Before starting the installation I cleaned up all of the threads on the engine studs by using the Sears Rethreading Set. This 40 piece set differs from a tap & die in that it's not used to cut new threads but to repair and clean up old threads. It includes Metric, SAE Fine and SAE Coarse threads so everything's covered.

Once I had the engine studs cleaned up I decided to go with all new nuts, washers and lock washers. The recommendation was to use brass so as to "eliminate" any future "mating" of the metals. I couldn't find brass nuts locally in the size I needed but a Google search turned up BoltDepot.com located just outside of Boston. Besides having what I needed, they're a wealth of information on anything bolt/nut related. It's an interesting site to poke around. The carbs came back mounted to the manifold so it was a one piece installation. One thing I did buy was a 9/16" *FLEX* socket, as I had a heck of a time getting at the 6 nuts under the manifold. When I was removing the carbs I ended up having to take them off of the manifold in order to get a regular socket on 2 of the nuts. The flex socket made the installation easy. All the threads on the engine studs were coated with Loctite copper anti-seize before putting the new brass nuts on.

The only "problem" I ran into was with the powder coating on the throttle linkage arm. I had to run my re-threader over all of the threads to clean them up so they'd turn freely. I ended up setting the accelerator pedal even with the brake pedal (note where yours is before removing the carbs, it'll save you time). The choke cables were the usual pain ensuring that the choke fully opens and closes. Jeff includes new clips for the choke cable. The high speed idle is set to zero so I moved it out to where it just falls short of hitting the choke cam and that was perfect...dumb luck. The low speed idle was just about perfect as received. I think I turned it back in 1/4 turn.

I replaced the fuel filter per Jeff's instructions and added 15W fork oil to the dashpot. He likes the fork oil for throttle response and I have to agree. I gave the fuel pump a half dozen manual primes, gave it full choke and it fired right up and idled nicely. I had a bit of a scare as smoke was pouring off the carb side of the engine but quickly realized it was penetrating oil burning off. I used a hose to listen to the airflow between the carbs and it sounded perfect to these old ears. Jeff sets the mixture a little on the rich side so I won't even look at adjusting that until warmer weather. For my infrequent Winter drives it seems fine. I took it out again today (2/8/06) and it's low 30's and it fired right up. The throttle response is soooooo much better then before. I always had to blip the throttle before moving from a stop but now it's so smooth and instant that it's not necessary. The only other adjustment I need to make is my process for restarting it once it's warmed up. Before, my procedure for a cold or hot start was always the same: full choke, foot off of accelerator and it fired right up. Same procedure for a cold start but it doesn't like a full choke when warm now. So here's what it looks like back on the car. Money well spent in my view.