So I tried to start my FB today, and she wouldn't start. It does this all the time, and it's always housing 2 that floods. So i pulled both rear plugs, pulled my fuel pump fuse, had my mom turn the key while I held a rag over both plug holes, and for ~5 minutes, there was gas pouring out of the leading plug hole. There was a river of fuel that kept on running down the outside of my housing, and it was grey in color. Both plugs were full of fuel, so I blew them out with my compressor, hit them with some electronic cleaner, put them back in, and turned her over for ~30 seconds w/o the fuel pump fuse in, then put the pump fuse back, and tried to start her. No go, she flooded again. I checked my fuel pressure, and it's sitting at 4.5psi. My carb (RB Holley 465) requires 6psi, so I have to figure that out once I get her started. What could be causing the rear housing to flood and the front to not flood? The rear has spark, but it seems a little weak. I'll check it tonight once it gets darker and I'll compare leading 1 vs. leading 2 and trailing 1 vs. trailing 2 and see if there is something different in the amount of spark I am getting between the two housings.

Second is that my car is eating plugs at an alarming rate. The grounds coming up from the threads to the main electrode are all concave out away from the electrode. That, and the leading plug on housing 1 keeps on loosing it's insulator around the electrode. I've gone through 3 or 4 leading plugs on housing 1 since I bought the car last summer, and it's kind of getting old.

If anyone has any suggestions, they will be greatly appriecated. I'll post later tonight about the power of my spark.

thanks,
Jim

 

Have you checked your float level? This would cause massive flooding if not correct. Remove the float level plugs (or check look thru the glass ones if you have them) and make sure its not too high.

Hopefully you have upgrade the coils....that would help....a full ignition with MSD 6AL, 2nd gen leading coil, MSD blaster on the trailing is even better. Since those carbs love to run richer, the impoved ignition will help a little burning all that ****.

Holley's tend to run rich and actually are a bitch to get to run properly on a rotary. I went 48 IDA and never looked back.

 

Does your water level ever go down?

 

no, the water level never goes down. I don't have glass float plugs, where on the 465 are the plugs? and how do I know if they are set correctly? I have MSD Blaster 2's on the leading and trailing, plus 10mm Magnacore wires, so i don't think I'm having any trouble feeding electricity to my plugs. I havn't gotten a 6AL yet, that's after I figure out my timing issues and my flooding issues, plus buying all new seals for the doors/hatch.

 

bump

 

Is it a stock fuel pump? I know I put an other than stock fuel pump on mine once and had way way too much fuel pressure. Only supposed to have 3-4 lbs. I was at like 10. Also the mixture adjustment maybe whacked out. Take the adjuster out and check it. Running dual webs on mine and keeping them in sync can be touchy.

 

it's not a stock fuel pump, I have a Holley Blue with the FPR set at 4.5psi. The Holley 465 requires 20gph@6psi (according to the RB site), so I don't think that's the problem. What is the adjuster? (sorry, newb with carbs)

 

have you checked the distributer cap and rotor? switch the wire around and see what happends

 

On the Holleys, there is a blind plug on the float bowl. You remove this screw, engine idling, and adjust the float until the fuel barely dribbles out of the hole. That is how you set the floats. What I don't understand is why only the rear is flooding. The carb should feed both chambers equally. If it isn't, there are problems inside the carb.

Post pics of your plugs.

 

I forgot to take pictures of the plugs when I had them out earlier tonight to check the spark. I'll try and remember to take some tomorrow. I'll also try and find the blind plug.

The cap is brand new, the old one was FUBAR inside. Just replaced a week ago friday. The rotor looked fine. I'll re-set my timing manually later this week after I take my calc 2 exam and post pictures of everything as I pull it apart.

 

I just checked out the Holley site, and it says that the blue pump will supply 88gph at 9psi, so i'm definately running too damn much fuel through the carb. I'll flow test it later this week as well and see where it will flow 10 2/3 oz/15 seconds (20gph), and see where that puts me before I dig into the carb.

 

If the old cap looked very bad there is an indication of an ignition problem there. Unless you just had alot of miles on it. Excessive corrosion on the ignition wire ends or inside the coils. I highly recommend that you also replace the rotor. I have seen bad ignition rotors that cause grounding thru the dist and in hence cause a crossfire situation with low spark to one or the either housings. But the dumping of fuel into one housing and being that much fuel also sounds like an internal carb problem with needle seat sticking and flooding out one chamber.

 

Implied in your last post is that you are not running and fpr? there are 2 Holley fprs, make sure you get the 4.5-9 psi one.

Does sound like you have fuel and ignition issues. I always replace the cap and rotor as a pair. I have had a new cap or rotor fubared by the old part I didn't replace on the first crank before.

 

I am not very familar with the holleys. Never ran them even in the 70's when i was running small blocks. Always ran the carter afb's.

Anyways. Trochoid are you familar with them. Do they have seperate float chambers? Even with weak spark there should not be fuel pouring out of one housing.

 

I forgot to ask whitey, when you stated you checked fuel pressure. Did you just verify that your FPR was set or did you hook a gauge up for testing?

 

I have a gauge hooked up to one side of my FPR, and my line to my carb out the other.

I do have the 4.5-9psi regulator on it.

It really wouldn't surprise me if the needles were stuck, the PO never took it over 4-4.5k at light throttle, so fuel could have very possibly gummed up the carb.

 

I'll look at the inside of my new cap when I get home tonight and see if it's as messed up as my last one

The inside of the cap wasn't corroded, all of the points were bent . I'm hoping that I dont' have to replace the cap (again) and rotor. If I do, oh well, but i'm not going to be happy.

 

Here is my thread on mirotaryclub.com with a picture on the first page of my cap

http://mirotaryclub.com/forum/showth...9&page=1&pp=15

 

e-mailed RB, waiting for a reply, bump!

 

to the top it goes

 

I don't know about the carb, But as far as the plugs go your probably getting detonation from incorrect timing. This would explain the porcelain missing from your spark plugs and the pitting.

 

I've been told this before about the ceramic insulator. I'm still curious why my grounds are eaten away concave out. I'll take pictures tonight. They only have 400 miles on them.

 

The part I'm having trouble inderstanding is why there is so much fuel in the rear housing and less in the front. Holleys mount transverse on our engines, as opposed the the normal inline mounting on pistons, so each each fuel bowl will supply either the primary or secondary intake ports, not one rotor or the other.

Both float bowls are adjustable, not that familiar with the RB 465, but they are all similiar in the 4150/60 series. I do know your's has vac secondarys and you should not see any fuel coming from the secondarys until you are under load. Which means if you rev and look down the carb, you should never see any fuel from the secondarys.

Can't see the pics posted on the other site, members only.

As far as trouble shooting this, sort the ignition out first, then the carb. New cap, rotor and plugs, make sure they are all firing properly and set the timing. If the carb is still an issue, pick up a Trick Kit for it. When you get to that point, I'll find the part # for you.

Odd thing is, your fuel pressure should be more in the 5-6 psi range for the Holley. I always put my fpg on a tee, directly off the output side of the fpr. Your gauge may be off, calibrate it or try another. Bwaits has a nice gauge on his ReSpeed site you might consider.

 

I was reading your posts on the MI forum and notice you said that it makes a rattling popping sound. This is most likely deteonation. Does it sound like a popcorn machine?

 

definately not like popcorn popping. It sounds like metal being ground at a high rate of speed. I posted a video of it on here last summer and got feedback that it was detonation. I think that it's coming from my tranny. I'll find the thread and post it.