MTFCA Forum

I am looking for a fuel cut off at the carb.
Ran across the electronic fuel cut of from Langs.
The idea of cutting off the fuel with the turn of the ignition switch is really appealing.

Has anyone used one? Are they worth the money?

Pros and cons please.

This will work if you are running on battery, but not if you use magneto. The cut off is made for DC either 6 volts or 12 volts. The switch on battery will give you DC depending on what voltage your battery puts out either 6 or 12 volts. When you turn the switch to magneto, you will get AC with varying voltage and frequency depending on engine speed. A solution would be to install a separate switch for the fuel valve.
Norm

I am running a 21v distributor and a generator.
What issue if any should I be looking for?

12v distributor not 21.
Fat fingers strike again.

Adding another component to the simple fuel system just adds an additional potential problem. A manual fuel shutoff at the carb is easy to do. You just have to remember to shut it off when the car is sitting for long periods or overnight. All of this is assuming the seat in the carburetor is working properly and your attempt to have another fuel shutoff is trying to compensate for a non working float seat.

Ya I feel like Tim.... WHY,,,, I can understand if you only have the shutoff under the car, that's why many guys install a simple manual one at the carb or other easily reached area. For the 26/27 no other shutoff is needed since it's easy to reach.

lots of guys would say then you would also have to add electric windshield wipers, a radio, and a cruise control and lots of phone charger outlets... I located my manual shutoff under the floorboard so I don't have to open the hood on my '12.

Seems to me there are some plusses and minuses to consider for each design.

On the plus side, having a shutoff that you can reach without getting underneath the car is nice for us folks who aren't as agile as we once were.

But .... Having the shutoff right at the carb is easy to reach, but it you have a carburetor fire you probably won't be able to operate the handle.

Overall, Steve's remote handle operating the original valve offers ease of access along with a remote location away from any potential carburetor fire. I've never actually had a carb fire while starting a T, but it did happen to me once with another antique car. I learned from that to never try to start my car with the air cleaner removed, especially with an updraft induction system.

I did not have a problem with a T carburetor, however on a 1930 Franklin I once owned, needed a valve job and one day it backfired through the carburetor which was a Detroit Lubricator updraft carburetor. I did something which probably was not wise, but got the fire out. I drove into a gas station and squirted the radiator hose on it! These days they don't have them by the gas pumps.
Norm

Yup, those backfires will get you more often that you'd like.

In my case it was a 32 Pierce Arrow Club Brougham. Big ole straight eight and slow cranking. I had just gotten the manifolds, carb, & exhaust hooked up and didn't yet have an air cleaner. Always the pessimist, I stationed my wife on the carburetor side of the car with a fire extinguisher and briefed her on the possibility of a carb fire while starting.

From the driver's seat I engaged the starter, heard a soft "ploop" and immediately saw the inside of the open hood light up. My heart stopped, and then immediately came a woosh and a cloud of white powder. Wife was quick on the draw and the fire was out in no more than two seconds. I don't know if she was so much concerned about the car as for the house. We were in the attached garage and there was no way we were going to push that monster outside if we couldn't stop the fire.

No heat damage to the car, but it took me one full day to get all the dry powder out of every nook and cranny of the engine compartment.

I have always used as a safety item a Standard brand FV 7 fuel shut off that feeds my fuel pump. I mount them on the firewall where if accidentally bumped I can reach up and reset. If you get into a crash, at least that inertia switch should keep fuel from pumping into a possible fire.

Just Sayin'

Hank

I have the brass right angle shut off at the carburetor but I have only used it when removing the carb for adjustments or switching out carburetors. I ground in the valve on the gas tank and use EZ lube there. No leaking in either place. Did people shut off their gas in the old days when they parked?

Mark, I would say no but how many parked in a garage not far from a gas hot water heater. in '45 I never shut off the gas but I do now. If anyone knows how to keep the shut=off valve from binding or freezing up I would llike to know the trick.

I think in the old days the gas just soaked into rhe dirt floor of the garage. No chance of it pooling on some concrete.

Use some lapping compound on the fuel shut off and get the valve where it turns easily. Then take it back apart and use EZ Lube on the mating surfaces of the valve. You will never have sticking problems again, or at least that has been my experience. Works on any type of fuel valve.

Only problem was when they finished their cigarette and threw it on the ground. WHOOSH

Thanks Tom, I'll try it. I have EZ lube.

I am celebrating my seventieth birthday today and am increasingly aware of the increasing distance from a standing position to the floor so the fuel shutoff is quite a bit more difficult to reach than it used to be. Being naturally a bit lazy I usually just shut down the T and hope it doesn't leak. After considering this post, I thought about the problem quite a bit and came to the conclusion that it would be possible to fabricate a vacuum operated valve that would require no electric and would automatically open and close as the car was cranked and shut off. In my cogitation it would replace the fuel inlet elbow with the vacuum derived from the gasket between the carb and manifold. It seems that a valve could be constructed using a Model T needle valve and seat with little difficulty. Any angry thoughts?

Might work. Reminds me of vacuum windshield wipers I had on a 51 chevy. just when You needed them the most accelerating or lugging up a hill they would stop working. wipers stopping in the rain is bad enough but the motor stalling going up a hill due to the fuel valve shutting off could be a lot worse.

Vacuum wipers have a high torque load and require high vacuum to operate effectively. The force necessary to close a needle valve is infinitely less - think how little buoyancy a carb float provides to do the same job. In another of my hare brained projects it was necessary to monitor manifold vacuum in a model T. I found that it would run well over 20 inches of mercury at speed with closed throttle (downhill) and rarely less than about 8 inches with throttle open. No vacuum = no run. Plenty of vacuum in any case to keep the fuel flowing.

I guess I don’t worry much about my car in an unheated detached garage built in 1919. I do remember having an OF carburetor with a stuck float dumping a gallon of gas on the floor once.

Reminds me of vacuum windshield wipers I had on a 51 chevy. just when You needed them the most accelerating or lugging up a hill they would stop working.

Yep, that takes me back to our old 1941 Plymouth. But my 1951 dodge truck has electric wipers. It's amazing that Packard stuck with vacuum wipers through 1955. Maybe that's what put them out of business.

I have had an electric shut off on the 1914 touring since we restored it in 2003 and it’s worked flawless every since.
Of course now I’ve written that, it will fail within a couple of weeks

2003 to now? That is 17 years. Not bad in my book.
Thank you guys for all the input.
Still haven't made up my mind.

I concocted a remote shutoff as well.

Obviously not a stock item, but it goes very nicely with my weathered T. And, strangely enough, to the "unwashed masses" who see the car out in the wild at a gas station, etc, it's asked about a lot....probably only second to the crank handle and whether or not I can actually crank the car. People are absolutely smitten with the hand crank.
.

Nice Don!!!!!

Henry K. Lee wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 04, 2020 7:02 pm

Nice Don!!!!!

Thanks Hank.