38plymouth

I put the proper base gasket on this morning and still no change. I did notice the idle smoothed out a little when I sprayed carb cleaner on the throttle shaft. The idle mixture screw still doesn't do much but it will try to die when turned in. I did notice the engine dies if I plug this hole with my finger. Should this be open?

Can you tell me a model number and where you bought it?

A little more info after talking to mikes carb parts they had me turn the idle mixture screw all the way in while the engine was running. I did and it had no change. They believe that I either have a serious vacuum leak or a plugged idle passage. I tore the carb down again and ran wire into every place possible. I cant imagine that the carb could be any cleaner. That had a slight change and the mixture screw would barely cause the engine to stall after that. I also sprayed a half a can of carb cleaner all over any place that could have a vacuum leak and never found anything. I went thru the carb one more time and will try it again tomorrow morning. If that doesnt do it I need a new carb, I'm just frustrated beyond belief right now. I also still dont know which base gasket is correct, I think the bottom one since I do have a passage that looks like it needs vacuum.

Well I got it running and I still have the same issue there is a ton of fuel dumping out the top where the power valve squirts it.I am at a loss I've had this thing apart 6 times and everything is clean and free no clogs no dirt no nothing I tried to call tech support at Mike's carburetor parts and they can't help me right now.. if anyone has any suggestions I'm all ears. I'm so frustrated right now.

I think I found the problem, well at least I hope its the problem but I won't know for awhile because my battery is dead. Some moron left the key on for 2 day.... So anyway, I noticed that I used the base gasket on the top instead of the one on the bottom. I had one on it like the one on the bottom since last year but it tore when I pulled the carb the other day. So, I think thats it but wont know until the damn battery charges.

I'm hoping to find some time to tear the carb apart again tomorrow. The only part I didn't take apart was the ball and clip under the accelerator pump. I did flood it with carb cleaner and hit it with air compressor. I'm really kind of at a loss about this right now. Hopefully cleaning that area solves the issue.

I actually lowered the float quite a bit and nothing changed. I am going to have to take the carb apart for the third time. I triple checked everything and it still dumps fuel out of the accelerator pump passages at idle.

I already rebuilt the carb with and replaced all the lines and fuel. I have some type of an adjustment issue that i just cant figure out. It seems to be the accelerator pump.

I'm having a terrible time with my car right now. I rebuilt the carb last November and literally drove the car once and parked it. I also drained the fuel and replaced the fuel lines and put ethanol free fuel in it. The car wasnt running great and I parked it after a car show and havent driven it since. Im trying to get it running correctly and I got it running today and took it for a drive. It idled ok but wouldnt rev up very high and wouldnt go over 50. I took it home and pulled the carb and it was full of grey sludge, so was the clear fuel filter. I had to clean out everything on the carb. I put it back on the car and replaced the fuel filter. Now it idles terrible and the engine shakes and wants to die. When I rev it up it runs good. I pulled the carb and went thru it again and made sure every passage was clean. It didnt help. I put in new plugs, pulled the distributer and checked everything. No change. What I do notice is fuel is squirting out of the accelerator pump holes at idle and I feel like that is the issue. I played with the float settings and that didn't help. What would cause this and also what are the symptoms of a high float and a low float? I have a car show in 1 week and I dont want to miss it.

Mine has an indentation in it from the lip on the body when its closed.

It goes on the lid then. I would check and see if they sell something else, that goofy shape on the one you have doesnt look even close to mine.

Do you have a picture of your trunk lid?

I have an original add for a 38 plymouth that sure looks like its on the trunk. Im 99.9% sure my car came from the factory with it on the trunk. It is an original low mileage car with mostly original paint. The weatherstripping appears to be rectangular and not shaped like yours in the photo.

The site will only let me attach one pic. I sent you a pm with a better picture.

This is how my 38 p6 trunk weather stripping is. It might be the original, but, if not it was replaced a long time ago.

I will try to do it tonight or tomorrow morning.

The trunk weatherstripping on my 38 plymouth is on the trunk lid not the body. I can take a few pictures if it helps.

I would say it runs ok but it does have a little hesitation on acceleration. When I rev it in neutral quickly it tries to stall. It didn't do this before the rebuild with the short accelerator pump so I'm still playing with it trying to get it right.

Everything on the carb looks stock to me except the accelerator pump. I have had the car over 20 years and it was an original unrestored car with 40,000 miles. It has some paint work done but everything else was stock and original.

My carb # is c6j1.

I have what I believe is the original carb on my 1938 Plymouth. I have rebuilt the carburetor several times over the years and always noticed that the accelerator pump that came in the kit was too long so I reused my old shorter pump. I recently ordered a new kit from Mike's carburetor parts and everything was perfect in the kit except once again the accelerator pump is way too long. I inspected my pump closer and noticed that it looked like it was cut off and braised. I contacted Mike's carburetor parts and they couldn't figure it out but they thought they found a rebuild kit from another company with a shorter pump. I can't say enough good things about Mike's carburetor parts, they purchased that kit from a competitor and shipped it to me for free. Unfortunately that pump is also too long. The owner of the other company insists that the pump is the right one for my carburetor and I just need to install it and be done with it. I did try a longer pump but my spring is too short and the pump won't work correctly. I'm thinking I may install it again and stretch the spring and see if I can make that work. Right now my car seems to be running fine with the rebuild on the carburetor and with my old shorter pump. I'm just concerned that the accelerator pump is at least 20 years old that I know of. If the new longer one will work with my stretched spring I'm willing to give it a try. I'm just curious if anyone has ever seen a shorter accelerator pump in one of their old ball and ball carburetors? I will try to attach a picture showing my old pump compared to the new one. Also if mine was shortened why on earth would somebody do that?

A friend suggested that I try lowering the float to clean up the rough idle. I had it set to 5/64 like the kit said but lowered it anyways and now it idles and runs great. Can someone explain why a high float would cause a rough idle? I stared into the carb awhile and just don't see why it would happen.

So pissed off right now I had it running great took it out for a test drive and got a quarter mile from my house and it died. Had to get my wife and neighbor to help me tow it back home I pulled the top off the carburetor and there's no fuel. When I crank it there's no fuel pumping into the carburetor now. I suspected my crappy fuel that ate the fuel lines ate the diaphragm in the fuel pump. So I pulled the fuel pump off disassembled it and I don't find anything wrong with it. I also blew back through the fuel line into the tank and could hear it bubbling. Hopefully someone has some ideas cuz I'm at a loss right now. ***It turned out to be a very dirty screen in the pump, I thought I took that out years ago. It pumps great now and started right up. Of course now the smooth idle on my freshly rebuilt carb is gone and it's idling very rough. I suspect the plugs, they are black from choking it to death trying to get it started while I was stranded. This thing is really testing my patience. I'm quiting for the day and am headed to the moose club to discuss it with all the old car guys. I think I need a beer.

I rebuilt my carb this morning, changed the rubber lines, cleaned the fuel bowl and siphoned as much fuel out of the tank as I could. I put 5 gallons of fresh gas in and tried to start it. It cranked forever and never got fuel in the fuel bowl. I pulled the top of the carburetor off and filled the carb fuel bowl with fuel and managed to get the engine to fire but I still had to pour fuel from a Bottle Into the carburetor to keep it running. I'm still not getting enough fuel in the fuel pump glass bowl to pump it up to the carburetor. After all that it's maybe half full. I had to take a break from it because I ran the battery down is there an easy way for me to speed up this fuel pump process? I hope something didn't go wrong inside the fuel pump I'm not sure how that could have happened since it was working fine before. I really wish I had one of those 6 volt electric pumps right now. Dang, it took awhile but it finally got fuel....

The electric pump is a great idea, but I won't have time to order one and have it installed before Saturday mornings car show. I have replaced the line from the fuel pump to the carburetor in the past but pulled off the line from the fuel pump to the metal line on the frame the other day and it literally crumbled in my hands. I just wanted to make sure there was no other line under the car that was as bad as that one. It's also kind of strange, I drained about 4 gallons of fuel out of the tank and it doesn't look that bad or smell that bad. The stuff I found in the carburetor was very murky and smelly.