Sorry for the rant, but I have to vent. Yet another example of why I do every bit of work on my cars myself.

When we got it, the black 85 Delta had what appeared to be a recently rebuilt carb. Shiny, clearly not original coloring, but the car ran well enough (for a CCC 307). About 18 months later, I've been smelling gas and can see evidence of leakage. Figure it's time to rebuild the carb.

Once I get the carb off the car, the fun starts. First, the carb number says this is from a 1984 VIN 9 motor, not an 85 VIN Y. That alone is not a fatal flaw, but it gets better. As I start to strip the carb, the boss on the air horn over the mixture control solenoid adjusting screw is chewed off. It literally looks like it was bitten off. Since the plug can't be installed in that hole, this is likely part of the fuel smell problem. I dig into the bin of parts carbs to find a new air horn.

Then I notice that the rear vacuum break is held on with incorrect screws that don't have the proper taper seats. The ham-fisted rebuilder apparently lost those two screws and hacked off whatever he had. The resulting rough threads chewed up the threads in the main body, but I can get the correct screws started, so again, not a fatal flaw.

I finally get the air horn off, and I find that the adjusting screw for the mixture control solenoid is completely loose. Worse, since it was loose, it was rattling around in the bore and the threads are pretty much worn off. I don't know how bad the threads in the main body are, but I suspect a new screw won't fix this problem. The threads are small and fine enough that a heli-coil is not really viable right now. Back to the parts carbs...

Bottom line is that this was supposedly a "professionally" rebuilt carb from a rebuilder, and it is complete crap. I'm frankly surprised the car ran as well as it did.

 

I don't think it's a rant when it's just the truth.

I'm in the middle of a major household move right now. My wife wanted to have professional movers do the whole job (I don't think she realized it would cost somewhere over $30,000, or more), but I'm having PODS drop off containers one at a time and filling them myself.
My back hurts, but I know that the chances of our stuff breaking or disappearing are much lower this way. I caved a bit and let her get movers for 19 specific antique pieces. Estimates from Mayflower and TCI were both around $6,000, but a local place where the same guys will pick up, drive, and drop off the same day (or maybe a day later if they get tired) bid it for $2,600, so they win. I told her I could break her stuff for free, but she didn't laugh.
I'm going to have a fun 2 weeks (and, I guess, a few weeks after that), but at least I'll have some control over what's going on.

It's not just cars (and home repairs, and remodeling, and construction, and...). It's every area of life.

Bloody annoying.

- Eric

 

I did PODS too when I moved. Was able to ask for each container at my leisure and choose the container that I wanted. So much more manageable and was able to spread it out over time instead of all in one day. Good choice.

 

Exactly. There was a time when I could load up a 6 bedroom house in one day, but not anymore.

In fact I recall the 90° day when I moved a 1 bedroom apartment out of the second floor and into the truck by noon, truck wouldn't start, waited until U-Haul came, they couldn't start it, they wouldn't bring a good truck, so I rode the tow truck back to the lot, where I got a new truck, backed it up to the old truck in the bright sun in the open lot (nb: no ventilation at all), moved every single thing from one truck to the other singlehanded, drove to the new place, then offloaded the whole thing up to the second floor before dark.

As I said, not anymore.

"A man's got to know his limitations."

- Eric

 

Joe I may have a core if you need one??

Let me know and I will get the #.

Johnny

 

It was a miracle it ran that well with all of the carburetor problems.

 

Eric, I know it's off topic, but I have a giant cupboard of my grandma's that I get, and it has six foot large pane old glass doors. I could either take the doors off and carefully move them, then my friends who owe me a move can help the rest, or I could hire a piano mover or something. How should one move large, fragile, antiques?

 

I feel your pain... a junk CCC carb rebuild was what set me off to find my own Thexton tools and figure out how to do it myself... so much junk out there.

 

Personally, I would disassemble, wrap, pack into vehicle carefully, and drive it myself, because that way I know what's been done, and how. From what I have gleaned, moving is a dirty business, with many movers being unscrupulous, and treating your possessions carelessly, and/or as hostages, knowing that their liability is severely limited and that they face essentially no repercussions no matter what they do, and many movees being equally unscrupulous, having no intention of paying, and playing all sorts of scams, so I would try to avoid the whole dirty business if I could.

From a practical standpoint, as an engineer, remember that different materials require, and provide, different sorts of protection during a move. Paper, paper pads, blankets (your own old ones, or a moving company's), cardboard (of varying thicknesses), and other things, such as Masonite or Luann, each play a different role in protecting different things from different hazards.
If the glass doors are very delicate, and cannot be secured against hazards in your transportation vehicle, I would consider cutting a piece of Luann to fit over the glass, to protect it from point impacts, then protect the whole thing with blankets.

But all of that is just my opinion, and I am not a professional mover.

Good luck with the move (when you make it)!

- Eric

 

When in the gunsmith business (back in the day) when a firearm would come into the shop that had been molested we would call it a pre smithed job.. Always more work fixing someones botched job than if it was just a wore out firearm. Not much has changed, cars are just bigger.... Tedd

 

That's a bummer that the carb was so mangled. Let us know how it runs when you're done with it.

 

I appreciate the offer, but I've got my own stockpile of CCC carbs and the special tools and gauges. I was able to swap parts from one of the parts carbs and got it back together and running yesterday.

 

Joe,

My grand pappy used to say, " Ya get what cha pay for..................if you're lucky"

 

That's the thing. I'm sure people pay hundreds of dollars for these rebuilt carbs. They're still crap. As I said, I'd never get one myself. It came on the car when I bought it.

 

I guess you mean it's a POS because it was rebuilt by a parts warehouse? Maybe Tomco:

http://www.tomco-inc.com/

I got a 4GC carburetor from them many years ago for my 64 98. It worked fine.

You haven't changed your opinion on Q-jet carburetors have you?

 

No, go back and read my first post.

I mean it's a P.O.S. because whoever "rebuilt" it completely F'd it up. It was definitely a commercial rebuild, as the carb castings had been stripped and coated with some sort of shiny coating like new E-brock carbs (what do they call that, "endurashine" of some such thing?). It LOOKED pretty. The boss over the mixture control solenoid screw had been chewed off - apparently because it was too hard to remove the air horn to simply knock out the plug. This, of course, was partly the cause for the gasoline smell. The screws holding the rear vacuum break were incorrect and were shortened with a hacksaw - no attempt was made to deburr this cut and as a result the threads in the casting were damaged. The mixture control solenoid screw was loose and had been rattling around from the solenoid pulsing, which wore off the threads on the screw and damaged the threads in the casting. This made it impossible to properly set the MC solenoid, which is critical on the CCC Qjet. Most of the screws holding the carb together were loose.

Did I mention that it looked pretty.

 

Don't hold back Joe .. tell us how you really feel

 

[QUOTE=joe_padavano;1023569. Did I mention that it looked pretty. [/QUOTE]


Since we both has some "experience" with Ex wives. I'm sure you know.

"There are some for show and so for go"

Sounds like the carb you got was in the former category

Have you considered putting the POS in a trophy case

 

I was able to build a workable carb using much of the original and parts from my stash. Car is running fine now.

Current wife is a keeper and checks both boxes. Not letting this one go.

 

Guys enough about the carb Eric was telling us about his moving job...

 

It's very sad how pride in personal craftsmanship has, for the most part, departed our world. I have the same experiences.

 

Did I mention that it looked pretty. ____Oh you actually wanted it to work??????? and not just look cool?______________

 

Good advice all around. I think I will do it this way.