New Stromberg Tool!

Just got a new toy.
I'd been wondering what I would do if I ever got a 97 with one of the curved brass tubes for accelerator pump/power enrichment plugged beyond the help of solvents.
The tubes cannot be probed in place; removing them (An operation not sanctioned by Stromberg, but possible and even partly documented in the Army Stromberg manual) is a real bitch, replacing them worse. There are plugs in the main body, but those are not even well placed for cleaning the tubes.
Uncle Max, it turns out, had a solution prepared. He sells a beautifully made brass fitting that screws into the power enrichment valve position, extending up above the carb flange from there. The top accepts the nozzle of an air gun to blow out those passages with compressed air!
Simple...for some people. I unfortunately still live in 1939, and only the CADILLAC DEALER, over in the COUNTY SEAT, has an air compressor, for crying out loud.
Hmmmm...lungs are OLD, full of rust particles and brake dust...not near enough power there.
Ahhh! Drill&tap the top of the little jewel to take a zerk fitting, blow out tubes with grease gun...but then the top is pretty well destroyed if Mr. Roosevelt comes through with the rural electrification he promised me and I save up my WPA checks for a compressor...think, man, think!
Solution...rolling around free outside the Sears garage! An old cutoff tire valve! Cut away rubber, polish the brass stem. It now looks right...stem just fits into a 1/4-20 die...same size tap fits into air hole of tool without destroying the cup surface.
Zoom! Now the powerful "Ordnance Department" tire pump hooks right up, and if I ever get a compressor, my adaptor comes right out.
Order yours today--good toy review!

 

Pics?

 

Priceless!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

"Pics?"

Dude, bear in mind I read the HAMB on a 1963 Sears "Penske unfair advantage" dwell meter clipped onto the red and green wires from the phone jack...

 

hahahahahaa

 

you finally upgraded??

thought you still had it coming through mores code

 

Nice piece of writing there, Bruce.

Being one of those rich kids that went to College (yeah, right) I did mine with the compressor. 120lb. of air going through the veins of the 'Ol Stromberg cleaned that thing out like a can of liquid Drano. Best $41.00 I've spent, equal to his jet wrench.

 

and here, I've been stuffing the nozzle of the carb cleaner in there and wrapping a rag around it to seal it up all this time. it works, but not like that I'm sure

 

Jeezust, I never meant to DAZZLE anyone. Sometimes good thoughts come to me in the middle of the night, this being one of those times. There's maybe 10 people on the planet who'd appreciate what this tool'll do. Glad it made it's way to one of them! Fear not, you haven't eff-yoo'd the warranty by drilling and tapping; different streaks for different freaks. . . Thanks for the illustrious review!!

 

DUDE?? Bruce said...DUDE?

I'm sorry. I just never thought that dude was in your extensive vocabulary.

 

I figgered I was addressing someone MODERN here. Electric stuff, hat on backwards.

 

Cowboys and the Wild West are indelibly set in the minds of many as typical of America—an association borne out by several common Modern English words that originated in the speech of the 19th-century western United States. One is dude, now perhaps most familiar as a slang term with a wide range of uses (including use as an all-purpose interjection for expressing approval: “Dude!”). Originally it was applied to fancy-dressed city folk who went out west on vacation. In this usage it first appears in the 1870s. The origin of the word is not known, but a number of other cowboy terms were borrowed by early settlers from American Spanish.

 

You didn't tell me you upgraded from telegraph and a Light Bright! Congrats!!

I officially declare Bruce the KING of early Ford carburetion!

Now where's his crown??

 

Bruce. Why are you messing around trying to clean those Strombergs? Throw them out and get some new ones. They have them on the shelf down at the Western Auto for $7.95.

 

Bruce,

Just lick your fingers to find the live wire (knew a master electrician that did this...), and jerry-rig some cell phone pics

 

If you EVER see my hat on backwards someone stole it!

 

Anyhow, another use for tool: With compressor (Wife frantically thrashing Ordnance Department tire pump) running, there is a good strong blast of air coming out of each tube...carbs I have are open there, so blasts feel the same. Passages are so small, any blockage would doubtless produce perceptible differences. On a carb thoroughly cleaned by ferocious chemicals, first use of the device produced a tiny cloud of very fine dust from in there, stuff the carb cleaner freed up but did not move.

 

Bruce and Max,

I use the same method plus a little extra.

I first use some "tag wire" (really thin wire from Manila tags) and insert it in the tubes gently in reverse. I use a special pair of really long needle nose pliers to be able to grab the wire real close to the entry point or else it will bend. Believe it or not, you can actually insert the wire all the way to the power valve if you have patience. The reason I do this is because sometimes, air pressure alone will not blow out locked/caked in crud.

Then I remove the wire and blow out the tube with compressed air. I made a fitting that threads down into the power valve area and forces the air through the tubes. I also reverse blow them out with compressed air with a special nozzle (really thin copper tube) on the end of my blow gun. I do this several times to make sure it's as clean as can be.

Just my $.02

Matt

 

By the way...if you lack enough trouble in your life and are bored...the tubes can be extracted for replacement. The visible collar where they disappear into the casting is actually a wedge that must be extracted. Best way to bend new tube might well be a small metal wheel with a groove fitting the tube as a jig...better to sell carb as core to someone you dislike, possibly. The Army manual on AA sStrombergs actually covers tubes, mentioning that Stromberg did not service them. AA is big carb whose innards contain larger scale pieces similar to 97, arranged in a whole different architecture.

 

+1- I hear ya. I hate it when my pc shuts down right in the middle of something and I have to go find the key so I can wind it again...

 

yo, yo, yo.... WHHHAATTTTT'S UUUUPPPPP, BBOOOYYYEEEE!

Is that modern enough (said with hat on backwards, big rope chain, and boxers hanging out the back of baggy jeans)?

 

Dude?!?

 

Dude? What's a Stromberg?

 

Old-fashioned radio; I use this tool to remove dust-bunnies and dead moths from the condenser. Why?

 

How is the vibrator in that old unit?

 

bruce you gotta be puttin us on here I am almost 70 yrs old and have not seen a dust bunny since the 50's and if ya google it the only responce is to easter bunnys now same goes for dead moths only thing available is moth balls last dead moths were used up in a csi program in 2003 hope this help to set the record straight
thanks
Ken

 

Sorry Bruce... Your right! I should have one a those here somewhere.........

 

Fawk!

 

I gotta unpack the rest ..... I'll find it...... this is about 25%-0-my radios

I think I got that tool in the cabnet refinishing kit

 

Bluto...

I have an old RCA Victor I'm restoring, do you have parts for all old radios?

Matt