So, I know this is probably something that falls under the catagory of "Don't even think about it unless you have access to somethign more than hand tools," but I'm thinking about it anyway. I'm assuming that traditionally you use a drill press to enlarge the holes the throttle body to accept brass tubing and then ream the inside diameter until it's a perfect fit. All of that seems possible, but rather dificult without at least a good drill press and lathe. (I've only got a vise and hand drill except for when I go home.)

I wondered about using some sort of polymer based bushing material, such as Delrin. My thought was that polymers usually have a little bit more "give" to them, so it would be a tad more forgiving of machining imperfections. My search for hollow Delrin tubing didn't come up with much, but I did find semi-flexible PEEK tubing. It claims to have superior abrasion resistance, and being semi-flexible would seem to allow the "give" that I had been looking for. I'm contemplating getting some of this stuff and then mounting the throttle body in a vise and (very carefully) drilling the hole w/ a hand drill. Then it would just be a matter of ensuring that the throttle shaft fits inside the tubing correctly (which I'm sure I could accomplish). It seems that in a worst case scenario, the holes through the throttle body would be very slightly oversized, and then the tubing could be epoxied in. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? If I do try it and it doesn't work, I've only got five bucks in the carb, so it's not the end of the world.

edit: Ok, so after looking again, I misplaced a decimal point there and there's no way it would work. The idea still hold holds though, once I find a suitable tubing.

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Used to own:
'82 Dodge D150
Erson 270 Cam, O/S valves, mild port work, ~9.5:1 compression

Currently fighting with an '85 VW Cabriolet

My other passion

I've found Delrin to be hard to machine and fairly easy to break, while I found teflon or nylon both very easy to machine. I don't know how well they'd hold up.

If you try something please let us know. Good Luck.

I've been thinking about this for a while, and am starting to pretty much give up on the idea... We have a machine shop here on campus that isn't exactly "open to the public," but I hear if you ask diplomatically enough and seem to know what you're doing they let you use it for minor projects like this. We shall see what happens.

_________________
Used to own:
'82 Dodge D150
Erson 270 Cam, O/S valves, mild port work, ~9.5:1 compression

Currently fighting with an '85 VW Cabriolet

My other passion