+1 on that Heli-Coil spark plug thread kit. I've used a couple and they worked well in my particular situations. What I found to be a huge plus with those aside from the locking feature is, (when done right), the top of the insert should provide a new mating surface for the plug washers/gaskets to seat/seal instead of relying on the previous seat of the cylinder itself..., which in many cases of stripped threads or previous insert attempts will be a hogged out mess of dings and gouges and not seal properly anyway regardless of brand if only a thread insert is used. Can only vouch for the Heli-Coil plug thread kit which is specifically for plug threads, but have heard the Timeserts, Keenserts and Keyserts are also very good and highly reliable products. They may indeed also have plug thread specific solutions like Heli-Coil. Main difference being they are solid thread inserts where the Heli-Coils are actually coiled steel.
And thanks for all that great intel, Mark. Bit the bullet and ordered a new set of rings. My end gap looks to be about twice as much as what you have pictured.
As for the caps, the only one I have with the plastic post was the one that came on the SP81. I now recall you mentioning some time ago that the Homelite duck bill would require some very careful drilling of the post in order to fit. It does fit perfectly into the nylon insert of the other style caps and may render the spring unnecessary due to the extra thickness of the flange. Will post results after some testing with new gaskets all the way around. BTW, the guy in Ky. has Fel-Pro re-pops of the 69767 gaskets in 20 paks for $22.99 if anyone else with way too many 10 series Macs needs some too.
Red-Koted the tank yesterday and went through a couple SDC's to kill some time while it was drying and to see what I had to work with carb-wise...
Now that's a whole lot o' wrong goin' on, isn't it? My first thought was, "a funny place to hide your weed". Then, "so
that's what happened to my other contact!" Finally, "Adjustment screws? We don't need no stinkin' adjustment screws!" And this is all just from the carb that came off the SP81. Fortunately the other two from a pair of 10-10 carcasses were in way better shape with only a throttle return spring missing on one. Diaphragms weren't even that bad. A few cycles in the USC and they came out nice and clean.
