I just rebuilt a Nikki carb, and replaced the old one on my '85 GS. While it was all off, I decided it was time to perform RX7Carl's Rat's Nest Removal Tutorial. All went well.

Then I turned the key.

It started for a few seconds, and then it experienced flooding. The carb was quite full of gas, even to the point where some of it was edging over the lip from the very small diamond shaped primary (whatever its called).

I figured that maybe I had the mixture screw all jacked up, and so I adjusted it.

I am sure that the carb rebuild went well, I spent lots of time ensuring that the float levels were correct. Any ideas?

Help, Y'all.

 

Thats the floats sticking..Did you put new ones in or cleaned the old ones?

 

I cleaned the old ones. Is that bad? What can I do to get them to unstick?

 

Also check that the retun line from the carb to the tank isint clogged, or that the one way check valve in the line (by the carb, little silver 'bullet' looking thing) isint backwards .

~T.J.

 

Or the inlet valves may be sticking. Try tapping the top of the carb with a mallet. Hit it where the 2 inlet banjos are. Usually thatll cure a sticky inlet. Dont wail on it though!

 

I will try the soft-tap mallet manuever. Hopefully that is it. Anyone know how to unstick floats?

 

Blowtorch.

 

That doesnt sound to safe on a carb full of gas .

~T.J.

 

Sounds like the needle and seats are not sealing, which could be a float problem or the needle and seats themselves.

 

I went and bought the carb at a salvage yard. I then disassembled it and soaked it for three days in lacquer thinner. Then I cleaned it all out with carb cleaner. I then carefully reassembled the carb using the carb rebuild kit that I purchased. The carb, to me should be clean. Also, two rubber "O" rings came with the rebuild kit, but I could never figure out where they go. Any ideas? Also I checked the existing floats on this carb, and they looked fine.

*Getting Mallet*

I'll be back in a few minutes.

Hey Wankelguiy, when you say needles and seats, what parts of the carb are you referring to?

 

He means the inlet valves that are controlled by the floats. Did you remove them and clean them? The brass seats are hard to remove, but the brass needles come out when you remove the floats. A good kit comes with new ones.

 

Did you leave the float vent solenoid hooked up or at least vented to atmosphere? If not, that could be the cause of your flooding problem.

 

He's not back yet? I hope he didnt try the blowtorch thing.............

 

The 2 rubber O rings are probably for the fuel bowl windows, it takes a bit to wrap them around the glass.

 

Ah yea, thats right. round peg in a square hole. LOL

 

Any time I remove my carb, it always floods when I reinstall it. When you move it around during installation, the needles/seats get out of alignment. What I usually do is plug the inlet line and start the car... it'll use up all that gas in the carb. Then reconnect the fuel line and see if it floods again. If not, you're good to go. If it does flood again right away, then repeat step one. It ususally takes a couple or three tries before it stops flooding. there's my $0.02

 

Hi y'all.

No, I didn't try the blowtorch thing. LOL

The mallet didn't work. It is cold as hell here, and I am doing all this in my garage, and the gas fumes are not cool. I have been taking turns alternating trying to get this thing working, and then airing out my place in the 13 degree weather. My heating bill is gonna suck.

I will try the blocking of the inlet thing. Another thing I'm dealing with is that I only have my newly installed armor-coated Pacesetter header on, so I have been having to catch the overflow of unburnt gas from unsuccessful starting attempts in a dish, and transferring the gas to a gas can. A veritable pain in the @ss.

But, being that this car is my only car, and daily driver, I have to get it working ASAP.

Does anyone have a picture of how the floats are supposed to look when installed correctly. I guess that there is the possibility that I didn't install them perfectly on my first attempt at a rebuild.

Please post a link or a pic if you have one.

Thanks for sticking with me on this one.

Joe