Ok.. since I finally had some time today, I went out there and unplugged all the vac hoses that hooked up to the engine and fuel pump (except the big vac hose going out the rear of the carb to the brake booster). All the areas where hoses connected to were capped off. It took a LOT to even start the car. When it finally started... I had to keep my foot on the gas to keep to running. Once I let my foot off, the idle would just continue to drop and the car would die out Could that mean there is an intake gasket leak or head gasket leak?

So... being a newbie at this kind of stuff, I suspect that the car should still run right, or at least better if there was a leak in the vac lines? I don't think the car is out of gas or low on gas (I put 10 gallons in it over the summer, but fuel gauge always says 1/2 full lol) but it wouldn't be the first time that would have happened. I will put more gas in it and see what happens. Seemed to be running ok (but kind of rough) if I kept my foot on the gas pedal a bit so the RPMs stayed in the 1000 rpm area.

The secondaries still won't move. I made sure the choke lockout was out of the way. It sounds like the butterfly is hitting the intake. When I move the accelerator stuff to WOT, the secondaries don't move at all. I know they were moving freely when I had the carb apart, so I don't know what is going on with that yet. Maybe I am missing something here?


My poor tranny is leaking oil again I think the front oil seal is bad. There was about a cup of tranny fluid on the garage floor. If I had the cash, I would just get both the engine and tranny rebuilt. At this point, it is going to be patch up what I can to get familiar with the car.


Any info/insight would be great. I may have to end up pulling the intake if that is what is causing my idle trouble.

 

have you put a vacuum gauge on the motor? If so what does it read?

 

Thanks for the reply Don! I was afraid that everyone lost interest!!

I will do that with the brake booster line that exits the rear of the carb. I read somewhere that sometimes the brake booster (mine is some kind of new universal aftermarket one that I was going to replace with an orig booster anyway) can be new and still go bad from the get go.

I am sure that the gas around here has some ethanol in it. I put some lead additive in the gas too since I am sure I do not have hardened valve seats (I don't think the motor has ever been rebuilt).

I have yet to get a compression gauge or vac gauge. Is there any vac gauge in particular you recommend? Where would I hook it ? I understand that the compression gauge goes into the spark plug holes one at a time. Hopefully I will get readings that are at least close enough to one another.

I know that the engine may take a bit more to get going if all the vac lines are plugged up..but it really seemed like the car was having a hard time. I noticed that the intake has RTV sealant around it and I have some coolant leaking out of the right front bolt area on the intake. It seems that it started to leak there after I torqued everything else down to specs. I don't think oil is leaking there as well, but will check again (been kind of cold lately). The coolant itself looks normal, meaning I didn't see any oil in it.

I did replace the carb base gasket. The new one looked like the old one. I am not sure what is up with that. If I have to pull the intake, I will check the secondaries again. I am sure that the linkage isn't moving anything at all.... so something isn't adjusted right. I didn't mess with any of it when I took it off so it was that way when I got it. I need to invest in a carb stand.

Thanks for the reply!! I REALLLLLLLLY APPRECIATE IT!!!

 

 

As far as it not idling, im curious did you match up the baseplate gasket, the one inbetween the butterflies and the main body, there is like 5 different ones, I have made that mistake before ( I worked at a carburetor shop for 2 years )

Also for the rear butterflies to open, the choke has to be completely off to disengage the lock for the secondaries.

Did it idle ok before you rebuilt it? if it did, then that tells me something happened when you rebuilt the carburetor. If it were mine, and that was the case, I would pop it off and blow it apart and check and see if any pin holes have gunk in them, or if the gasket was wrong.

just my .02 cents! hope it works out!

 

Thanks for the info guys..

The car ran sort of OK before the rebuild (gas was leaking out of the top of the air horn, rubber plunger was rotted out, and idle screws were turned out so far that they would almost be falling out). I don't think the secondaries moved at all at that time either. I am pretty sure the base gasket was ok, BUT I will check again. All my carb rebuild stuff came from Daytona Parts in their kit. I totally made sure that I moved the choke lock off of the secondaries and tried to move them, but no luck. Maybe I put that one assembly that sits on top of the secondaries on wrong?? Other than that, the only thing I can think of is that they are actually hitting the intake for some reason. When I tore the carb down I didn't take the throttle body apart since it was very clean and didn't need messed with.

I suspect that the main vac port would have to be in the carb base (where you plug the brake master lines into, or the vac advance on the front side ) since there are no other places to put a vac gauge into anywhere as I recall. I will try to find a vac gauge and check to see whats going on.

Humm.... so plugging the vac lines should have made things run much better (as I suspected as well). I mean that makes total sense to me of course.... I am thinking the primary butterflys aren't open enough to let her run for very long without some help from me. But.. it could also mean that the engine is sucking a LOT OF AIR too. I will check out what you guys said and get back to you. I will get some new gas as well too.

 

I'm not a carb guy but have you sprayed WD-40 or carb cleaner around the base of the carb and other suspect ares to see if you have air leaks,( RPM's will increase at a leak) some times this will flush out problem ares that you could have overlooked and you don't have to pull the carb apart .....Tedd

 

I need to invest in a carb stand.
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Pc of plywood with some carriage bolts and jam nuts/ washered nuts. Gasket makes a template.

Secondaries not opening- there's only 2 ends to the shaft. And the middle I guess. The issue has to be right there. Carb removal [and dismantling] is easy, I'd look at the 2' [secondary] shaft ends and if that doesn't do it, remove the carb for proper service.

I presume you are talking the lower secondaries, not the upper air valve.

Some carbs have a link on the top, to keep the upper 2' air valve shut unless choke is entirely open- others have a link on the bottom shaft, which contacts a rod that goes thru the 2' throttle shaft and prevents it from moving unless the choke is all open. I don't think this link can be put on upside down but whatever the problem should be obvious upon close visual inspection.

Get a vacuum reading before pulling the carb?

 

I rebuilt the carb already. It was running a lot better after I did that, but it still wasn't as close to spec as I wanted it to be.

As far as making my own carb stand... I did think about that and ironically I basically had the same idea with bolts and wood lol.

As far as the secondaries not opening... I made sure that the lockout was not engaged. I just tried moving the lower secondaries to see if they would just move at all. I kept hearing a metal on metal sound and they would not budge. I know that they do move since I made sure when I had the carb apart and access to the throttle body. Not sure what the issue is with that. It wouldn't surprise me if something was messed up since whoever redid my carb before I messed with it had done some stuff wrong. When when the choke is fully open, lockout for secondary not engaged, and everything at WOT, the linkage between the primary and secondaries doesn't seem to do anything for the secondaries, as far as I can see anyway. It isn't a big deal at the moment since I am not driving the car anywhere. I am trying to see if I have a gasket leak somewhere, which is causing my RPMs to be higher than normal when I am doing my adjustments.

I didn't get a vac reading before I pulled the carb bec I knew it needed to be pulled anyway. I still need to get a vac gauge and compression testing gauge. I am still gathering more tools for my project cars (wait until I start messing with my 68 442 again). Thanks for the advice. Hopefully it is nice enough this weekend that I can do some more tests and give you guys a report.

 

so your saying you didnt pull the baseplate off of the main body of the carb when you rebuilt it? that could be why your car doesnt want to idle, the idle circuit is very very small, gunk will usually build up in the ports, and the only way to really get it clean is to pull everything apart and carb clean it, then shoot it with 90psi of air.

I would definantly check for vaccum leaks by spraying carb cleaner or something around the intake ports, and the base of the carb to see if it makes any difference, but you could also try pulling the idle mixture screws out one at a time, spraying into the port with carb cleaner, then blowing them out with shop air and see what happens, but really the carb is so easy to get off, its almost easier to do this on the bench haha!

good luck brotha!

 

I did take the float bowl off the base plate. It was all cleaned up and everything. All new gaskets and what not too. The car idles but it was around the 700-800 rpm range... and it needed to be in the 500 rpm range. I also heard a loud hissing sound too, so I was thinking maybe I had an intake gasket leak. I will figure it out one way or another lol thanks for the input!!

 

oh yea if you have a hissing sound, you have a vaccum leak of somesort, spraying carb cleaner around all the mating surfaces and lines will help, or if you have a propane torch, turn on the propane but dont light it, and wave that around, propane will almost shut an engine down over the smallest leaks! i usually use carb cleaner since i dont have a propane torch anymore (broke it) and a timing light with a tach on it, helps see any fluctiation in rpm. I would also make sure your pcv system is functioning properly, if the valve is plugged or broken, it can cause problems!

 

Thanks for the info. I may just hook the vac lines up for now to get the car idling again. I will try to see if I have some leaks somewhere. As far as a PCV system, car just has a downdraft tube... so I don't have to worry about that part I will see what I find out.