Quote:
Originally Posted by Brentwood Bob
Disassembling the neglected, rusty, frozen zenith core can be a chore.
I should take this on as a video project, and probably will.
Heat is my new friend, assisting in splitting the core. The Venturi does release this way. My next issue is removing the secondary well. Drilling out with a reverse twist drill is my go-to final technique.
Any other ways come to mind?
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Bob - I recently renovated six Zeniths (three of them incredibly rusty), and three of them had stuck secondary wells. One of them I was able to flood with Kroil and then apply heat with my oxy/acetylene torch to the housing, and it freed up the secondary well. Didn't work on the other two. I tried easy-out on those two but no joy. So I had to drill out the wells.
In drilling I bolted the the body on my mill bed (a drill press will work fine) based on the flat of the body bolt, then supported the body with wedges. I centered the drill on the secondary well opening then tried the left-hand drill trick with no success either one. I ended up drilling out the brass secondary wells with gradually increasing drill sizes until the iron threads were just visible through the brass. I ran a tap down from there which forced the remaining pieces of brass down, and then I picked out the brass pieces. Chase the threads again, cleanup, lots of air, run a wire through the air channel, good as new. Oh yeah, lots of Evaporust to get things really clean.
In general I've had good experience removing stuck bolts using left-hand drills, heat and Kroil, but not in this case. I suspect the brass of the well is just too soft to engage the drill over the resistance of the threads.
Good luck.
JayJay