I'm thinking of making my own fuel plate and know the the stock one is hardened, but does it really need to be super hard? Is there that much pressure being exerted on it by the governor arm? would SS 18-8 or 314 work? could i just harden it after i shape it?

 

I am thinking that anytime you have 2 metal parts in moving contact with each other they need some hardness , as a example the sear in the triger of a gun, there might be as little as a tenth of an OZ. of pressure ,but they have to be hardend ,not to as high rockwell # or as deep .

 

I'm not an expert in this department but the two thoughts I have are.

1. You don't want your plate to be worn rapidly by the action of the governor arm because that would change your fueling.

2. But!!!! I'f rather have my home made fueling part wear than my governor arm

 

true i would rather have the plate wear faster than the governor arm but if you make your plate out of a harder steel than the gov arm . the governor arm is the one that would be getting worn out faster . now if you went the other way around made a new governor arm out of a harder steel than the plate this would be the better way to go if you are worried about the harder one to replace wearing out. now if you are wanting to build this new plate couse you are wanting to try out some different ramps on the fuel plate i can see building a plate for that reason .

 

none of those parts get worn...if uv ever taken ur stock plate out u might find a microscopic scratch or two but thats it...i think it would be easier to go get one at the wreckers...there's a few different engines that have the same pump believe it or not....i dont even think the wreckers would charge u for it..they dont know what it is...or just put in in ur pocket....i dont think the plate is tooi hard that u cant shape it fairly easily

 

Not likely you'll find a whole pump at the Wreckers, they most often go for cores......

 

TST says their plates are surface hardened to a high hardness because governors that are run at a particular speed for a length of time develop wear grooves and create slop or stiction over time. True especially where the engine idles on the governor.

 

If hardness is that big a deal you could send your freshly ground plate to be heat treated - it is so small the heat treater would probably do it for free or next to nothing.......I have yet to have any noticable wear on my untreated #100...