Anywhere to buy e320 valve spools?


 
A

Andrei

New member
I tried to clean some excessive buildup on one of the valve spools, and now the handle turns even tighter. I think I must've damaged the finish by stupidly taking some 1200 grit sandpaper to it (although lightly). Is there a way to buy the part separately, or maybe some of you have it and would be willing to sell? I found a picture in an older conversion thread, I have LP.

Could I still salvage it by smoothing the surface with even higher grit? What's the best lubricant to use on it, maybe some type of dry graphete stuff?
 

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I doubt you did any permanent damage by lightly sanding with 1200 grit sandpaper, it's extremely fine. I do suspect that you may not have done a good enough job cleaning the grit and residue off of the part afterwards. You should also reassemble with a light coat of grease like brake lube. Oh, and just to be on the safe side don't use sandpaper on any more valves.
 
What about spinning the valve cone inside of the valve with a little bit of polishing compound?
 
DanHoo said:
What about spinning the valve cone inside of the valve with a little bit of polishing compound?
Click to expand...
I would be leery of that. It's likely the sanding may have ultimately done harm. The tolerances are VERY tight. Might just need to replace the manifold
 
Yah, unless the sticky valves are due to lack of lube before putting them back together, then I would say you damaged them. Replacing them might be you best (safest) solution.
Those E3xx grills can be found in pretty badly rusted condition sometimes very cheap...like free to $50. Finding one of those and just replacing the entire manifold from that onto your grill would be a possible solution.
 
On the upside, it sounds like you only did one, and it does still work, albeit stiffly. So not a total loss, and it wasn't great before you started. My only suggestion would be to try washing and cleaning the surfaces thoroughly. Sometimes even one tiny bit of grit can be enough to make a valve stick. Sanding, which removes material, shouldn't have made your valve harder to turn. Something else must be going on.

I would agree with the others about staying away from any more abrasives, at least until you reach a point where you have nothing to lose.
 
Thanks guys - I'll try to figure out a way to smoothen it and buff it out without taking off any more material. What is the best grease you could recommend that could possibly make this glide? I've seen black brake grease referenced.
 
Brake caliper grease is the solution most recommended. It is a quality lube and has some heat resistance properties which can come into play on grills.
 
This may seem like a dumb question so I apologize in advance...did you keep each valve's components separate when you cleaned them? IOW, each valve is to be considered as a mated assembly and best practice is to not mix and match individual valve components.
 
I'm thinking that a light sanding with 1200 grit should not have done any damage. That being said, brass is soft. Did you notice a lot of brass on the sandpaper afterwards?
I would take them apart and clean them very thoroughly and reassemble with a very very light dab of grease. Is it possible that you didn't reassemble them correctly? I think that they may be easy to assemble them incorrectly, but not sure.

Gerry
 
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