Hey, does anyone have any soundclips, or can anyone make me a soundclip of a Bridgeport with a stock exhaust or maybe just gutted cats?

A local friend is almost getting me convinced I have a bridgeport. I can't get it to idle below 1500. I can only get it to run better or worse by adjusting my Sterling carb. I can make out some overlap in the sound of the engine. At least what I think may be overlap. It goes through gas while adjusting my carb like no other car I've seen. Just one carb tuning session cost me 5 gallons of gas and almost $20. Also a previous owner preforming an engine rebuild wouldn't be the least bit surprising. It only has 71k miles on it so maybe it eventually seized itself before.

I doubt its really a bridgeport though because when I bought it it had stock EVERYTHING. Emissions, exhaust, A/C, airpump, rats nest, etc. Now they could've gotten it rebuilt with a bridge and then assembled it back together as original. Or the last guy I bought it off of could have restored everything to original. I got some new stock parts that he bought with the trasaction.

This previous owner I bought the FB off of wouldn't know because he never got it running in the years he owned it.

Its just a weird one.

 

if you cant get it to idle udner 1500 rpm, and its sucking alotta gas, it just might be running really really rich......

It could be ported, but your rpm range would be higher.

 

Hands down, I have the most confusing rotary ever.

Such simple engines, but mine hates me.

 

I can get my 1/2 bp to idle at 800 rpm, it doesn't like it, but it's possible. If you want to know for sure, pull the intake mani. You can see and feel the bridge cut, or any port smoothing, it it has been done.

My bet is vacuum leak ond/or, carb is set wrong, needles/floats sticking.

 

Doesn't seem likely that anybody would leave everything stock with a bridgeport. Sounds like you've got a combination of running too rich and possibly a bad idle circuit. Have you overhauled your carb?

Probably the most important thing to consider: if you had a bridgeport, you'd know as soon as to took a spin around the block The change in engine characteristics with a bridge port aren't exactly subtle

 

The Carb is BRAND SPANKIN' Sterling new.

Me and my buddy Matt sat down and hyphothesized this morning. We honestly don't know how many owners its gone through, through the years. The last owner never got it to start, let alone run, so instead he was slowly making it stock again. So its possible, but I don't know.

If Peejay ever lets me buy/have the SA intake manifold I'll check for the porting when I swap intakes.

 

NEW stands for Never Ever Worked.

Put a good used carb on it. I have several to choose from, as a diagnostic.

Where is your ignition timing?

 

Ask Jon about intake leaks. When he installed his new Sterling, he had a similiar problem. Turned out part of the old intake gasket was still there, along with the new one, and he could not get idle below 12-1500 rpm.

If you have figured out how to take the cables off the carb, without loosening it, it's just as quick to remove the carb with the intake than the carb alone, especially if you plugged the cooling ports. That will answer one, maybe two questions and you can trouble shoot from there.

 

Alex set my ignition as close to zero as possible just as you did to his FB in the CSU parking lot. He did it from memory as you did it too fast for him to see, but it starts up first crank, now.

I've been looking for vacuum leaks, but I can't find any at all. I think I took care of them all, as it used to idle at 4k rpm and now its only 1500.

Its just a lumpy idle and bounces on the tach. I need to get an aftermarket tach and see how much it really does bounce.

 

I don't have carb to intake gasket. Mr. Peejay told me that the phenolic spacers ARE the gaskets.

But I have a paper one around here I could try. I found it in a storage bin when I bought the car. Do I need any sealer or do I just try and put that on?

 

Are you at home? I can probably drag my stanky *** down there for an hour or so.

 

if you put gasket sealer around the edge it may give you some insurance

 

Yeah, and we're having a cookout for my grandfather, so I would feel obliged to feed you.

You're welcome over.

 

Ick, social occasion.

Gimme an hour or so, I need to get some stuff done first.

 

Its just my two grandparents and my mom and I, nothing big.

Okay, if you need directions again just call 440-884-1871

 

Peejay's right about the spacer, and don't add any sealant, it will block the vacuum ports. I was refering to the the intake to engine gasket, not intake to carb spacer.

While you may not have had the intake off, a PO may have, and buggered it a long time ago.

 

i meant to say use it on the intake...

 

i meant to say use the selant on the intake...

 

Well we'll see.

Later on in the week I'll also be getting some new stainless steel braided oil lines to fix that pinhole leak.

Gosh, I love this car.

 

peejay's notes:

Throttle plates were all out of whack, which was not permitting the idle circuit to function correctly. Fixed that. The secondary plates *might* be off, it's hard to tell and fixing that would have required tools not ay my disposal to disassemble the carb.

Alex, when you take the ACV blockoff back off to reseal it "just in case", put a spacer under the nut so it can clamp down. An extra too-big nut should work just peachy.

What it seems like is happening is that the idle circuit is messed up, like one side is plugged.

 

Fuel pressure set too high? Does it bog in hard left hand turns (like autocross or skidpad hard)? If I remember right, you have the Holley FPR don't you? We had a little confusion over which way to turn it for adjustments but the final word is that turning the adjuster in will increase the pressure. Backing the adjuster off decreases the pressure.

 

I don't have a FPR, so that could be a problem.

I've been meaning to buy one... but she just sits in my driveway waiting for parts so it was on the list somewhere.

 

wow. your car does hate you..lol

i would say your motor is not ported what so ever. Pete has found your problem and is going to destroy it with extreme prejudice.

 

Unfortunately, but I did get a lot of attention by theorizing it was, and now we're solving the many problems.

Next BBQ at my house July 2nd!!

Let's fix my car in exchange for food!

 

July 2nd doesn't work well for me. I'll be in Indy for Formula 1.

I really hope you get that car worked out though. I want to see it running when I come to Ohio next.