'59 2 x 4 carbs

[studiog]

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

Chuck is the man, been featured in many Corvette mags over the years, but I haven't had much success contacting him by phone or using the web address for over a year now. I did get some parts from him a few years ago but even then it was hit or miss trying to make contact.

 

[studiog]

http://www.danchuk.com/07_02_metering_rods_jets.html


You could also try Danchuck they specialize in 55-56-57 Chevy parts but also have some Carter WCFB parts that are common to Chevy & Vettes

 

[JohnZ]

Bob Kunz in St. Louis is pretty much recognized as the Carter "guru" (although he does Holleys and Q-Jets too); 2x4 WCFB's are his specialty. (314) 845-2566. He did several sets of 270hp 2x4's for me over the years, and I never had to touch them.

 

[Bwmurph]

Tom, Studiog,

Thanks again for the info, but really don't wnat to get into re-jetting if I don't have to. The carbs actually RAN well before the re-build, just had some fuel leak problems that I wanted to address and figured why not do a complete re-build.

One other quick question - The black "Bakelite" cover on the pass. side of the primary (rear) carb only controls the "Lean / Rich" setting of the choke, correct ?

thanks,

Bernie O.

 

[BarryK]

Bernie

you said you don't want to rejet the carbs unless you really have too...... but you also mentioned in the first post that you rebuilt the carbs and they ran fairly well THAN took them to your mechanic for fine-tuning and they have been running rich ever since. Are you very sure your mechanic didn't rejet them while he was working on them as part of his fine-tuning causing them to run rich? If so, than it could make sense to have to go back and rejet them again to where they were before he did his fine-tuning.
Your mechanic sounds like all the ones I tried - the car would come back running worst than before I took it to them.

 

[studiog]

One other quick question - The black "Bakelite" cover on the pass. side of the primary (rear) carb only controls the "Lean / Rich" setting of the choke, correct ?
Bernie O.

Yes, that is correct and thus has an affect on the fast idle cam.

 

[studiog]

Thanks again for the info, but really don't wnat to get into re-jetting if I don't have to. The carbs actually RAN well before the re-build
Bernie O.

I would start with John Z's advice then and take it from there.

 

[Bwmurph]

To B, John Z, Studiog, Motorman, etc....

OK, Here's what I did - Warmed the car to op. temp., installed new plugs (last week, hasn't run with them until today) and then re-set "Bakelite" choke cover to a little leaner (it was set a little rich), checked timing (about 10° BTDC, right about where I want it). This all seemed to help somewhat.

Then (with car running) I dis-connected the throttle linkage - no change in idle speed at all. Then checked the idle adjustment (on side of carb) of the front carb; I backed this all the way out - small change in idle speed. I then sunk the long brass screws at bottom front of front carb all the way closed - the idle steadily increased as I closed these screws, to about 1100 - 1200 RPM from about 800 RPM. Then re-set idle adjustment using on the idle adj. screw on the primary (rear) carb. Did NOT mess with the mixture screws on this carb, but I know they are back out from fullly closed aabout 1.5 turns each.

This seems to have worked real well. The idle seems to be a lot steadier, the car does not seem to be running rich anymore and throttle response may have improved a bit from what it was before this carb re-build (could be my imagination/wishful thinking.

I want to put some more miles on it this weekend to confirm these things, but I'm definitely encouraged.

One other thing I noticfed which may not be good: The screw that hols on the accel. pump jets in the carb bowl - on the front carb I noticed it has a rubber gasket under the screw that holds the jets in place, no rubber gasket under the screw on the rear carb. Thats' probably not good is it ? I really hate the idea of taking the top of that carb apart again, but I'm thinking I must, I must.

Thanks to all for your help and if you have any other comments I'm all ears,

Bernie O.

 

[Tom Bryant]

Runs sweet like that doesn't it.

Here's how to properly adjust your choke. With the engine cold hold the carb open so the fast idle cam isn't touching the choke lever and back off the bakelite cover until the choke butterfly will open. Then turn it back the other way until the butterfly is just closed. Then go one more mark on the cover to give some preload. This is a good starting place. You can fine tune it from there based on how well it cold starts and warms up.

Tom

 

[2X4's 60]

Something seems amiss. If it was running good before your friend "tweeked" it, return it to how it was before he touched it. They do run a little rich until warmed up, but they run fine after that. What ever you do, DON'T completely close the idle mixture screws on the front carb. The factory didn't do it and neither should you. I've been running these carbs. for over 30 years and they are very easy to set-up and they run great.

 

[Tom Bryant]

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?

Makes good sense to me as there is no reason to maintain an idle circuit in a secondary carb. Evidently Chevy agreed too as they removed the idle circuit from the front carb when they made the 409s. A secondary carb is for added fuel at wide open throttle only. It doesn't need to idle or have a choke. I've run them the factory way and my way and I prefer my way for smoothness. Nothing wrong with the factory way either. You get the real experience of how they were when new that way. Yours could probably be made to run right with the factory meathod too. Your mechanic just screwed something up.

I have a '56 set on my car that I put on in 1971. I even played with those big air screws on the side just for fun but couldn't ever get them to run right like that. Chevy's last word on those was to seat them down and forget them. Then they removed them altogether for 1958. I think that if they would have kept the dual quad option on the 327 they would have used the same AFBs they used on the 409 but calibrated for the 327 including no idle circuit on the front carb. Why they never removed it from the WCFB I don't know other than it really wasn't hurting anything. The AFBs, being new to Chevy in 1962 got all of the latest thinking.

For a point of interest, I had a 1956 354 Hemi from a 300 in my old '47 Ford back in the early '60s. Well I actually had the car for 21 years. It ran 2 smaller base WCFBs with both carbs having chokes and idle circuits. This was because both carbs ran together all the time. No progressive linkage.

Tom

 

[Bwmurph]

Well, I put 70 - 80 miles on the car today (went to show at a local mall where BarryK and some others were displaying) and it ran great. Didn't start too well, though, and I had to keep my foot on the gas for a few minutes before it would idle on it's own. Guess I need to fool around with the choke setting some.

I think I'm going to leave the front carb idle mixture screws closed for the time being until I get the nerve to fool with them again. Right now they're running well (except for the starting/choke thing) and I think I'll leave well enough alone. If I (somehow) get rich this winter maybe I'll send them off to Bob Kunz to have him work on them and see just how he sets them up.

As an aside to "67 Heaven's" thread of today - I've always noticed that my car seems to have more power when the air is cold. Even to the point where I can tell the difference form when the car is first started to when it's up to operating temp.; guess that's why cold air induction systems are made !

Bernie O