I discoverd a couple of days ago that my poor idle was due to the carb leaking fuel into the intake manifold. Really, I've slowly noticed more of a gas smell in the garage over the past couple of years.
So I decided to do an evening re-build. You know, tear into it after work and then drive it to work the next morning. What was I thinking?
It actually wasn't too bad, but I got a little anal and started painting parts, which of course adds cure time. As soon as the parts were cleaned, I used JB Weld on the wells in the base of the carb. I replaced the gaskets, float, needle, seat, and accelerator pump seal. I also noticed that my main rods were a little bent, so I carefully straightened them out. One of the idle mixture screws was a little chewed on the end, so I filed it into the original taper. I had just replaced the choke pull-off and fuel filter a few weeks earlier.
The second pic shows some of the epoxy. I will sell this carb once I get injected.
My screw up happened during re-assembly. I pinched a vacuum hose between the throttle body and manifold gasket Easy enough to fix, but it squished the gasket there and caused a big vacuum leak. I couldn't get the truck to run for more than a few seconds, which makes troubleshooting hard. Finally I set the idle way high to keep it running while I ran in with my stethoscope. Some silicone fixed the leak and I went on to tune the idle mixture.
This was the first time my idle mixture screws ever did anything
The idle is smooth at 500rpm in gear. This is also the first time the vacuum gauge ever read 22 at idle. I got to bed late, but it ran great on the way to work this morning. The sweet taste of success.
So I decided to do an evening re-build. You know, tear into it after work and then drive it to work the next morning. What was I thinking?
It actually wasn't too bad, but I got a little anal and started painting parts, which of course adds cure time. As soon as the parts were cleaned, I used JB Weld on the wells in the base of the carb. I replaced the gaskets, float, needle, seat, and accelerator pump seal. I also noticed that my main rods were a little bent, so I carefully straightened them out. One of the idle mixture screws was a little chewed on the end, so I filed it into the original taper. I had just replaced the choke pull-off and fuel filter a few weeks earlier.
The second pic shows some of the epoxy. I will sell this carb once I get injected.
My screw up happened during re-assembly. I pinched a vacuum hose between the throttle body and manifold gasket
Easy enough to fix, but it squished the gasket there and caused a big vacuum leak. I couldn't get the truck to run for more than a few seconds, which makes troubleshooting hard. Finally I set the idle way high to keep it running while I ran in with my stethoscope. Some silicone fixed the leak and I went on to tune the idle mixture.This was the first time my idle mixture screws ever did anything
The idle is smooth at 500rpm in gear. This is also the first time the vacuum gauge ever read 22 at idle. I got to bed late, but it ran great on the way to work this morning. The sweet taste of success.
pretty good coin for sitting there watching tv & drinking beer... and it was usually boat quads, so pairs meant double the money... 
