L-36 throttle lever hits on intake manifold bolt

[Greg L.]

This is an odd one...

My throttle lever rubs on the intake manifold bolt. It did this back in 88 when I first "restored" the car and my quick fix was to just bend the lever so that it clears. If I remember it right, the lever can't move past the bolt once the carb is bolted down. Now that it's getting a proper restoration I want to fix this interferance problem and all I can think of is that the original carb gasket was thicker than what came in my carb kit.

Here is the problem.


Here is the gasket and heat shield.


Does the gasket look like it might be the problem? I can't figure out why else the lever would be hitting the bolt?

[Joe L.]

Re: L-36 throttle lever hits on intake manifold bolt

Greg-----


I can't tell if the manifold bolts are flanged head or standard hex head with flat washers. In any event, the flanged heads or washers look way thicker than original.

The fiber gasket looks to be a little thinner than stock, but not too much thinner.

[John C.]

Re: L-36 throttle lever hits on intake manifold bolt

Greg

I measure the thickness of the intake bolts plus washer on both my 68 and 69 BBs as .375 inch. They are not L36's but that should not make a difference.

John

[Greg L.]

Re: L-36 throttle lever hits on intake manifold bolt

Joe, they are flanged head bolts and as far as I can tell they are originals.

I never changed them and they are consistant with pics I have of two other L36 cars(one of which is a 5 star bowtie) right down to the head markings so I'm pretty sure they are correct.

That leaves me with the gasket thickness and/or the throttle arm configuration. Any idea how thick the gasket should be?

Could someone please post a pic of their L36 so that I can see just how close the throttle lever should be to that manifold bolt?

[Joe L.]

Re: L-36 throttle lever hits on intake manifold bolt

Joe, they are flanged head bolts and as far as I can tell they are originals.

I never changed them and they are consistant with pics I have of two other L36 cars(one of which is a 5 star bowtie) right down to the head markings so I'm pretty sure they are correct.

That leaves me with the gasket thickness and/or the throttle arm configuration. Any idea how thick the gasket should be?

Could someone please post a pic of their L36 so that I can see just how close the throttle lever should be to that manifold bolt?

Greg----


The original gasket, GM #3884574, was 0.075" thick.

[Greg L.]

I figured it out.

Sorry for the stupid question because the answer was quite simple.

I measured my bolt heads and they are about .375 tall and my gasket is about .070 thick so that all is about right.

The carb that I was having the issues with was the 7029207 carb that I have had on for the past 20 years so I started to compare it to my newly acquired 29204 core. The throttle plate looks the same and the lever looks identical right down to the part number so for kicks I put the 29204 carb on and it works perfect.

I again compared the levers but can't see any difference between them until you rotate the shaft and then it looks as though the one shaft has a bit of an arc to it. I can't see the shaft being bent slightly but maybe it is or maybe the lever was swagged on the end of it slightly offset. I have heard of some over the counter parts not being quite as good as the production units so maybe this carb is one of those units...

[Joe T.]

Re: I figured it out.

Hi Greg:
I have atached pictures of my 1969 L-36 carb and manifold. The carb is a 7029201, so not original equip, but you can see from the pictures there is a LOT of room. The intake manifold is the correct part number. The gasket/heatshield are also in spec. I provided a ruler for spatial reference that is 1.25 inches in width. I don't know if this helps, but your problem seems odd to say the least?
Regards...joe

OBTW the throttle is shown open; closed and half open...jt

[Greg L.]

Re: L-36 throttle lever hits on intake manifold bolt

Thanks for the pics Joe.

What part number is on that throttle lever(p/n might be under the tab for the solenoid)? To me it looks like someone cut the bottom portion of the lever off so I'm currious to see if in fact it has the same part number as my other ones.

[Joe T.]

Re: L-36 throttle lever hits on intake manifold bolt

Hi Greg:
BP36576.
You might be right about that butchering. It looks like it might have been ground off, but at least neatly. I never had occasion to notice before.
Oh well..Another impossible to find part to add to my search list. I will stay tuned to see how you solve this problem...Regards...joe