers on the carbs are 300 and 301 then the seller bought generic carb sets and changed the jets to your specifications or to make them into other numbers.

This discussion is driving me bats. Not saying anyone is wrong or lying but there's something wrong. I've sold hundreds of slides, both standard and anodized and I've never had a return for not fitting. It's difficult to believe that I'm just that lucky!

To be fair with Burlen, the over sized slides are just the thing when fitting in worn/honed bodies.

marshg246 · May 28, 2021

commandofastback said:
Thanks for your response. In my case there was NO printed label and the stated sizes for slide and main jet were hand-written.

I'm an Amal dealer and have never had a set without a printed label on the side. What numbers are after the 930 or 930 on the sides of the carbs?

kommando · May 29, 2021

EstuaryBoy said:
Some cars have side draught carbs mounted with thackery washers, surprised they weren't used here...

You can use split spring washers under the nuts and if you stop tightening just as the washer becomes flat you do not distort the carb body.

commandofastback · May 31, 2021

marshg246 said:
I'm an Amal dealer and have never had a set without a printed label on the side. What numbers are after the 930 or 930 on the sides of the carbs?

Sorry. Was too busy riding this weekend. The right hand Carb is marked r42 932. No number after the 932. I found the original packaging and i can see that there used to be a label that was peeled off. The carbs also came with full spraytubes and short needles. I replaced them with sectioned tubes and the long Needles.

L.A.B. · May 31, 2021

commandofastback said:
The right hand Carb is marked r42 932. No number after the 932.

Same thing, so 932/R42 and LH would be 932/L43.

commandofastback said:
The set of Premiers i bought last year came in a genuine Amal packaging stating it had 3.5 slides, but had slides size3 fitted instead (normal fit).

commandofastback said:
i inspected the main jets on my brand new ORIGINAL Amal-carbs and they have a WASSEL stamp!

commandofastback said:
I found the original packaging and i can see that there used to be a label that was peeled off. The carbs also came with full spraytubes and short needles. I replaced them with sectioned tubes and the long Needles.

As Greg said, they were almost certainly not supplied that way from Amal but built up by an Amal supplier from generic 300 and 301 specification carbs.
It wouldn't be difficult to restamp them 42 and 43.
#3 slides, flat top spray tubes and short 2-ID ring needles (and Wassell main jets

) are certainly not the correct specifications for Amal /42 and /43.
As far as I'm aware there has been no evidence so far, that the factory ever fitted the 932/42 and /43 specification carbs.

Edit: Presumably, your 'Fastback' is an 850 with Fastback parts?

marshg246 · May 31, 2021

Besides everything L.A.B. said, I bet that you'll find the the bosses opposite the throttle stop screws have been hand file. Standard 930/932 bodies won't fit a Commando without those bosses being reduced. The factory carbs for Norton are not hand filed.

The ones you got most likely were generic (220 Main Jets, 106 Needle Jets, 3 Slides, standard Spray Tube, and standard needle) or for 1967-68 BSA A65 (190 Main Jets, 107 Needle Jets, 3 Slides, standard Spray Tube, and standard needle) and the seller changed the jets.

BTW, the dealer cost of a genuine Amal main jet is 233% of the dealer cost of a Wassell main jet and a genuine Amal needle jet is 320% of the dealer cost of a Wassell needle jet so it's not hard to see why an unscrupulous seller would use Wassell jets.

anodized slides don't fit

Moderator