Being the cheapskate I am, I decided to rebuild the original 2V carburetor on an old '78 Ford with a 400 engine, as opposed to shelling out the money for that new 4V Holley I've always wanted.
Well, I got the thing off the motor,and got it opened up (too late to turn back now!), and ran into a minor setback. There's a part that screws into the bottom near the front called either an enrichment valve or power valve (depending on what piece of paper I'm looking at.) The replacement that came with my kit has a fitting on the bottom that the original one doesn't. Paperwork that came with the kit says its a new style and will work fine, but the problem is the metal cover that bolts on over this piece won't fit over this new style valve. The exploded drawing shows a deeper cover some models were equipped with, but mine has the shallower version. My options are re-using the old one, or drilling a hole in my cover and JB Welding on a metal cap to make room for the new valve. What disadvantages performancewise would I encounter re-using the old valve? I would imagine it would be next to impossible to find that little coverplate without buying a whole carburetor, which I don't really want to do, and since I've opened the seal on the kit and used a couple of the gaskets already, I can't take it back and exchange it. Any advice. Anybody got an old, crappy 2bbl motorcraft laying around with the right cover they would sell really really cheap?

 

Hi,

If the old Power valve's diaphram is not ruptured you can reuse it.

Most chain auto parts stores carry Holley Power valves which should be a direct screw in replacement. They are not that expensive. Look on your original valve for a number like "65" or something. This is the vacuum reading that the valve operates at. "65" actually means 6.5" vacuum.

Good luck,
Lee