Varajet carb

[marsk5]

I've got a 1985 s10 with the 2.8 and the carb is leaking fuel out of the vent on top of the carb, I've put a new float and needle in and no luck, I've searched the cheap out of these carbs on the internet and I can't find a good answer so I'm hoping someone here can at least lead me in the right direction thanks for the help

 

[ryoken]

if fuel is coming out the vent, it's either a stuck needle or float, or a misadjusted float.. that's all it can be.... make sure the needle is hung properly or it can cock in the bore and hang up...

 

[marsk5]

I've tore that carb apart about 10 times today, I've adjusted the float to just about every spec on the sheet of paper. What could cause the needle to get stuck, I've cleaned it out there's no debris in there. It's driven me crazy

 

[ryoken]

I'm not familiar with that particular carb, but with quad 4 barrels, it's an EXCEPTIONALLY common mistake for people to hang the needle wrong on the float... they hang them from one hole to the other, when it's supposed to be thru one hole, than sit on the flat of the float lever.. once the float opens the needle, than when it goes to close, it angles in the bore and wont seat.. causing fuel to keep getting fed into the bowl...

if you go back in, you may wanna set the float a bit on the "high" side as to fool the bowl into being full... to just make sure you can eliminate that as a culprit.. it'll run fine in the lower rpm's until you can readjust it..

too much pressure can always be an issue, but you didn't say anything about different pumps, etc..

 

[marsk5]

Now that I just read your last post I'm almost certain I probably put the needle facing the wrong way on the float

 

[ryoken]

give it a shot...

 

[diesel4me]

I hated the 2 "Veryjunk" carbs I had on my 81 G-10 van and '79 C-10 truck with 250 camel humper sixes with the integral cylinder head..

They didn't flood,but were always too lean on the primary barrel and too rich on the secondary,they were terrible when cold until fully warmed up,and they loved to have a "bog" when you opened the throttle ,and felt "flat" when you needed power..they are one of GM's worst carbs to work on (as I'm sure you know now!) and few people can get them to run well..

Ryoken is probably right about the float needle,I know I put mine on wrong more than once!..I even bought a brass float,thinking ethanol gas was making the foam ones sink!..

I got so fed up with mine that I made a crude carb adapter out of 3/4" plywood and mounted a Edelbrock 500 cfm 4 bbl on the original manifold on my pickup,and actually drove the truck to see if it would run OK before having a "real" one made of aluminum...

I found it ran better with just the primary barrels working,so I just left the little linkage off that opened the secondaries--if I tried booting the 4 bbl in it would lay an egg and bog down--too much air & fuel for a six I guess....had a local machine shop copy my wooden adapter and made one of 1" thick aluminum...hardest part of making it work was rigging up brackets for the throttle and detent cable ,but it wasnt a big deal,I was able to use a Mr. Gasket universal one for the detent and a stock one modified for the throttle..

I actually liked driving the truck after the carb swap,it was like a whole different engine compared to the vari-jet carb..more torque and pep by far...unfortunately the engine lost the top ring lands on the #6 piston at 117K,,probably due to preignition from the vari-jet running too lean..it had about 97K on it when I swapped the carb..

My van always pinged under a load too,I decided to swap a 307 in it before the six expired,but it was still running OK at 160K when I swapped the V8 into it..
The engine never spark knocked with the Edelbrock,and I was able to get 16 mpg with it too...

 

[marsk5]

I've been thinking about spending the money on a weber conversion and ditching the veryjunk. But I'm guna try moving the needle around first

 

[diesel4me]

I searched online for a ready made adapter back 10+ years ago when I wanted to ditch my Vari-jet,only Holley made one adapter designed to put a 350 cfm Holley 2 bbl in place of a vari-jet,on the 2.5 4 cylinder engines used in chevy citations and S-10's..not sure if one would work on the V-6 or the straight sixes,I couldn't get an answer out of Holley,the part had long been discontinued..

I spotted one for sale at a swap meet not long after I was done making my own adaper (of course!),but I resisted buying it because it wasn;t much different than the one I made,and the guy wanted 25 bucks for it...

I do recall there being a Webber carb and adapter available...it was pretty pricey though..

 

[marsk5]

I finally got it working, I ended up have the needle facing the wrong way on the float. I feel so dumb lol

 

[ryoken]

 

[marsk5]

Ryoken you were totally right, it's unbelievable lol

 

[ryoken]

glad ya got it straightened out...