F-head Carter YF/YS carb gasket part #? - Steel Soldiers::Military Vehicles Supersite

clinto · 04-26-2009, 14:18

So I have finished rebuilding the carb on our '55 M38A1. The Jeep is mostly original, but of course, it's missing it's original Carter YS-950 carb, replaced with the ubiquitous Carter YF.

I wanted to get the Jeep running quickly and I didn't want to spend hundreds of dollars to obtain and rebuild the correct carb (YS's go for stupid money) so I decided to rebuild the YF that's already on it.

This kids, is where the problems began. I should know better than to try and save money by cutting corners.

So I finish rebuilding it and I go to install it and I find 3 gaskets on the head. Now, in my long experience with old stuff, I have found that most people's idea of a fix for a warped mounting flange is multiple gaskets and some gasket sealer. So I put a machinist's straightedge on the flange and it's straight. Check the carb and it's straight. So I go ahead and install the carb with the (single) new gasket and I realize why the former "technician" used multiple gaskets.

Apparently, the YF is shaped slightly differently than the YS. And when you put the YF on the engine, the mounting stud hits the bottom of the bowl before the carb bottoms out (see pictures).

I checked to see if the stud was completely bottomed out in it's hole, hoping it had a couple more turns. No suck luck. I considered shortening it or trying to find a shorter stud, but it would be such an oddball length that I knew that would never happen.

So I decided to copy the multiple gasket trick.

Until I found out no parts house on Earth has the gaskets and they can't even find a part #.

Have any of you Jeep guys, in your vast libraries of knowledge, have the carb-to-flange gasket part # so I can order a few? I know all the Jeep parts suppliers have them, but I am loathe to pay $10 shipping and wait a week for a $1.50 item.

Thanks

C

tennmogger · 04-26-2009, 16:28

Maybe the previous owner had problems with carb heating. Adding those extra gaskets isolates the carb from the manifold. Think I'd consider one of the Bakelite spacers to space it, but I have no idea if that was standard on an M38A1. My old ex M-38 has an F-head in it and uses a spacer.

Bob

Boatcarpenter · 04-26-2009, 19:05

Clinto, If that Jeep were hanging out in my backyard with that situation this is probably what I would try. Get a piece of fairly thin flat stock, drill it for the studs and slip it over to keep crap from falling into the manifold. Spin a proper die on one stud upside down, saw the stud off, do a little filing with a triangular file as needed just to get the little thin burr off that you always end up with when you cut off a bolt, and then spin the die back up and off and you should be good to go. You can also put a nut on instead of the die, but the die will clean up any stray dings in the threads that you might make.
BC

doghead · 04-26-2009, 19:33

That's what I think I would do also.

Stretch44875 · 04-26-2009, 19:49

Nothing a rag in the hole and angle grinder can't fix!

Boatcarpenter · 04-26-2009, 20:07

Stretch44875,
Remember who we are dealing with here

.
BC

scooter01922 · 04-26-2009, 20:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stretch44875

Nothing a rag in the hole and angle grinder can't fix!

I second the motion, all in favor raise your hands.

wesk · 05-28-2009, 03:35

I believe the real issue is that particular YF was not built for a F134 engine. The correct F134 YF looks like these photos:

clinto · 05-28-2009, 08:34

Thanks Wes, it appears you are right.

I did end up ordering the gaskets from a Jeep parts supplier. I have it on now and it's running. It's really rich but all I really needed was it to run good enough to get in and out of the garage under it's own power.