'59 2 x 4 carbs

[Bwmurph]

Hope someone can help me out with these carbs of mine. I re-built both carbs several months ago and seemed to have them running fairly well, although the idle did fluctuate somewhat. I then took the car to my trusted mechanic for some brake work and asked him to fine tune the carbs while he had it. The brakes are fine, but now the carbs are running VERY rich. I tried fooling with the long brass adjustment screws at the bottom of the carb base with little or noe result. It runs so rich that (a) I can't stay in the garage for more than a minute or two befoer watering my eyes, (b) clouds of dark smoke are pouring out the exhaust, and (c) the car runs very rough until I take it out on the road and run the RPM's up a few times.

This seems to help a little (a choke problem ?), but it still is pouring unburnt fuel out the exhaust. I pulled (and replaced) all the plugs the other day and they all showed heavy soot on them. Haven't fired the car back up yet.

ALso, installed a Crane "Fireball" pointless ignition in the original dual point distributor, but don't think this is related at all.

ANyone know what's the best way to start adjusting these carbs (2613S front, and 2614S rear) ?

ANy and all heop would be appreciated,

Bernie O.

 

[BarryK]

a little vague on your question Bernie............

how is that beauty of a '59 doing?
Linda and I still can't get over you driving her that day, in the rain, with the top down........

 

[Bwmurph]

Barry,

Please see the next thread; how the hell do I get rid of this ? Can you tell I'm a novice with a computer ?

 

[67HEAVEN]

Barry,

Please see the next thread; how the hell do I get rid of this ? Can you tell I'm a novice with a computer ?

All fixed.

 

[Bwmurph]

Thanks, I'll try to do better next time.
Now, can you fix my carbs as quickly and easily ?

 

[BarryK]

ahhhhh, Mr. Bob moved my response to here and deleted the other thread. now my response just looks stupid...........
well, it's no longer vague!

sorry, i can't answer your question though.

 

[67HEAVEN]

ahhhhh, Mr. Bob moved my response to here and deleted the other thread. now my response just looks stupid...........
well, it's no longer vague!

sorry, i can't answer your question though.

Actually, Barry, I moved Bernie's question to you.

 

[BarryK]

still amounts to the same thing, my response regarding the question being vague just seems a bit stupid now that the details are filled in........


Bernie, i'm sure someone with a C1 2x4 setup will chime in soon enough

 

[studiog]

I went through this with my 2x4's. The idle adjusters won't solve the problem if you are running that rich. Check choke, your float adjustment may be set too high or floats /needles may be sticking. Or may need finer jets.

 

[Bwmurph]

studiog,

Thanks, I just can't believe it's the floats set too high since I checked, double checked, triple checked and then quad checked them before I put the carbs back together. Also, it ran very well for several weeks or more before I had them "fine tuned". Would a mechanic go to the trouble of pulling the carb apart to re-set the floats just to "fine tune" it ? Guess anything's possible, I just don't relish the thought of taking these things back apart to check all this stuff again. Not to mention the re-build kits are fairly expensive.

I'm hoping it's the choke. Also, just had another thought - Would a stuck heat riser valve cause this sort of problem ? I replaced that about the same time I re-built the carbs with a new one from Corvette Central or Chicago Corvette.

THanks,

Bernie O.

 

[JohnZ]

Check the throttle linkage adjustment to make sure the primary butterflies are closing fully at idle; disconnect the accelerator lever rod with it running and the idle shouldn't change at all. If it does, the linkage is hanging the primaries open just enough so it's idling on the transfer slot instead of on the idle mixture orifice.

 

[Bwmurph]

John,

Thanks, that sounds like a definite possibility and one that's easily checked and remedied (which is what I'm looking for).

Bernie O.

 

[Tom Bryant]

These things were known for loading up around town but this sounds like more that normal solid axle fun. Once you check that the choke is opening all the way and the linkage is right here's how I run mine.

I became intimate with a set of 409 AFBs back in th early '70s and the one thing that struck me was that the front carb had no idle circuit. Made good sense to me. Why try to adjust 2 carbs idle circuits when you really only need one. On my '59 WCFBs I then seated the idle mixture screws fully closed and backed off the front idle screw to close the butterflys fully on the front carb only. Then I adjusted the idle mixture screws on the rear carb for best idle and set the idle rpm on the rear carb only.

Idles smooth like a single 4 bbl but performs the same when you stomp on it. If it still smokes after you do this either the choke is sticking or the float(s) are too high or sticking. Could also be a piece of debris in a needle/seat.

Tom

 

[motorman]

Hope someone can help me out with these carbs of mine. I re-built both carbs several months ago and seemed to have them running fairly well, although the idle did fluctuate somewhat. I then took the car to my trusted mechanic for some brake work and asked him to fine tune the carbs while he had it. The brakes are fine, but now the carbs are running VERY rich. I tried fooling with the long brass adjustment screws at the bottom of the carb base with little or noe result. It runs so rich that (a) I can't stay in the garage for more than a minute or two befoer watering my eyes, (b) clouds of dark smoke are pouring out the exhaust, and (c) the car runs very rough until I take it out on the road and run the RPM's up a few times.

This seems to help a little (a choke problem ?), but it still is pouring unburnt fuel out the exhaust. I pulled (and replaced) all the plugs the other day and they all showed heavy soot on them. Haven't fired the car back up yet.

ALso, installed a Crane "Fireball" pointless ignition in the original dual point distributor, but don't think this is related at all.

ANyone know what's the best way to start adjusting these carbs (2613S front, and 2614S rear) ?

ANy and all heop would be appreciated,

Bernie O.

i would try rejetting them to 245 HP specs instead of the 270 HP specs which these carbs are because the 245 HP specs are leaner and run cleaner. i have the specs if you want them e mail me

 

[studiog]

My 2¢ Tom I think that is a great method to deal with the 2x4 setup. I read somewhere that the idle circuit was left on the front carb so that some fuel in the front carb would be consumed as to not gum up from non use of the front carb. But who is not going to open it up at every opportunity?

 

[Bwmurph]

Tom, Motorman, Studiog

More great ideas, thanks. Getting the 245 HP specs would be appreciated. More specs is better ! Any idea where you purchase the new jets if I decide to go that way ?

Also, that's something else I've failed to check: is the front carb mixture and idle screws adjusted way out of wack; I've just been looking at the rear carb as most likely my sole source of the problem.

I likely won't get to try any of these ideas until the weekend, but will definitely let all know how things work out.

Thanks again to all for the ideas, and any other suggestions are always welcome. And if I can learn how to post a picture I'll do so.

Bernie O.

 

[67HEAVEN]

And if I can learn how to post a picture I'll do so.

Bernie O.

Bernie,

http://www.corvetteactioncenter.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48428

 

[BarryK]

Bernie, if you need you can email me any pics and I'll be glad to post them for you if you can't figure out how to get them up yourself.

 

[studiog]

Any idea where you purchase the new jets if I decide to go that way ?

If I remember correctly I couldn't find any jets for a Carter WCFB and wound up using a Carter AFB jet kit, they fit well and worked very well for me. It was trial and error to find the optimum size but well worth the trouble. I don't remember the sizes I would up using but may have been .113 for the primarys?? but don't quote me on that. I think I focused on the primarys first then the secondaries. Did this about 2 years ago.

 

[Tom Bryant]

Contact WCFB guru Chuck Smith for parts and tuning advice. His phone # and email are:760-749-5755; olsmoothie@att.net . He has a web site too but for some reason I can't connect right now. I checked another link and it seems to be down.

www.chucksmithchevys.com

He has done Chevy and Corvette carb restorations and FI umits for 20 years. Also does aluminum restoration. He offers a service to modify your original 2x4 system to flow 850cfm and still look original if you ever think about running a bigger engine but still want to look stock.

Tom