Who knows about R/T valves?

[gabriel9090]

After help from many of you I got my classic valve working great w/ a lvl 10 bolt.

Now I'm trying to get a friends mini mag working. It's a mini w/ the Retro Valve (matching sn: VV00832), lvl 7 and a Flatline reg. My friend took it to the store where they sent it out for about two months and charged him $100. After a few shots it started leaking again.

When I got it it vented out the side of the front half (silver half) of the valve. Now it leaks like crazy down the barrel.

I've replaced just about all of the o rings. I skipped the Reg Nut o ring because it looked good and from what I could tell it's just a seal with no affect to moving parts. The only other one that I left alone was the On/Off small o ring. I couldn't find the ring and the On/Off top & bottom are all one piece so I'm guessing there isn't an o ring for this part.

When replacing the orings I noticed that almost all of the ones I took out were yellow to brown and looked pretty old. A couple had a blue tint to them? I can't figure out what the store charged $100 for because I changed out everything except to put in a new complete On/Off assy, Spring Pack assy, Reg Valve Pin assy (my first step was to replace the rings and spacer at the tip of the valve pin because they were obviously worn and had chuncks missing).

While installing the new rings I made sure to put the Autolube on all of them.

What should I look for to fix this?

Thanks in advance for any insight,
Gabe

[originalspyderxtra]

try different power tube spacers and increase/decrease the velocity adjustment, and shoot while doing so. thats all i can think of from my experience with my 68 classic and classic r/t

[georgeyew]

I can't figure out what the store charged $100 for

I want to know what work they did as well....

[chairman_mao]

Is there any debris in the valve or regulator? Also, the power tube comment above is spot on for the barrel leak. If you need more expalination any of the Tune your Level X threads explain it (same as level X in principle).

[gabriel9090]

I'm guessing that the power tube spacer is the one that's always been in the gun. Why would in need a different size now with the same bolt? I did put the new bolt spring from the parts kit on, would this have anything to do with it?

Thanks

[maniacmechanic]

I'm guessing that the power tube spacer is the one that's always been in the gun. Why would in need a different size now with the same bolt? I did put the new bolt spring from the parts kit on, would this have anything to do with it?

Thanks

all o-rings are NOT the same size even though they are the same size , then the power tube section of the bolt has just a little bit of wear , the spacers squeze the o-ring making the ID smaller to fit the bolt , but it has to be 'just right " to avoid a leak or bolt stick , to check for this leak, stick your squegie down the barrel & push your bolt in ; if this stops the leak then you either need change spacers or o-ring ,if you don't have any spacers try different o- rings

[BigTrucker]

I would of taken it back and tell them that they didn't fix it. I would of demanded them to make it a priority. If the refused i would ask for the money back. I dont think they will do it now that you tried to fix it yourself.

[maniacmechanic]

sad part about the 100$ is they probley didn't touch it , half the guys in these shop's now don't even know what a AutoMag is

[athomas]

I'm guessing that the power tube spacer is the one that's always been in the gun. Why would in need a different size now with the same bolt? I did put the new bolt spring from the parts kit on, would this have anything to do with it?

Thanks

A leak down the powertube is generally a bad powertube oring or a spacer that is too long. Change the oring first. If that doesn't fix the problem use a shorter powertube spacer. As the sear wears during use over time, it allows the bolt to sit farther forward. This separates the bolt stem from the powertube oring and a leak develops. By using a shorter spacer you allow the powertube oring to sit farther forward as well to take up the slack that the wear caused.

A new bolt spring won't cause any problems. In fact, it will help prevent potential bolt stick issues.

[gabriel9090]

I installed a new power tube oring but not the pt tip oring; would this matter? I went through and replaced all of the rings w/ the new ones from the kit including the bumper and spring. It currently has a .225 spacer. Is there anything like the lvl10 fitting where the bolt should stay on the valve when inverted w/ the right spacer?

Does anyone here have a spacer kit to part with (I'm sick of paying $6 to ship a $25 part when I just have to do it again the next week)?

As far as the $100, it's a friend's gun. I recently got my 15 year old classic valve to work w/ the lvl10 and this sounded like a good project . . . he's paying for the parts.

thanks again
Gabe

[athomas]

Don't worry about the powertube tip oring. It is just there to keep the tip from becoming loose.

The bolt does not fit inside the powertube oring like in the level 10. It just fits against it. Thats where the spacers come in. They determine how far back the bolt has to go before the stem makes contact with the oring. If the spacer is too long the bolt does not make contact and it will leak out the front. If the spacer is too short, the bolt makes contact too soon and will prevent the bolt from going back all the way so that the sear will not reset (bolt stick).

You can make your current spacer a bit shorter by gently filing one end. Use a set of calipers if possible and take 0.01" off it. If you change the sear in the future and you find the shorter spacer won't work, you can add a level 10 shim between the spacer and the powertube tip to add the 0.01" back onto the spacer.

[gabriel9090]

finally got the spacer kit. Gun doesn't leak and I can shoot the hell out of my basement crawl space.

The trigger pull is pretty light and fires fast but it's easy to short stroke. It has a lvl7 bolt so I'm wondering if this is easy to fix or I should just watch how I shoot so I don't break paint?

The gun has an AGD flatline reg, what is a good setting for the output?

Thanks
Gabe

[athomas]

Make sure there is a tiny gap between the back of the trigger and the front of the trigger rod when the gun is gassed and resting with the trigger forward. If you are having issues with short stroking after the trigger rod is found to be the correct length, go to the next longer powertube spacer.

The ideal pressure output would be 850psi. Increasing the output will increase your reactivity. Some like it, some don't. It will increase the charge rate of the valve which can help prevent short stroking, but can cause full auto issues. That being said, lots of guys here run pressures up around 1000psi successfully.