The 'E' Type Forum

The triple SU carbs for my 1962 3.8 are fully stripped and have been vapour blasted ready for my Burlen rebuild kit.

I need to source (buy/hire/borrow) a 9.5mm pilot reamer to remove the butterfly shaft bushes.

My original bushes look like brass, used with steel butterfly shafts, whereas the kit includes steel bushes and brass/bronze shafts.

Any advice on the reamer please?

Thanks, Mark

Have a read here and possibly contact Burlan SU to do it
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=14650&p=119509&hilit=Reamer#p119509

Thanks Steve, looks like it’s far too risky for DIY. My new brass shafts are not a bad fit in the existing bushes with just a tiny amount of slop. I am tempted to use them as is but that would mean brass shafts running in brass bushes which does not sound right.

I’ll call Burlen next week to discuss and report back.

BTW, there is an excellent YouTube video “E-Type XKE 4.2 Triple HD8 SU carbs full rebuild process“ from Fix a Carb Ltd which covers everything in detail (apart from bushes!).

Cheers, Mark

Burlen did mine this winter and although I had a small amount of 'play' in each, it all added up to one of the idle screws having to be wound fully home to achieve correct idle rpm.
Turnaround by Burlen was 4 weeks but I stripped them down to minimum at their request. A great service and the car is running smoother.
The video you mentioned was referenced as a reminder and has already been highlighted on this forum by others. Good luck

A bit of feedback: I spoke to Chris at Burlen and he didn’t think early bushes were brass so my concern re brass spindles running in original bushes was allayed.

Burlen did offer to re-bush but Chris suggested a trial fitting of both the new spindles and butterflies from the rebuild kit before deciding. After carefully assembling I obtained a great fit so re-bushing not required. Engine had done 70,000 miles.
Cheers,
Mark