Carb Rebuild

[Erik S. Klein]

I just got my car back from the shop this afternoon.

It was in for a rebuild of the original carb which has probably never been off the engine in 30 years and 107K miles.

Before rebuilding I had the car tuned pretty thoroughly which tamed a fair amount of the issues I had (rough idle, backfiring, excess smoke, etc.) I was very happy with the results but the car wasn't perfect. It still burbled a bit too much on deceleration and unless I set the idle above 1000 it would sometimes stall when hot.

The mechanic told me that the varnish on the carb was very bad and took a lot of extra effort to get off. He also cleaned out a bit of rust.

As of right now the car is running pretty much like it did in 1972. I can't believe how smooth and strong it got from just the carb work.

Anyway, I just thought I'd share. I can't wait for the weekend to get some more drive time!

 

[tonyk72]

Erick, I'm having some of the problems you mentioned minus the smoke but I get a strong fuel smell after I park the car. Did or do you have the problem?
Also, what kind of gasket do you have between the intake and the carb? Thick or thin or are you using a phelonic spacer?

 

[Erik S. Klein]

Erick, I'm having some of the problems you mentioned minus the smoke but I get a strong fuel smell after I park the car. Did or do you have the problem?
Also, what kind of gasket do you have between the intake and the carb? Thick or thin or are you using a phelonic spacer?

I'll double check tonight about the gasket but I can pretty much guarantee that there is no spacer.

Prior to the tuneup there was a very strong fuel smell when parked and during idle. After the tuneup that abated somewhat, but didn't vanish completely. My wife actually complained about the smell from time to time.

Since the rebuild the car smells no more like fuel then my 2000 olds. . .

 

[tonyk72]

You got one of those complaining wifes too huh?

Ya, the smell is nasty...especially since the garage is under the living room...

I thought getting a thicker gasket would have fixed the problem for me...that it would cut down on the perculation. It didn't, and the thicker gasket also made my carb "whistle". So I went back to the thin gasket.
I just got a 1" phelonic spacer though through ebay...I'll try that, it should fit since the gasket I had was about 1" too.

I'm going to run some carb cleaner through the fuel system on my next fillup...so maybe that will fix some of the other problems?

Will start to fiddle with the carb this weekend...adjust the floats, etc...if I make it worse, I'll just have a pro look at it.

 

[Erik S. Klein]

From the pro that looked at mine the build-up of varnish (dried old gas) and rust/water stains was causing the bulk of my problems. He'd adjusted it as well as possible during the tuneup but it was still running rich and generally putting the wrong amount of fuel into the engine.

Once he de-gunked the entire thing and readjusted it the car went from being a beast to being as tame as my other, much newer, cars.

She still sets off car alarms, though (2 on the way home from the shop! )

 

[Pancho]

Ah, yes.... you want to set off some alarms, cruise around in the lower level of the Valley Fair shopping center parking garage. My wife's 79 (come to think of it, it's yellow also !) was always good for a few over there.

Glad you got the carb problems sorted out.

Chuck

 

[Erik S. Klein]

Better late then never. I just checked and I'm pretty sure you'd classify a 1/4 to 1/3 inch gasket as thin.

There was no spacer.

 

[Barry Andrews]

carb,and fuel smell

I had the problem of the fuel smell. I just got done putting a new edelbrock 3701 intake,and a new edelbrock 600 cfm carb. on my 77. That got rid of the smell. It also gave me 25 more horse's. It took some modification to the air cleaner,egr valve to make it all work right.