problems with my "new" carb

[Chillin014]

okay i went out and messed with it again this morning. I kinda fiddled with the timing. The idle seems to be dropping as the car warms up but so does the vacuum. it was at like 15 maybe a little higher. I started messing with the tuning screws turning half a turn at a time...but didnt see a difference in the vacuum. the choke was staying fully open and i looked down in there and saw where the fuel comes out (the jets?) well the one on the driver side was just DRIPPING fuel, and hte passenger side kinda spewed some out when i revved. I think the carb is just clogged or something. do the rebuild kits include those little jets/outlets?

how much on adverage do people unscrew those tuning screws, i turned a good 3 to 4 times counterclockwise before I figured it wasnt doing anything and returned them back a few turns.

 

[megaladon6]

my idle screws are turned all the way in. they're maybe 1/8 of a turn off the stops. but if one of the venturi's is dripping fuel then you need a rebuild.

 

[Chillin014]

my idle screws are turned all the way in. they're maybe 1/8 of a turn off the stops. but if one of the venturi's is dripping fuel then you need a rebuild.

all the way clockwise your saying? hmm

yeah well hopefully its not hard to rebuild myself and the kit at autozone is all i will need.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

It's an easy job to rebuild it. Do you mean they are dripping at idle? If they drip at idle the power piston is not being sucked down which either means it is not seeing vacuum or the power piston step up spring is too strong and you need a weaker one. Go out and get the step up spring assortment. Again, it should be under $10 at your local speed shop or maybe the parts store.

 

[Chillin014]

It's an easy job to rebuild it. Do you mean they are dripping at idle? If they drip at idle the power piston is not being sucked down which either means it is not seeing vacuum or the power piston step up spring is too strong and you need a weaker one. Go out and get the step up spring assortment. Again, it should be under $10 at your local speed shop or maybe the parts store.

yes one of them drips at idle. i'll check for the spring "step up" thang. I will probably get the rebuild kit tomorrow if you think that it includes everything I need.
good to hear that its easy.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

The step up springs will not come in the rebuild kit. They come separately but are not that much money. Before you begin, I would advise you to download the Edelbrock tuning manual from their website Here it is in PDF format.http://www.edelbrock.com/automotive_new/mc/carbs_acc/pdf/carb_owners_manual.pdf
One final thing I would check if it is not the springs is either a bad needle and seat or a leaky float on the side that the booster venturi is dripping. These carbs use 2 separate float bowls and thus one can go bad but not the other. The excess fuel may be high enough to be flooding the engine, sort of like how an artesian well works.

 

[Chillin014]

The step up springs will not come in the rebuild kit. They come separately but are not that much money. Before you begin, I would advise you to download the Edelbrock tuning manual from their website Here it is in PDF format.http://www.edelbrock.com/automotive_new/mc/carbs_acc/pdf/carb_owners_manual.pdf
One final thing I would check if it is not the springs is either a bad needle and seat or a leaky float on the side that the booster venturi is dripping. These carbs use 2 separate float bowls and thus one can go bad but not the other. The excess fuel may be high enough to be flooding the engine, sort of like how an artesian well works.

i saw that manual, thanks.
do the springs go INSIDE the carb? or is this something I can get to easily outside of it. I dont think the rebuild kit comes with floats. i might have to order that separately.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Look at the diagram in the manual. The springs are really easy to change as they require you to loosen a screw at either end of the choke housing and simply rotate the little metal plate away so that the piston and rod pop up. Then you just lift the spring out of the hole and change it. However, if it is indeed only one booster that is dripping it may be more likely that it is a float or needle and seat related issue on one side only than the springs unless there is an unmatched pair installed by the previous owner.

 

[Chillin014]

Look at the diagram in the manual. The springs are really easy to change as they require you to loosen a screw at either end of the choke housing and simply rotate the little metal plate away so that the piston and rod pop up. Then you just lift the spring out of the hole and change it. However, if it is indeed only one booster that is dripping it may be more likely that it is a float or needle and seat related issue on one side only than the springs unless there is an unmatched pair installed by the previous owner.

i forgot to check for those springs in the store. if I buy the step up springs and dont need to replace the ones in there what is the benefit of them? like..it wont do any harm to put them in if its not necessary,right?
I just bought the rebuild kit...this looks like its gonna be fun...its about time to start taking the carb apart....

oh yeha...floats did not come with the rebuild kit as i suspected

 

[Chillin014]

okay I'm back. I rebuilt the carb and still have to do the final adjustments. I didnt check if the floats had a hole or leak (how common is that)? After seeing how gunked up the carb was I figured the problem was just that it needed to be cleaned out. The instructions made this so much simpler than I imagined.
The right side of the carb had a much more significant build-up than the left. The last parts to remove were the jets on the bottom. The left side came out fine but the right side jets basically "stripped" and I didnt get to remove them. I blew some air around in there so hopefully thats good enough because the only way they were gonna come out is if i drilled them out or destroyed the tops to remove them.
aside from that everything went pretty smoothly. at one point my drill with the wire brush caught the towel i had some parts on and completely flung every little piece on that rag everywhere. luckily I found the only parts the rebuild kit didnt need WHEW.
I blew some air in where the needle valves sit and chunks of hard build-up came flying out. HOPEFULLY i got it all because I think that was really the biggest problem..the rebuild kit didnt replace anything that was damaged necessarily but allowed me to put it back together after cleaning it with the proper gaskets. was a great learning experience. stay tuned I hope it works on the car.


85cutlass. by step up springs you mean the springs UNDER the piston/rod assembly right? in the instructions it was calling the "step up springs" the little wire-spring thing that actually went around the top of the piston and held the rod in place in the piston.

I also noticed the pump area was real corroded, i cleaned it the best I could. the rubber on the pump does not seal against the housing it sits in but the old one didnt either so I assume thats normal.