Hey guys, I just went through my first rebuild on a carb and after reinstalling it, that's the moment of truth.

I installed the carb properly, reattached all the hoses and electrical couplers as well as the linkage. It seems I'm having an issue with the jets spraying though when I push the pedal down. The float bowls are full, so that isn't it.

I reinstalled all the cylinders and check ***** in the correct order, following the diagram given with my rebuild kit [check ***** first, then cylinders] And i marked which jets went were and so I know I installed those correctly too.

Either way, i tried to start the car and it wouldn't probably because of this. :P
I'm just confused as to why my jets aren't spraying, any suggestions would be great.

Thanks
Ian

 

When you look down the carb and operate the linkage by hand, what happens?
Any spraying you see with the engine off is from the accelerator pump, which is what the weights & check-***** are for. You should see a generous stream of fuel squirt into each primary venturi, though after a few times with the engine off, you'll deplete the fuel in the bowl behind the accelerator pump housing pump cover (from where it draws it's fuel).
Usually the only way this will fail after a rebuild is if you've got things switched around.

 

Okay, I'll check that. Is there anything else it could be?

I know I installed a new gasket for the accelerator pump diaphragm and it's sealing well, I'm going to double check the linkage too.

-Quick question about the linkage, if i still have the hot start linkage do I need to reattach the hot start as well?

Thanks for the help so far Sterling, you're the man.

 

You might have the accelerator pump diaphragm spring in the wrong place. It should be in between the carb and the diaphragm.

 

Sterling, you are a hell of a guy....I remember looking for some advice (years ago) from someone of knowledge (not you) and the comment I got back was "I don't make any money giving free advice". To see you offer support and advice on almost any carb thread and back up your rebuilds with a money back guarantee is a real credit to your credibility and commitiment to keeping these cars alive! After seeing many different people in many walks of business in my life (45 y'o now) I can't recommend strongly enough that if anybody needs a rebuild this is the guy to go to!

 

sterling 1+

 

I appreciate it, guys, but even I have told people something along those lines.
Every once in a while I'll get someone who has a modded Nikki that they expect I'll be able to tune for them via email, and I've been known to have my tolerance reached on occasion. I'm definitely not an endless well of generosity by any means, but I do enjoy helping someone get their car up & running from "dead".
Somehow that's more gratifying than modding the carbs.
There's also no denying that the reputation I have now as a result of helping people in the past has also helped my business, and though I don't do it solely for that reason, I do tend to choose my words more carefully these days.
I like to help because I remember (an still get reminded every once in a while) exactly what that frustration feels like when the damned car that you love so much won't start after all the hours that you've spent on her that you don't dare add up in your head. Many a time I've stood staring at a carb or engine nearly at my wits end, reminding & convincing myself that it's physically impossible that throwing something will make it start, and it's highly unlikely I'll feel any better after I've done it.
The other reason is that I HATE the "Search, n00b!" attitude I've seen on here as of late.

 

+1, thats why your a stand out dude!

 

The spring was set correctly, I'm pretty certain I found my issue:

The jets on top of the mainbody weren't tightened completely, i saw fuel leaking from the top of one from what i could see looking through the air horn. I'll take the air horn off tomorrow and see if I can straighten things out. Thanks again for the help Sterling. All the ideas got my mind going.

Ianh

 

I still can't get fuel to spray through the jets after tightening all of the jets on the mainbody. It seems that my back float bowl won't fill with fuel either. Any suggestions please?

 

Anyone?

 

Bump


I guess i'm going to start all over again, see if I missed anything.

 

The accelerator pump gets it's fuel from that bowl (the firewall side) so if y'ain't got no fuel, y'ain't got no squirt!

Sounds like your float is hung up somehow and stuck shut. There's a little clip around the needle that goes under the float tab to ensure that the float pulls the needle out when it falls. Sounds like you have that clippy-thingy trapped on the wrong side of the tab so the needle can't move at all.

 

when i took the airhorn off i noticed the firewall side bowl was dry, so i adjusted the float so that the needle was showing in the side holes of the needle seat and would release fuel when the float pulls, and then reattached the air horn.

is there something i need to do fill the bowl before trying to start the car or should it fill on it's own? I thought about trying starter fluid before taking the airhorn off again to readjust it after reading this.

Thanks again Sterling, I'm sure i'm being a nuisance but i figured since now that i own a carbureted car that i should at least know what i'm doing with one.

 

Well honestly I wouldn't have expected that you would've needed to adjust (bend) anything. Doing so often opens another can of worms.
You shouldn't have to do anything for it to fill up, now.

 

Well, i bent the firewall side float to the level the other float was open at, because the front one would fill, and the back wouldn't. The reason i did that is because i noticed when i removed the airhorn and looked at the floats that when the float was pulled open on the firewall side the needle wasn't showing in the needle seat holes like the front float was, so i adjusted it to that level. Was that the correct thing to do?

 

Without a picture, I can't tell. You say you bent something on the float, and unless it got dropped, then stepped on, and then kicked, there should've been no reason to need to bend it.
Did you check like I described to make sure it wasn't hung up?

 

I have not had a chance to work on the carb since last week when I took the airhorn off for the first time, that's when I adjusted the float. I'm going to check to see if it was hung on anything tonight when I get off work. I'll take some pictures of where the floats are sitting now when I take the airhorn off again.

 

Well, seems I've got the problem solved. *knock on wood* The accelerator pump gasket that came with my rebuild kit wasn't the right size and wasn't creating vacuum. She starts now, because i put the old gasket in. Does anyone know where I could pick up a new gasket that will actually seat correctly? Or do i have to buy a new kit.


[it's an 85 GS]

 

That's a bit odd.
What kit was it, and do the gaskets look any different?
As long as the AP gasket isn't leaking, you can continue to use it.

 

The new gasket first of all wasn't seated right so the spring ripped a hole through it.
Secondly, yeah it was differently shaped. The two vacuum holes at the bottom that the old gasket covered the new one did not. The new gasket was a square piece, and my old gasket had a lip on the bottom left edge that extended to cover those bottom two holes.

I purchased the kit from Advance Auto Parts. I'll let you know when I find the box again what company it is.

 

That lip on the gasket doesn't matter. It's just to accommodate 2 different housing cover designs, which are identical except one is square and one has the lip hanging down. But it doesn't cover any ports.


-of course, perfing the diaphragm will definitely do it!

 

Well, it seems i spoke to soon. I tried to start her today and it would start, but would die soon after start up. So I checked the accelerator pump and it was leaking gasoline, a nice drip and puddle below it. I'm going to take it apart tomorrow when I have some light and it warms up a bit, but I'm guessing I need to get a new ap gasket. Sterling, could I get ahold of one from you?? --since i don't feel like buying a whole new rebuild kit.

 

Scratch that, mazdatrix sells them for like 20 bucks. Need to get the o-rings for my oil cooler anyways. I'll post back either way when I get the new accelerator pump.

[sorry for the double post]

 

I thought I'd give an update, and I need a little more help.

I got the AP Gasket installed and i got the car to start, and even idle...kind of. I'll explain.

I have an automatic '85 GS, so the way she's supposed to idle is when she's in Drive, she should be at 750 rpm's. Now when I used to put the car in drive, the idle would usually drop from whatever it was idling at to a lower rpm. So I was setting the idle at around 1000 or 1200 and it would drop to about 700-800 range when in drive.

Now after finally successfully rebuilding the carb [or so i think], when i get it to idle after it warms up it will only idle around 1500, and if i put it into drive it will stall and die. I was searching around on how to correctly set an idle and Sterling said something to the affect of:

Set the mixture screw 2-3 turns out.

Adjust the idle screw till, lowering the rpm till it starts to hunt and back it out a quarter turn.

Then, adjust the mixture screw to get the cleanest sound out of the engine and that should be your idle.


Well, i followed those instructions as best as I understood, and the lowest i could get it to idle was 1000 again, and like i said before if i put the car into drive it would stall and die.





The second issue I've been having since the rebuild is when i push on the accelerator even slightly, the car will gasp and can even stall. I guess because of too much fuel or too much air? I need some help figuring that out as well, if you need more information please let me know, i want to figure this out.


Thanks,
Ian