Stupid carburetor!

[austinsailor]

Got my B1B running and driving well, except it won't idle. Have to keep it revved up a bit. I know the idle circuit in the carb is the problem, but I've had it apart a couple times and can find no problems.

 

Pulled  4 other carbs off of other vehicles and all have set so long they'll all need a major rebuild before they do anyone any good.

 

Not looking for help, just bitching! Oh, well, I'll eventually figure it out. In the meantime I'm getting in it and heading to the cafe for lunch.

[Jeff Balazs]

Might take a real close look at the step up circuit......

[Merle Coggins]

Got a vacuum leak somewhere? Manifold gasket, carb base gasket, somewhere?

[matt167]

My '50 plymouth did the same thing on a hot idle. I just turned the idle screw a tad, now it idles fine.

[austinsailor]

Idle screw has no effect, in or out. Vacuum leak it would idle fast with some adjustment, in my case, when it's slow enough to go on the idle circuit it just dies. Seems pretty certain no gas is being delivered through the idle circuit, not so simple as to why.

 

if you could still buy a decent carb cleaner that might get it solved. But I won't go down that political rabbit hole!

 

i can, and do, still drive it. I just have to pull the choke enough to run the rpms up when I stop.

[Fernando Mendes]

Try to identify all the idle circuit and clean with a wire.

[John-T-53]

Sounds like you'll have to completely disassemble the carb and see where it's plugged. Maybe the wrong gasket is on there, or just installed backwards? Some of these carb kits come with a multitude of gaskets and it can be challenging just to find the correct one in the box.

Otherwise, use compressed air with a small wire or paper clip to probe all the passages. Then you can test each one by spraying chemtool in each and verify that it exits on the other side.

[jeffsunzeri]

Check to make sure the carburetor base gasket is not covering any passages.

 

[Fernando Mendes]

Looks like no gasket inside idle system.

[jeffsunzeri]

51 minutes ago, Fernando Mendes said:

Looks like no gasket inside idle system.

Carburetor base gasket. There are air passages in the intake manifold that match up to passages in the base of the carburetor. The carburetor base gasket has cutouts to allow these passages to flow.

[Radarsonwheels]

Often when I have a carb problem it is really the timing. Never hurts to check and if you have vac advance see if thats working too!

[austinsailor]

Got a fresh kit in hand, carb is completely disassembled and soaking overnight in a gallon of lacquer thinner. 

 

For what it's worth, dwell, timing etc is all set. No vacuum leaks. Just a clog somewhere, I'm sure.

[JBNeal]

My carburetor sat for years, I soaked it for days then rebuilt it but it had a very similar problem needing the throttle pulled out or it would stall...disassembled and rebuilt it every year for 5 years with no improvement... eventually swapped it out for a donor I found on eBay and that fixed that problem...my guess is that one of the check balls was sticking

[Fernando Mendes]

On 6/12/2018 at 2:24 PM, austinsailor said:

Got my B1B running and driving well, except it won't idle. Have to keep it revved up a bit. I know the idle circuit in the carb is the problem, but I've had it apart a couple times and can find no problems.

 

Pulled  4 other carbs off of other vehicles and all have set so long they'll all need a major rebuild before they do anyone any good.

 

Not looking for help, just bitching! Oh, well, I'll eventually figure it out. In the meantime I'm getting in it and heading to the cafe for lunch.

 

Now I remember.Your BB-1 is like that.

 

[kencombs]

22 hours ago, austinsailor said:

Got a fresh kit in hand, carb is completely disassembled and soaking overnight in a gallon of lacquer thinner.

For what it's worth, dwell, timing etc is all set. No vacuum leaks. Just a clog somewhere, I'm sure.

Just in case, since you have an iron carb part,  It wouldn't hurt, and might help to give it a soak in a rust remover after the thinner.If it ever had water in it, it's possible that rust may have formed and gotten lodged in a passage or stuck a check valve.  Normal carb cleaning doesn't touch rust.  Evap-o-rust works well for me.

 

And, since it's reusable so it's handy to have around to derust small parts.

[9 foot box]

When I had this problem, it was a carbon like deposit in the air draft tube circuit, at the center intake opening.

[austinsailor]

I've been kind of quiet for a few days. My girlfriend decided it was time to pull the carpet out and tile my house (we'd talked about it for some time) and she was here volunteering to help.  Stupid carburetor was put on hold and sat in the laquer thinner for days while we put in 12 hour days on tile. I did tile while she mixed mud, cut tile and mowed my yard and pulled weeds when her part was caught up. Carb could wait - I know my priorities!

 

Almost done, so I slipped away last night and rinsed it, put it in WD 40 rust desolver (couldn't find any evapo-rust locally)  overnight. That stuff did a good job. Slipped out a couple hours ago, washed it all, blew it out and put most of it together. Might get to finish tomorrow.

 

I do have to wonder why a Carter BB kit has gone from around $21-$22 to about $50! How the heck did they manage that?

[Plymouthy Adams]

12 minutes ago, austinsailor said:

 

 

I do have to wonder why a Carter BB kit has gone from around $21-$22 to about $50! How the heck did they manage that?

 

They the makers and you are not......supply and demand.  They supply the parts and demand you pay dearly for them.  

[9 foot box]

Walker 15021B, seems to come up cheaper.

[austinsailor]

Yes, less than half. Thanks. NAPA failed me on this one!

[austinsailor]

Well, I spent some time putting it back together. All looked good. No change. I'm missing something.

 

When I get time I'll probably take another carburator that is in worse shape and start over with it. This is really frustrating.

[kencombs]

I know you eliminated air leaks as a possible cause early on,  but just to double check, wave an unlit propane torch, gas on, not lit, around the carb base, vaccum line connections,  and all manifold to block connections.

 

edit to add:  also, disconnect the vacuum from the manifold and plug it for a test.  I've seen more that one wiper switch leak.

 

 

Edited June 27, 2018 by kencombs

[FlashBuddy]

@kencombs - OK, I'm waving my propane torch around like crazy, what am I looking for exactly? New one on me?!

[Jerry Roberts]

14 minutes ago, FlashBuddy said:

@kencombs - OK, I'm waving my propane torch around like crazy, what am I looking for exactly? New one on me?!

With the engine at idle , you are looking for an increase in RPM ' s

[austinsailor]

"I know you eliminated air leaks as a possible cause early on,  but just to double check, wave an unlit propane torch, gas on, not lit, around the carb base, vaccum line connections,  and all manifold to block connections."

 

That certainly could fit my symptoms, although I'm not sure what could be leaking. I don't recall having this problem before changing motors, so it's more than likely. Wiper vacuum is already shut off, now all I have to do is locate a propane torch! Surely there is one somewhere in my shop. I did put on a different manifold to replace the original cracked one.

 

To make it even more likely, I didn't realize the choke on this does not increase the idle setting, no connection between the manual choke and throttle. However, with just a bit of choke it runs reasonably well, just at a much higher speed. That would indicate it's getting air from somewhere, and the choke is making it rich enough to run. No choke, it's drawing too much air, mixture is too lean even if the idle circuit is working. Symptoms all fit, much as I hate to admit it this late in the game.

 

Maybe I just need to put on one of my dual carb setups! That would make things simpler - not!