heat riser spring replacement

[harmony]

My heat riser spring has just broken on my 251 flathead.  My question is do you have to replace it with a specific spring for that engine or are there other springs that will work just as efficiently, and clip right in, that might be on the shelf of your local parts store.  My point being, yes Bernbaum has the spring, but by the time I get it in my hand here in Canada, it's going to cost me about 50 bucks and with the covid thing, who knows how long it will take to get here.  I'm curious if there might be one that will do the job, or are they very specific from make and model and year?

[Sniper]

You can wire it open for now, that should take care of the time issue.  As for cost, can't help there unless someone knows a Canadian supplier? 

 

As for what will work in it's place, I dunno the answer. 

[harmony]

55 minutes ago, Sniper said:

You can wire it open for now, that should take care of the time issue.  As for cost, can't help there unless someone knows a Canadian supplier? 

 

As for what will work in it's place, I dunno the answer. 

It's staying open with that counterweight and it's really not effecting the running of the car.  Perhaps it's consuming a little more fuel than it should.  But I'm hoping that someone has tried a 50's/ 60's spring and it clips into the slot and opens and closes just fine.  The local parts stores around me really don't have "accurate" listings for cars in the 40's.  But 50's/ 60's parts are usually available next day.

[Young Ed]

Not sure about a later spring but I recall someone on the early days of the forum using a wall thermometer spring.

[harmony]

2 minutes ago, Young Ed said:

Not sure about a later spring but I recall someone on the early days of the forum using a wall thermometer spring.

That's the sort of thing I'm talking about. I like creative thinging  

However the manual specifies that the stock spring should only be coiled 3/4 of a turn past it's cold natural state for my car ( C-38 )  However for the C-30,33,36,37,39 and 40, the manual says one and a quarter turns.  So obviously some springs won't work be it that they are too loose or too tight.  But a heat gun would determine that pretty quick I would think once I got some leads as to what might work.

 $50 isn't the end of the world.  But if I can get the same spring for $10 off the shelf at the parts store I drive by every day and it does the same job and looks the same, then that's the plan.

[Sniper]

When my Diplomat broke it's spring it would hang open with the engine off, but while driving it the exhaust pulses would force the flap closed and caused some weird running hot indications that took me forever to figure out, being a v8 it would force the exhaust back across the intake crossover and out the other side's exhaust.  That flapper is well hidden on that car, you can't see it, but you can get a hand on it.

[harmony]

28 minutes ago, Sniper said:

When my Diplomat broke it's spring it would hang open with the engine off, but while driving it the exhaust pulses would force the flap closed and caused some weird running hot indications that took me forever to figure out, being a v8 it would force the exhaust back across the intake crossover and out the other side's exhaust.  That flapper is well hidden on that car, you can't see it, but you can get a hand on it.

Since the spring broke, I've randomly checked the position of the weight.  The flap has always been in the open position, whether the engine is hot or cold.  That's what lead me to investigate the condition of the spring in the first place ( the weight always in the same location) and then I noticed the spring was broken.    But in light of what you just said, it will only take a minute to wire it open, just to be sure until I can replace the spring. Thanks