VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1929-1932 RJH-08 CARB ON E-BAY

Hi Guys,Just spotted a really great looking Carter rjh-08 updeaft on ebay---looks like new! Price is $130.00
I have no interest in this item and am not the seller!!!Just passing on the info for you guys that are looking!!! Ebay item # 271275907983 Jay

I just had a look at it, and my personal opinion is that I am very wary of Grit blasted to look like new carbies.

Well,that is one mans opinion Jack.The carb does appear to be in good clean shape all in all!! The JYD just rebuilt my rjh-08 and he did a knock up beautiful job--blasting included!!To tell the truth,the carb body alone is worth the total aking price,forget all the other parts that are in the carb!!
You should notice that the seller has a 100% positive feedback which speaks for itself----not that I care---just do not feel it warrents any negativity!!Might just be a beautiful carb at a really good price!! Have seen many for over $475.00 that looked worse!

With eBay, it is always "caveat emptor". I've purchased a great many items for my '31 Coach restoration project, and have been satisfied about 90% of the time. Usually a bit of sleuthing can halp avoid disappointment and now with their paypal guarantee, you have a pretty good chance of being either satisfied or getting your money back. I bought a "professionally rebuilt AC fuel pump" for $125 which turned out to be garbage, could not even salvage the pieces. Unfortunately, it looked good when I got it but when I installed it 2 years later it leaked like a sieve, had a cracked dome, had been made up from several different units, modified etc. JUNK. EBay could not do anything for me as I had waiteed too long. On the other hand I bought a pair of what was advertized as "NOS headlight lenses in the original box", for $30 and although I was sceptical, when they arrived they were perfect.

Looking at the carb, it has obviously been cleaned up but is missing some crucial pieces like the accellerator plunger etc. So I would normally be cautious as it appears to be at best a starting point for a $200 rebuild, or a desktop display item.

I have probably bought 100 RJH-08 carburetors and rebuilt twice that number. Many on eBay are bead blasted, painted with rattle can and sold (some as rebuilt). Some may be okay but others pure junk. The key to value is: zero corrosion damage, unbroken standpipe and accelerator pump cylinder, no missing parts. Some parts cost $ 100 each, many others $50-$100 each. I recently rebuilt a RJH-08 for a fella that used over $ 400 in parts. I still have it as he didn't want to pay that much for a rebuild. Caveat Emptor is right on.

If you are interested in any carburetor make sure you see an actual photo with the float bowl removed. Water can destroy a cast iron body and render many parts useless. Also makes taking the carburetor apart a real chore.

That would be true only if the carburetor was bead blasted as a complete unit without being totally disassembled down to the bare core first.

To do a quality rebuild, the carburetor should be disassembled down to the bare core (the venturi, standpipe, low speed idle tube and all of the other parts removed) and then the cast iron core itself can be bead blasted with a very fine grit. Carburetor cleaners do not work well on cast iron.

As Chipper says, the carburetor should be totally inspected first for corrosion and if there is excessive corrosion around the core "tower" then the carburetor would not be a candidate for a rebuild.

Yep, most ebay sellers just blast the whole unit in one go.
Not many people have the correct tools, or any thing close.

The biggest problem with blasting of anything is most people don't even realise, and that is that when you media blast , the steel and iron oxide particles removed from the part end up becoming embedded in the alloy parts, or in this case zinc alloy diecast material. This is the quickest way to destroy any alloy material. due to the dissimilar metal corrosion between the steel and the alloy. This is the reason why aircraft component overhaul workshops have so many different cleaning and blasting methods that must be used. One dedicated to steel , and others dedicated to a particular alloy.

So all the rust and iron gets blasted and imbedded into the stand pipe and accelerator tube , and before long , as Gunsmoke has pointed out leaks every where .

Die cast zinc alloy has a hard enough time as it is.

I sent the seller a question and this is the response.
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Hello to be honest with you that carburetor has never been taken apart! So we have no pictures of the inside I bought it at a swap meet in Montana and then put it In a box indoors until I starting selling it! So I don't know what it's like inside! Sorry I can't give you any more info!

The bowel looks like it has been buffed. Not sure how you buff it without taking it off?

How fast can you run away from that one? Smells like a rat to me.