Pulling the Plastic H&L Speed Needle Covers in Echo/Zama Carb

[3browns]

I was bored and decided to muffler mod my Echo SRM-225 string trimmer

Before I pulled it I gave the carb a visual once over and quickly discovered I couldn't see any adjustment other than idle speed

I jumped on my Mac and found a couple of videos from Steve's Small Engine Saloon

One of them covered pulling the little plastic covers that are pressed into the recesses for the high and low needles

He suggested either getting a jewelers screwdriver hot enough to push into the plastic or getting a special tool that had a left hand thread and you screwed it into the plastic caps and pulled them out

I wasn't about to ruin a screwdriver by getting it that hot so I started looking around my bench and spotted some spare bicycle spokes

Long story short: a common 14 gauge bicycle spoke is the perfect size and thread to screw right into the plastic caps and pull them out with almost zero effort



The first picture is the spoke down the hole where the low speed needle is and the second is the plug after turning the spoke in a couple turns and giving it a gentle tug

The high speed needle is on the face of the carb block where the purge bulb is located but I couldn't get my phone to focus on the recess

Anyway, a $1 bicycle spoke becomes your new dedicated tool for these little caps

 

[FergusonTO35]

Good tip, will remember that! I've always used a little bitty drill bit and stop when I feel it hit something solid. Interestingly, the low speed on both of mine was perfect from the get go on my three machines with this style carb. The high speed wasn't that far off, at least to my ears.

 

[3browns]

Mine was fine as well but I wanted to make sure I could fatten it up a bit after the muffler mod

I saw a couple other videos where they also pulled out the brass "collar" (??) thats also pressed in on top of the H screw but I chose to leave that in because the H screw doesn't seem to have much friction to keep it in place

I know if it backed out I would hear it and feel it in the way the engine ran but by leaving the brass collar I know its not going anywhere

 

[AVB]

Only reason you pull the brass retainers is if the H speed mixture screw gets clogged. These needles are hollow with cross through hole. The retainers are available if you need to replace one; Zama PN 0009083.

 

[3browns]

Only reason you pull the brass retainers is if the H speed mixture screw gets clogged. These needles are hollow with cross through hole. The retainers are available if you need to replace one; Zama PN 0009083.

Good to know

Thanks

 

[Florek27]

Cool