I guess my car is flooding, and wondered how to set the carburator screws, all that good stuff! Thanks! LATERZ,
Andrew

 

Andrew,
That's a fairly broad statement. You should buy a Haynes manual and look under the section that shows how to set your floats. That sounds like a place to start. But you may need to rebuild the carb altogether.
hanman

 

Well my POS is about to be cought on fire. I want to set the carb before I rebuild it, just to clarify to my mom that we dont have to scrap it, and it runs. I want to rebuild the carb but I dont have any money so I wanna see if it will run longer than 2miles. I just need to know how to set the idle/mixture screws. I have a haynes manual but it says the only way to set the mixtre screw is with some machine. The cap that "suposedly" is to be on it but it isnt. The screw is about 4 times out and helps a LITTLE to turn in about 1 to 1 1/2 runs in but still is running like CRAP. LATERZ,
Andrew

 

Ok,
Here's the drill. The carb will be fine. Nikki's are great carbs. I am going to assume that you have a 79 or 80. Either one is the same, but 81 through 85 are different. The machine the manual is talking about is beyond the home mechanic. You can buy a Air/Fuel Ratio gauge, which is a wonderful way to set the idle, but it is probably going to cost you 60 or more $$.

So, in lieu of that, here's what to do.

1. With an 79 or 80 you will have two screws, one on top of the other one. I believe the large one is on top, the small one on the bottom. The large one sets the idle SPEED. The small one sets the MIXTURE. You want to get the mixture close first.

2. With the car turned off, turn the screw all the way into the carb, clockwise. Then turn it out 21/2 turns counter clockwise. Start the car. Slowly turn the screw in clockwise until the car starts to run rough. Only go an eighth of a turn at a time or less. They are touchy. When the car starts to idle rough, I mean just a little missed beat type of rough, back the screw just slightly back out counter clockwise.

3. Now, set the large idle speed screw, the one on top I think. Set it so the car idles around 750 to 850 rpm.

After that check the fuel in the float windows. There is a little pane of glass (a little window) in the front of the carb and the back. Two windows. The fuel should be halfway up those windows. The one in back is hard to see, borrow a small cosmetic mirror from your mom to take a look.

Come back and tell us how this worked.
hope this helps
hanman

 

I have always had good luck using a vacuum gage to set the idle mixture. Turn the screw in until you get a drop in vaccum then back it out to highest vacuum then recheck you idle speed I like around 900- 1000 then recheck idle mixture. If you are flooding and you smell gas your floats needle and seat might be causing the floats to stick. Sometimes you can tap the carb lightly while its running where the floods are and it might improve your idle quality. If they are sticking it will be hard to check your float level by the sight glass.

 

If they are sticking the float bowl glass should be full. You can not do any tuning on the carb until you fix that problem.
hanman