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  #1  
Old 07-23-2006, 02:08 PM
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Flange nuts on Zenith carbs...does a tool exist?

Holy cow...I think I read that someone recommended actually removing the manifolds to get at the inner carb flange nuts holding down the Zeniths on w114 280's/250's. I'm really hoping it won't come to that, but I'm trying to remove the Zeniths for a Weber conversion but can't seem to get those @#$&ing things loose. I did remove the valve cover which makes things a bit easier, but still can't get a big enough wrench or enough leverage on a tiny wrench to jar the things loose. Also tried a crowfoot, but that just started rounding off the nut. Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance

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  #2  
Old 07-23-2006, 07:05 PM
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I see that you have tried a crows foot wrench, there are crows foot flare nut wrenches available. I don't know if they will work any better.

It seems to me that I took all of the mainfold nuts off and pulled the manifold away from the head far enough to work on something and it sealed fine when I put it back together.

You can also sacrfice a box end wrench to the cause by heating it near the box and bending it as needed. Just don't heat the box itself to avoid taking the hardness out.


Michael
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  #3  
Old 08-08-2006, 10:01 PM
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Too bad you are in Southern Cal, because I have the original tool to do that job. Michael has a good idea about bending a Craftsman wrench. I wouldn't use a much cheaper tool, because if you round those nuts, you are really screwed. By the way they should be 12mm. Also it is too bad you don't have anyone dow there to go through those carbs, because you won't get any better carbs than those Zeniths.
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  #4  
Old 08-12-2006, 11:19 AM
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Autozen, even when having problems with zeniths I too still preffer them. For one thing the shaft holes do not seem to wear very fast. I have yet to get one with heavy wear but I lead a sheltered life to some extent. An awful lot of people seem to miss the base air leaks that seem to develop over time as well. Proper storage when out of service for a long time is important as well. Just fill the bowl with light oil through the tube is fast and adaquate. It is tragic that a lot of cars are put away or sit with gas in the bowls that becomes a troublesome residue when the gas evaporates over time. Rather than the hassel of cleaning and kitting when I deal with one. I just fill the bowl with laquer thinner to dissolve the residue if this problem is experienced. Run the carb out of gas first though. The thinner seems to dissolve the residue quite fast ( usually less than 1/2 hour soak in average cases) and the engine runs pretty well on the thinner too. If you want to do it properly break the fuel line before the fuel pump and insert it into a container with the thinner. That way you are flowing it by the needle valve as well... Even improves the general condition of carborators in everyday service. An old dirty zenith carb of course is not going to perform very well. That is not the carbs fault really. I never knew there was a special tool to get those back nuts either. Guess I will bend and fabricate something for the next time. The bottom line is I believe a certain amount of negative feelings about these carbs is not really justified. Needless to say the above procedure will not cure a real fault but does work well enough to avoid taking the carb apart on many occasions. Plus it is very cheap to try beforehand if partial or total obstruction of passages by dried gas residue is suspected. You know you need it for sure if you remove an idle jet for example and get little or no flow from the passage. You also use that point to determine when the residue has been dissolved by the thinner. I have seen them go from totally obstructed to pretty free flowing in 20 minutes...Or marginal flow to good flow in less than ten minutes. The proof of the pudding so to speak is after the cleaning the idle jets may require new settings as the passages have probably been somewhat dirty for years before the cleanout.
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Old 08-13-2006, 12:12 PM
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Glad some one agrees with me. I'll see if I can figure out how to post a pic of the tool.
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  #6  
Old 08-13-2006, 01:58 PM
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did you remove the rocker cover first? They're a lot easier to get to that way.

Sears sells a 12mm distributor wrench. Unfortunately, it's a 12pt, but it will do.

Two well placed bends in a box end wrench will also work. You'll need a vise to do it.

-CTH
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  #7  
Old 08-14-2006, 09:44 AM
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Greg
 
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Zenith Carb Flange Nuts

Hello Nofrills. I have a '65 230S W111 with identical carburettors as your W114 & I've taken mine off several times now using an ordinary 12/13mm open ended spanner after I've removed the valve cover. It's very tedious work & you just have to be patient when unscrewing the nuts with your fingers once you've loosened them. I never even considered loosening the manifolds to get access to the flange nuts. Screwing them back on again is a bit of a pain, but once again, patience & smallish fingers helps here.
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  #8  
Old 08-14-2006, 12:43 PM
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nofrills:

If you are working on Zeniths, you should check out this tool company...I think they may have the wrench you are looking for.

http://tools.baumtools.com

Do a key word search on Zenith and you will see all their tools for tuning these carbs.

230/8
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  #9  
Old 08-15-2006, 01:49 AM
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Thanks for the good info, y'all.

For the record, the tool that did the trick (and with surprising ease, I might add) was a flex-head ratcheting box-end wrench, 12mm (or flex-head gear wrench). After waiting two weeks for northern tool to ship the singular wrench out to me (local Sears and Home Depot no longer sell these wrenches individually, requiring the purchase of a set), I got those pesky inner nuts off in minutes. I've since pulled the factory zeniths off and replaced them with webers. What a wonderful investment! They started right up and ran relatively well right out of the box. Still tweakign them a bit, but I'd recommend the kit to anyone who had wrestled with the [in my relatively MB-inexperienced opinion] absurdly overengineered zeniths.

Thanks again everybody. My resto-project may now march on!
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Have:
72 W114 250
01 Subaru Outback VDC
99 Subrau Legacy GT

Woefully Sold:
93 300CE
96 Mazda Miata
2 Jeep Cherokees
A slew of water-cooled VWs & Audis

Woefully wrecked:
1981 Mazda RX-7
1976 Audi Fox
1986 Audi 4000
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  #10  
Old 08-19-2006, 09:55 AM
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That flex head gear wrench seems like an excellent ideal and fast as well.. Good thinking. On all previous occasions I have removed the manifolds unfortunatly to get at those back carborator base nuts. Just loosening the manifolds was never an option for me as I would not expect to get a good reseal when retorquing them. I do not win lottos either unfortunatly. I have also dealt with very small intake air leaks causing one cylinder to drop out or run very poorly a few times with undisturbed manifolds. Also that fitting for vaccum near the rear of the intake manifold has caused trouble once or twice for me. Spraying wd 40 finds the little darlings most of the time. But again my experience is very limited.

Last edited by barry123400; 08-19-2006 at 10:14 AM.
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  #11  
Old 08-25-2006, 11:22 AM
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to nofrills:

what weber conversion did you use i was planning to change my zenith stromberg 175 cd from my 123 found a replacement at jameng.com what weber did you use .

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